Journeys Essay

Practice question – ‘individuals have been affected by journeys in unexpected ways’ how do the texts you have studied present the consequences and the impact of journeys? In your response refer to your prescribed text, and at least two other related texts of your own choosing.

Journeys planned or unexpected will affect individuals differently and often in unexpected ways with unpredictable ramifications. Composers represent physical, emotional, historical and inner journeys in their texts, by exploring the catalysts, barriers and transformations experienced during the process of a journey. In the poem Dover Beach (1851) by Matthew Arnold, the short video clip This Land is Mine (2012) produced by Nina Paley, the poem The French Prisoner (2008) by Janos Pilinszky and the film The Blind Side (2009) by John Lee Hancock, the ways in which the protagonist are effected by their journeys will be examined. The concepts of inner, political, empathetic and compassionate journeys will be explored in each text respectively to expose how the consequences of journeys will impact individuals in unexpected ways.

The inner journey of humanity’s fear of the unknown and the future in a world of changing values and loss of faith, often generates uncertainty. In Dover Beach, two lovers observe the beauty of the ocean contemplating in an analogy, historical changes of faith and instabilities of life, promising to strengthen their love to cope through it. The poem introduces the reader to ‘dover beach’ and its tranquillity as Arnold describes its magnificence, “The Sea is calm tonight… The tide is full, the moon lies fair”. The visual imagery invites the reader to observe the beach through the narrator’s perspective. Romantic poetic conventions generate an atmosphere of admiration towards the power of nature “Listen! You hear the grating roar…of pebbles which the waves draw back and fling”. The high modal commands in “Listen” attracts the readers’ attention to be drawn to the war...