Premium Essay

"Journey" in the Wind in the Willows

In:

Submitted By DavidClassic
Words 380
Pages 2
Journeys are change from the status quo, a path to something different. Whether it is a journey you take or the journey that takes you, it will lead to new insights, self reflection and a look back to where you’ve come from.

In the excerpt of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame we met a reluctant rat, a fascinated mole and an animated toad. These anthropomorphised creatures exhibit very human traits, such as the want for something new, some more than others.

These characteristics and traits that Kenneth Grahame has given the animals invites the reader into an imaginative journey. To suspend their belief, to believe that animals can talk and interact like humans, allowing the reader to connect on an emotional level to the characters.

It is suggested that the characters themselves are embarking on a physical journey. Toad unveils a gipsy caravan, a symbol for the nomadic culture. Grahame describes in vivid detail the contents of the caravan, the “biscuits, potted lobster, sardines – everything you could possibly want”. This creates the image in the mind of the reader of everything that one would need to go on a journey. The toad describes the possibilities that come with the caravan “Camps, villages, towns, cities! Here today, up and off tomorrow!” A journey does not need to specifically be something grand or magnificent but something that is different. Something that changes your view; this cannot happen if they do not the leave the river.

The toad and the rat have two differing views one whether taking a journey is a good thing to do. The rat is reluctant, unwilling to follow the toad on his trip. The rat is perfectly content with staying by the river, happy to continue doing what he has done. The toad however points out to the rat the he can’t spend his whole life in the same place that he “can’t manage without you...” “I want to

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Emmaline Gullege: A Brief Summary

...shape shifting, Emmy is charged with the task of becoming the family “Ka no he ha Ka no Ge sdi,” the Storyteller. She is supposed to remember and pass down her family’s history and tell about their ancestors to the coming generations. During her explorations, she discovers a hidden path that takes her beyond the willow tree to a layer of the world that is much like her own. That is when she discovers that her grandfather, the Keeper of the Sacred Fire can travel between space and time and communicate with all peoples within those layers. As she grows older, the use of her abilities becomes bittersweet. She learns of their shortcomings when she meets and falls in love with three extremely different men from three vastly different places in her world. The one who truly gives her pause is Ya Halgi, who like her, does not belong to any one tribe. He is a Cherokee-Creek Indian, an Immortal from the land beyond the willow tree… Within the pages of this book, we will take this journey with Emmy, watch as she grows into a strong young woman amid the harsh realities of life, love, and danger during the reconstruction years following the American Civil War. Hers is a journey through time into the mysterious, spiritual and mystical realms of the Cherokees and a world that most never knows exists. 1 Death Eludes Her Etowah Co, Alabama July 1865 Leaning forward, Emmy peered further into the freshly dug grave. Her eleven-year-old mind was sharp as a tack and not much slipped past...

Words: 4067 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

Important Life Skills In Homer's The Odyssey

...Life has obstacles and everyone has talent to help them overcome their problem. In Homer’s epic The Odyssey, the skills needed to help Odysseus reach his homeland are important. His homeland is Ithaca and he wants to return home to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus, but he is facing many roadblocks on the way. Everyone is good at something, but Odysseus was very intelligent and he had skills that not everyone had. An important life skill is to be clever. Odysseus shows the skill of being clever when he has to speak to Cyclops. Having courage is a very important skill because he had to get away from the Cyclops and on his ship alive. He showed both these skills by getting the Cyclops drunk and telling the Cyclops his name is Nohbdy and...

Words: 541 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Trail Of Tears Essay Thesis

...Will Thomas, an adopted Cherokee, purchased 56,000 acres of land, which eventually became known as the Qualla Boundary where the Eastern band of Cherokees now reside peacefully. A startling story captured my heart as I was searching through my information and I would like to share it with you. It is called The Cherokee Rose. When the Trail of Tears started in 1838, the mothers of the Cherokee tribes were grieving so much that they were unable to help their children survive the journey. The elders prayed for a sign that would lift the mothers’ spirits and give them strength. The next day a beautiful rose began to grow where each of the mothers’ tears had fallen. The rose is white for the tears that were shed, it has a gold center that shows the gold stolen form the Cherokee, and seven leaves that represent the seven Cherokee clans. The wild Cherokee Rose grows along the route of the Trail of Tears into Eastern Oklahoma to this day. The Brave Cherokee By John Howard Payne O’ soft fills the dew on the twilight descending And night over the distant forest is bending Like the storm spirit, dark o’er the tremulous...

