The Heroic Journey

For this week I read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I didn’t know that this book even existed until now. The novel is narrated by King Arthur's half sister, Morgan Le Fay, who is one of the witches of Avalon. She tells all of the other witches side of the story and explains the reasoning and decisions that Arthur made in the women’s perspective. The novel is told by the four women instrumental to the story who are Gwenhwyfar, his wife; Igraine, his mother; Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, High Priestess of Avalon; and his sister and lover, Morgaine tells her side of the story as the narrator. The stories are told by what they saw and how the situations happened. The struggle between Christianity and the religion of Avalon is a central part of the story, and Arthur’s loyalty to and betrayal of Avalon another part. I found it fascinating of how the main King Arthur novels show the women as either submissive or evil, but this novel portrays the women as powerful and shows how they rebelled against King Arthur if they were portrayed as evil in the previous novels.

The novel told Most Medieval Romance differently from those of the realistic novel. The plots,
like those of the romance, divide into sharply separate episodes that often do not seem joined in
in any obvious order and generally take the form of tests that they must pass to attain some
goal. Frequently, the generally male protagonist fails tests, which often involve acts of moral and
spiritual perception, until such point that he finally follows advice.

Witches and Women in Genre

This week I read the novel Aunt Maria. Even Though the beginning and pace of the novel came
off a little slow, I appreciated the premise of overcoming life obstacles and taking on
hard situations. Aunt Maria’s archetype not only signified as a hero, but also as a caregiver.
Her character treats difficult relationships and abuses of power. The main character, Mig,

and her older brother Chris face a parental breakup, then their mother's total subjection to their

great-aunt. The stresses of life given with Aunt Maria are developed in a suspenseful story which

includes a ghostly apparition and other paranormal phenomena. Although the happenings are

often improbable, Mig and Chris are believable characters who face real life situations that most

people can relate to such as heartbreak, abandonment, or living through a divorce.

Aunt Maria is characterized as the "Great Dictator," the "Queen of Cranbury," and the
"Female Pope." Even though she gives the impression of being lonely, helpless, and
kind, she rules with an iron hand through provocation of guilt, disapproving suggestion,
and her magical powers. The most unique part of the story was that If Anyone does not
obey her every command, they may be transformed into an animal or even an object. This
concept shows power in women, and control over society. A reference to Aunt Maria would be the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella story, where she is the magical force that pushes the main

character to move forward and guide them away from life obstacles.  

Old Weird and New Weird

From reading the novel Swan Song, the reader could infer that the concept of this story is only weird in a artistic
way. The story has strong value of fear being populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth’s last
survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity. I was basically
getting end of the world vibes in a unusual way to wear the monsters are the good guys, and the beautiful creatures are
the bad guys, which is why many would find the novel weird or unusual. As an horror story, this element is completely
normal, due to the origin of grotesque characters in storytelling throughout centuries.

The main element that intrigued me the most would be the theory of Beauty on the Inside Versus Beauty
on the Outside. The main character Swan does not understand why beautiful people would be mean and vice
versa, and Leona says that God had not figured out how to show people's souls on the outside. This element is
symbolic to the society that we live in today. Believe it or not, there are people out there who thinks that a
pretty face and body comes with a beautiful personality, and from experience most of the worst people
I have met were attractive or well put together, but their personality did not make up for it. In contrast, some
of the most attractive broken people i’ve met has had the most sincere, loving, and caring hearts on this earth.

Japanese horror

A Wild Sheep Chase explores themes of separation and isolation, anti-authoritarianism, and
animist spirituality through the surreal tale of a man trying to track a mysterious sheep. This
novel ties in with the nature of good and evil in how we as humans transforms, or the
stimulation of rebirth that develops the transition from good to evil or vise versa. There is also
that there of What is good? What is evil? The main character goes through situations where he has
to beat all odds against himself and that drives the story. As the novel goes on, the viewpoint
of the main character changes, and the first person point of view allows the reader to see
such changes clearly.The novel gives subtext of a man and the lack of societal values and
links between the man and his own world.

Wild sheep chase reflects more in the originated gothic theme, more than horror. When reading this, I did not feel a sense of fear of alertness, but more of the sense of grieving. Isolation, which is a gothic element, ties to this novel. Throughout the novel, isolation and self alienation are primary themes. The main character has, throughout his entire life, chosen a path of self isolation to avoid true emotional connections to the outside world. His existence has been completely self centered. Because of his obsession with the sheep, the Sheep Professor also chose isolation as opposed to existing within the world. The Rat chose isolation from others due to a desire for others not to see him give in to weakness. The Boss chose isolation because of a need to run his empire in the shadows. The Anui guide became isolated after giving up on humanity and their warlike nature. The sheep caretaker isolated himself, to a point, because he preferred the simplicity of sheep over the complexity of social interactions. It is clear from these characters that isolation of self is used in the novel as a means.