Hi, teacher and fellow classmates. Today I will be talking about how a journey can have positive and negative impact on an individual.
Journeys are not just limited to the process of physically travelling as an emotional journey can be seen in self-exploration and imaginative journeys can occur to transport an individual from reality into an unreal world.Michael Gow’s play script of Away, relates to the challenges, goals and discoveries which are achieved by the characters Tom, Coral and Gwen as they endure physical, emotional and imaginative journeys, whilst the film To Kill a Mockingbird, directed by Robert Mulligan in 1962 utilises the innocence of childhood to convey three personal journeys as demonstrated through characterisation and cinematic techniques.Physical journey become the catalyst to emotional and imaginative journeys, as demonstrated in the opening of Away, where Tom played the character ‘Puck’ performing the final speech of a Shakespeareans play called “A Midsummer Nights Dream”. Throughout A Midsummer Nights Dream Tom promises to restore amends if the audience applauds, Tom also does the same thing throughout Away. This is a technique of Meta-play where a play is used within a play.
This imaginative journey to the Shakespearean character of ‘Puck’ making amends parallels with Tom’s role in aiding other characters in their emotional journey.Before any other types of journey can occur, the process of physical journey was first occurred as three families are going on summer holidays. It was established throughout the dialogue between Tom and Meg, where Tom asked “you going away tomorrow? ’ ‘Where are you going? ’. Coral’s emotional journey throughout the play was how her son’s death had led to breakdown and her unstable mental illness of pain that she was trapped in the past such as a quote that was made by her husband Roy about her behaviour ‘like a ghost’ ‘ignoring people’.Her final emotional journey was represented metaphorically throughout the play ‘The Stranger on the Shore’.
As the character she played ‘the mermaid’, demonstrated her adversity of emotional journey can be seen by the quote ‘Forever in the darkness of the sea I follow my beloved…So far from home’. This endless suffering journey throughout the play as the mermaid can’t detach herself from her dead lover, just as in Coral’s actual life she can’t accept and abandon the memory of her dead son.Tom, as the sailor in the play, guides the mermaid on how to walk, just as in reality Tom’s acceptance of his own inevitable fatal demise demonstrates a reason as to why Coral should move on find closure. The character Tom also helps Gwen, as she went through an emotional journey overcoming the obstacle of prejudice and learning the fact how lucky they were comparing to Tom’s family. The inner journey that demonstrated of overcoming the barrier was also demonstrated in the film ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.
The main protagonist Scout was shown in the process of overcoming prejudice through her self-maturation and understanding. Scout and the kids were scared as Miss Stephanie the neighbour told them about the unjustified assumptions of Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley, as she mentioned ‘there’s a maniac lives there and he’s dangerous’ and ‘he’s killin’ us all’, using the heavy tone as she warned them and also creating a dissonance for the children as they are horrified, in this scene Mulligan used the technique of close up shot to create a suspense and horrified image to the audience about the Radley’s.Throughout the film there was a scene where mulligan uses the voice over technique where Atticus is sitting on the porch and overhearing a conversation between the kids, a quote from the film between Scout and Jem ‘Do you miss her? ’ ‘uh-huh’. This demonstrated the emotional journey that the kids are going through realising that they don’t have a mum and the fact Atticus feels a sense of despair and sorry as he listened to their conversation.In the end Scout has grown matured and has overcome the prejudice and has understood the neighbourhood gossip does not necessarily tell the truth judging by her self-experience. In conclusion an individual’s journey could always involve the process of learning, maturation and self-discovery as a personal development.
Therefore inner journeys increase our personal knowledge and understanding of others, although the play Away by Michael Gow and the film To Kill a Mockingbird by Robert mulligan involve three types of journey.They all demonstrated the inner journey throughout the play and the film giving us an understanding of an individual’s journey could have an impact on others. I would like to end my speech with a quote by Greg Anderson ‘Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it’.