Words: 1185 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Books

...Blume 12. "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett 13. "Beloved" by Toni Morrison 14. "Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen" by Christopher McDougall 15. "Breath, Eyes, Memory" by Edwidge Danticat 16. "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller 17. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl 18. "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White 19. "Cutting For Stone" by Abraham Verghese 20. "Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead" by Brene Brown 21. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 1" by Jeff Kinney 22. "Dune" by Frank Herbert 23. "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury 24. "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream" by Hunter S. Thompson 25. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn 26. "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown 27. "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens 28. "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond 29. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling 30. "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote 31. "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri 32. "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison 33. "Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest...

Words: 890 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Creative Writing

...because it doesn’t - it just feels like home to me. It’s where I was born and raised. When you’re born somewhere and live there for quite a long time, you genuinely start to make a connection with it. It sounds really silly, but if you move country, the connection you had with that place will become a lot more apparent. As if your whole life, your heart is developing a special, strong bond with that place, you just don’t know it until you’re gone. I remember how at the age of seven (when you start school in Sweden), I would take a bus and a train, I loved this, it made me feel really independent, as if my parents had built that faith in me. I felt like I really deserved it, I felt like an adult. It was a total of forty-five minutes journey to school, by myself. At the time, I didn’t think that was a big deal, everyone did that. When all your surroundings have the same routine as you, it’s as if that small, precious thing isn’t really that valued anymore. You start to miss the smallest things you didn’t even consider existed at the time, such as the independence and safety there was in Sweden. People usually don’t like the thought of living in Sweden as they say “it’s too cold”. I never really saw that as a problem, some days we would get minus thirty degrees. Was that a problem for us? Did we see that as something negative? No, never. In fact, we...

Words: 1143 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Skahdahad

...Imaginative Journey Notes: The Stimulus Booklet 1.The road not taken: - Robert Frost o Imaginative Journeys allow us to explore future possibilities through speculation o Extended metaphor of the ‘road’ used to express both past and future decisions and actions. Frost describes using the imagination in times of indecision to explore the consequences of possible choices. – “…long I stood /And looked down one as far as I could” o Each of the four stanzas characterises one stage of this process of speculation and decision. The first has an optimistic tones created by colour connotations of ‘yellow wood’ and the suggestion of transience and movement through its flowing structure with the repetition of ‘and’ - ‘And sorry I could not travel both /And be one traveller, long I stood / And looked down one as far as I could’. o “Yellow wood also indicates that it may be the beginning of autumn, which could symbolise the sense of change and possibility at the turning of the season. o The second stanza suggests indecision as the composer chooses a path that ‘wanted wear’ and therefore carries less clear consequences. Taking the path that he knows or even imagines to understand less is a courageous decision, but the composer appears uncertain, using low modality language such as ‘perhaps’ and ‘really about the same’. o The third stanza expresses regret at the opportunities lost by choosing one path over the other. Imaginative journeys can conceive of multiple possibilities at once...

Words: 2045 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Stout

...Xavier Rodriguez, the other Expos 101 Assignment # 2 F.D. When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday Professor: Debra Keates 10/7/12 Gone With the Wind There are a number of systems that are identified by science. The ecosystem is complex, involving all living things and highlighting their interdependence. The human system, while smaller in scale is equally intricate. There is a mind and body connection that each person has, however, numerous people lack the ability to make simple connections. In Caroline Fraser’s “Rewilding North America,” she describes how animals are becoming extinct and their struggle to survive. Similarly, in Martha Stout’s “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday,” she writes about encounters she has as a psychiatrist and the way her clients struggle to cope with their past experiences; they too are struggling to survive. Fraser describes the ecosystem while Stout discusses people, but both are aiming to promote stability, one for well-being and survival, to increase their population, and the other, for the ability to gain control and for their well-being in order to survive. There is a process and usually specific techniques that are necessary in order to regain what is being lost when it comes to the ecosystem and the human system. In 1930 a British botanist “coined the term ecosystem” in order “to define the complex interrelationships between plants, animals, and microorganisms and the physical elements they interact with—rocks...

Words: 1318 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Aakif

... For Christians the cross takes on specific representation of Christ’s crucifixion. Nuance – These objects take on symbolic meaning in the work in which they appear. Modern writers often create their own symbols by repeatedly using the object in meaningful ways. For example, Golding used the conch shell to represent order and governmental control. NOTABLE ARCHETYPAL SYMBOLS, CHARACTERS, AND STORY PATERNS Characters: Hero (Epic, Classical, Romantic, Realistic, Anti-Hero) Outcast, Scapegoat, Trickster, Platonic Ideal, Monster, Temptress, Star-crossed lovers, Clown/jester, Prophet Story Patterns: Rite of Passage/Initiation, Creation, Fall, Expulsion, Death & Rebirth, Journey, Quest Symbols: (Archetypal symbols have duel nature and are often objects that we find in nature) Water, Fire, Wind, Earth, All colors, Snakes, Birds/Flight, Trees, Gold, Iron, Silver, Sun, Moon, Cross, Seasons Why study myth & symbols? 1. They enrich our encounters with art & literature as we discover the layers of meaning they hold. 2. We understand the values of cultures different from our own and at the same time discover...

