The Area of Study requires students to examine the concept of journeying.
More particularly it requires you to define inner journeys through the study of one core text and several related texts. A response to inner journeys question requires you to integrate your discussion of the core text and a variety of texts of your own choosing. Doing this will show that you have consolidated ideas bout inner journeys. Inner journeys involve the exploration of the self, as individuals review their growth and development in light of experiences which challenge and inspire them.The secret to doing really well is to look further into the type of inner journey represented in the core text.
For example the movie Life is Beautiful represents an inner journey of hope as well as the process of change in perspectives. You need to identify key issues in ‘Life is Beautiful’- for example overcoming prejudice or the affirmation of what is human. You only need two or three concerns. These are represented by the characters and key events within the movie and establish a concept of inner journey.Nominate a scene which exemplifies each concern. For example, the scene as Guido is explaining the rules to Joshua embodies the concern of overcoming with prejudice.
Guido’s humour powerfully contrasts the stark message of the soldier- thus emphasizing Guido’s power to overcome this prejudice. This is where you need to find a related text that deals with this same issue-coping with prejudice. In this way you use your concern as the link between the core and related text.A fitting text which deals with this concern would be the short story Small, soft steps will take you further then a blaze of glory by Erin Mangan. The short story published in the Sydney Morning Herald describes a school girl’s everyday bus ride home. She is confronted with school bullies tormenting a mentally challenged boy.
At first she tries to ignore the bullies to avoid confrontation, but finally she exposes this prejudice and her rejection of it, by sitting next to the mentally challenged boy.Remember to discuss the author’s techniques in the representation of the concern, give examples and discuss the effect on the reader. In this care the story uses second person “You were hanging out for your stop so you could get away from all this,” to establish a persona which allows the reader to experience the girls inner journey first hand. The use simile ‘Like a flower taking bloom’ emphasises the peak of her inner journey- her change in attitude.
This exemplifies the idea that inner journeys imply a change in attitude, the growth of new ideas and changed perspective.My other concern extracted from Life is Beautiful, but inspired by an image, is the affirmation of what is human. The scene which I feel exemplifies this notion in the core text is the final scene of the movie as Joshua leaves the box. Using the concern we can now link the core text to my related text a photograph which portrays a very provocative exhibition in front of the Madrid museum in which is a representation of the loss of the bombings. The exhibition features a collection of chairs of various sizes, colours and types, each representing the loss of a particular life.Museums are generally symbolic of what is noble, cultivated and humane in a society.
Thus the exhibition, by being displayed outside the museum is a symbolic statement that the bombings were beyond the boundaries of humanity and acceptability. The use of numerous chairs, in different colours, styles and of different ages effectively represents the idea that individuals are unique and so are their life journeys. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to look for related material that parallels the plot of your core text.Do not find related texts which are similar to the plot. You should identify concerns in the film and find material which deals with a different version of the same paradigm. The purpose of related texts is to generalise the issues concerning inner journeys, to show that the concerns are not just confined to any particular situation but are universal.
In effect they are different examples of the same paradigm. By adopting these strategies you achieve a more effective analytical response to a question on Inner Journey.