Words: 1504 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Isaiah 41

...REFORMED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, ORLANDO | ISAIAH 41:17-20 | 0T516 Isaiah to Malachi, Spring 2010 | | | 4/28/2010 | 17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. 18 I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. 19 I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, 20 that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it. | Introduction In Isaiah 40-66, the prophet addresses the exiled remnants of the Jewish nation. Jerusalem has been destroyed by Babylon, which has swept all nations before it. However, Isaiah offers a remarkable prophecy of restoration. God will demonstrate that he is the ultimate power. The Lord is the Redeemer who will repopulate Jerusalem and rebuild Judah. This is the context for our understanding of the beautiful verses of Isaiah 41:17-20, which portray a picture of rivers in the desert, providing water to the poor and needy and bringing abundant life to the wilderness. Motyer describes the passage as follows: “The righteous God of verses 8-13 and the Redeemer of verses 14-17 is now the Creator...

Words: 2548 - Pages: 11

Free Essay

3. Dating the Rocks of the Grand Canyon (Old-Earth vs. Young-Earth)

...Grand Canyon, immense canyon cut by the Colorado River in the high plateau region of northwestern Arizona, U.S., noted for its fantastic shapes and coloration. The Grand Canyon lies in the southwestern portion of the Colorado Plateau, which occupies a large area of the southwestern United States and consists essentially of horizontal layered rocks and lava flows. The broad, intricately sculptured chasm of the canyon contains between its outer walls a multitude of imposing peaks, buttes, gorges, and ravines. It ranges in width from about 175 yards (160 metres) to 18 miles (29 km) and extends in a winding course from the mouth of the Paria River, near Lees Ferry and the northern boundary of Arizona with Utah, to Grand Wash Cliffs, near the Nevada state line, a distance of about 277 miles (446 km); the first portion of the canyon—from Lees Ferry to the confluence with the Little Colorado River—is called Marble Canyon. The Grand Canyon also includes many tributary side canyons and surrounding plateaus. The greatest depths of the Grand Canyon lie more than a mile (some 6,000 feet [1,800 metres]) below its rim. The deepest and most spectacularly beautiful section, 56 miles (90 km) long, is within the central part of Grand Canyon National Park, which encompasses the river’s length from Lake Powell (formed by Glen Canyon Dam in 1963) to Lake Mead (formed by Hoover Dam in 1936). The North Rim, at approximately 8,200 feet (2,500 metres) above sea level, is some 1,200 feet (365 metres)...

Words: 1788 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

John Curry Baker Book Report

...Civil War Baker rushed from California to the east to offer his services and secure a spot in the Union army. Upon his arrival at Washington DC, Lafayette somehow garnered up an audience with the Union Commander, General Winfield Scott. He made a good impression on the General because he said yes to the proposal Baker set before him. Lafayette proposed that he would impersonate a photographer with the alias of Sam Munson. He was to take pictures of the Confederate armies and their leaders. General Scott agreed and let Baker take care of a few personal matters in New York before sending him off. "The latter part of June, I was again in Washington, and had repeated interviews with the General. The result was a definite arrangement for a journey toward Richmond, if not the rebel capitol. Directions in detail were given me respecting the difficult service I was to perform. Taking from his vest pocket ten double eagles of the coin, General Scott handed them to me, expressing the warmest hopes of my success in the excursion to 'Dixie'" Lafayette began his excursion as Sam Munson. Almost at once he was arrested by Union troops near Alexandria under suspicion of being a Confederate spy! Baker was at risk of being executed by his own people! General Winfield Scott had to intercede to get him out. Once freed, Lafayette was told to "Try again". After one more failed try to enter enemy land, Baker finally made it. While on Confederate territory, he was arrested by Confederate troops...

Words: 1956 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Korean Creation Myth

...Cheonjiwang Bonpuli From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Cheonjiwang Bonpuli (Hangul: 천지왕 본풀이, literally 'Chronicles of Cheonjiwang') is a Korean creation myth, traditionally retold by shamans in the small island ofJeju Island. It is one of the best-known Creation myths in the Korean peninsula, and many key elements in the Cheonjiwang Bonpuli can be found in the creation myths of the mainland.[1] Plot[edit] Unlike its title, the supreme deity Cheonjiwang (Hangul: 천지왕), whose name literally means 'King of the Heavens and the Earth', serves mainly as a secondary character. The protagonists of the myth are instead the two sons of Cheonjiwang, Daebyeol and Sobyeol. The myth starts with the creation of the world, when the sky and the earth were one (This concept can be found in most other creation myths; see Chaos andGinnungagap). As there were no sky nor earth, as a result, there was only an empty void. However, one day, a gap formed in the void. All that was lighter than the gap headed upwards and formed the sky. All that was heavier than the gap fell down to become the earth. From the sky fell a clear blue drop of dew, and from the earth rose a dark black drop of dew. As these two drops mixed, all that existed, except the sun, moon, and the stars, came to be. From these two drops came humans and even the gods.[2][3][4] The leader of the gods, Cheonjiwang, awoke to the cry of the three roosters; the Cheonhwangdag (Hangul: 천황닭, literally 'Rooster Emperor of the Sky'), the...

Words: 1830 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Women In A Thousand Splendid Suns

...view make it that much stronger since both women drive home the same point about the world of hatred in which they live. The power of the back and forth motion accelerates the plot and aids in keeping track of the time that passes between their lives. The ending of part one is strong, cutting, emotional and closes the chapter of Mariam’s childhood, when Rasheed leaves Mariam to “spit out pebbles, blood, and the fragments of two broken molars” (94). Hosseini has already taken the reader through Mariam’s journey growing up, and this scene marks the beginning of the rest of her adult life. The reader feels Mariam’s molars rolling around in her bloody mouth and is able recognize that this scene marks the beginning of a life of domination. Hosseini dedicates a large portion of the novel to each woman before joining the two to give each of their back stories importance and define the notability in the development of each woman. After much of the plot takes place, the reader journeys with Laila back to Mariam’s childhood home where, “here in this place, it’s easy to summon Mariam behind the lids of her eyes: the soft radiance of her gaze, the long chin, the coarsened skin of her neck, the tight-lipped smile. Here, Laila can lay her cheek on the softness of Mariam’s lap again, can feel Mariam swaying back and forth…” (345-355). The reader now experiences Mariam through Laila’s eyes and again feel everything come full circle. Just as Laila can feel all of the physical aspects of Mariam...

Words: 3078 - Pages: 13

Free Essay

Exile in Robert Raymer’s ‘Mat Salleh’ and Wong Ming Yook’s ‘a Beautiful Lady and the Fish’

...transformation of the subject in assuming that image.” (Bhabha) When the British colonized Malaysia, local Malaysians were known as the ‘Others’ while the British were identified as the “Self”. This is seen during the colonial era within Malaysia. However as time passed, during the post-colonial era, the identity of Malaysia seemed to be the issue that readers and writers tried to identify. In the postmodern era of Malaysia, creating or reinventing individual identity in a nation or in a cultural group becomes more crucial in building stability in identifying oneself. Therefore the issue of exile will be addressed in accordance to Robert Raymer’s Mat Salleh and Wong Ming Yook’s The Beautiful Lady and the Fish. In Rehman Rashid’s ‘A Malaysian Journey’ gives us a vivid description of a Malaysian who feels out casted in his homeland, his community, and his people. Through the analysis of the two short stories mentioned above, the issue of ‘exile’ would be seen in the light of exile from a family, culture and from a nation. Through that, similarities and differences will be drawn and identified. Robert Raymer is an American who has been living in Malaysia for more than 20 years. He currently lectures in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. He has also published a compilation of short stories titled ‘Lovers and Strangers Revisited’. ‘Mat Salleh’ is a short story from this compilation and it is a story about a Malaysian Malay, Yati who went to the United States of America...

Words: 2433 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Docx

...PROLOGUE GILGAMESH KING IN URUK I WILL proclaim to the world the deeds of Gilgamesh. This was the man to whom all things were known; this was the king who knew the countries of the world. He was wise, he saw mysteries and knew secret things, he brought us a tale of the days before the flood. He went on a long journey, was weary, worn-out with labour, returning he rested, he engraved on a stone the whole story. When the gods created Gilgamesh they gave him a perfect body. Shamash the glorious sun endowed him with beauty, Adad the god of the storm endowed him with courage, the great gods made his beauty perfect, surpassing all others, terrifying like a great wild bull. Two thirds they made him god and one third man. In Uruk he built walls, a great rampart, and the temple of blessed Eanna for the god of the firmament Anu, and for Ishtar the goddess of love. Look at it still today: the outer wall where the cornice runs, it shines with the brilliance of copper; and the inner wall, it has no equal. Touch the threshold, it is ancient. Approach Eanna the dwelling of Ishtar, our lady of love and war, the like of which no latter-day king, no man alive can equal. Climb upon the wall of Uruk; walk along it, I say; regard the foundation terrace and examine the. masonry: is it not burnt brick and good? The seven sages laid the foundations THE COMING OF ENKIDU GILGAMESH went abroad in the world, but he met with none who could withstand his arms till be came to Uruk. But the men...

Words: 11097 - Pages: 45