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Hero's Journey Speech

In: English and Literature

Submitted By KissinNialler
Words 1253
Pages 6
Good morning/afternoon ladies and gentlemen of the Tweed Heads Art Exhibition. My name is Ashlea Wharley, and I would like to take this opportunity and thank you for having me today. This morning/afternoon I will be explaining my interpretation of what a hero’s journey truly is. Along with that I will be showing you this extraordinary but yet, so very time consuming work of art I have created. As you see Ladies and Gentlemen in my opinion or understanding of what a hero’s journey is; it’s best described as a typical adventure of a hero, the person who sets out an adventure and accomplishes countless endeavours on behalf of a group, tribe or civilisation. The model I have created that you see before your eyes Ladies and Gentlemen is my understanding and explanation of a hero’s journey within my idea for my related text, The Vampire Diaries.
I have intentionally created a 3D construction with using a white tree metal jewellery frame. I constructed it this way because the white metal tree itself symbolises a tree of life. A tree of life ladies and gentlemen have been used in the notion in science, religion, philosophy and mythology. In this case, the tree of life can be related back to my related text on how Elena in… The Vampire Diaries gets introduced into the mythological world. You will also see there is a silver necklace with an oval shaped locket in a pink jewellery box. This necklace symbolises a locket that Elena is given in the Vampire Diaries by Stefan her Vampire boyfriend. Inside the locket, Stefan had put a strong minded herb called revain which is deadly to all Vampires but completely stops all mind compulsion from all Vampires. It simply means the Vampire has control over your mind. But once you have either slipped revain into your coffee or you’re wearing it on you, the vampire has no control over you. You will also notice the way I have wrapped the locket all the way around the tree; I have done this to represent that the locket is some sort of guide in way for Elena’s hero journey to symbolize how pure and important her life is. This also portrays the impression that sometimes on journeys people may obtain objects or even skills for that matter and they become treasured or valued to them. Therefore, it can be stated that these objects can be used by them in their day – to – day lives. In my related text, Damon (Stefan’s brother) isn’t so lucky, and may go searching for something that, sadly he doesn’t find.
I also think that Elena’s locket can be linked to Luke’s lightsaver in Star Wars and how Luke’s lightsaver guide his way through the journey in order to succeed it. Another reason on how the idea of how journeys can be represented in my artefact; being either negative or positive are the two little birds that are sitting on either side of the tree. The white bird sitting on the right hand side symbolizes peace. In this case the bird being on the right hand side up a little higher in the tree represents a silver lining for Elena as for when she reaches this point at time in her hero’s journey is that she can see full view or perspective of what is happening in her journey. An example I have chosen to show you ladies and gentlemen is when she is with her friends attending a school occasion whether it was a school 60’s and 70’s disco or Mystic Falls Founders Day which is a yearly event where they have events that the community can get involved in such as Miss Mystic Falls and the reconstructed version of The Battle of Willow Creek.
The other bird down in the lower part of the tree, which happens to be a crow in this case, represents or either symbolizes death to some cultures. I have also used black straw cardboard as simple texture to also represent the crow’s feathers and how troubled those birds can also be. In other cases, black crows have been subjected to send warnings that something terrible is about to happen. This happens to Elena in the first episode where she is driving in a car with her best friend and the crow fly’s across the window screen sending the car to almost crashing; this scares Elena after she was just in a car accident recently with her mum and dad who recently died because of it. She later has another encounter with the crow after she visits her parent’s graves in a cemetery.
The inclusion of the black crow and white dove that I’d like to draw your attention Ladies and Gentlemen is that it can be linked back to Star Wars on how Luke is the white dove and how he explores his physical journey but, only wants to make peace with the force and how calm and peaceful he is with his new friends R2D2, Princess Leia, Obi Wan, Han Solo, Chewy and C-3PO. The black crow on the other hand, can refer back to Darth Vader and how he tempts to send warnings on when something terrible is about to happen. In this case for Darth Vader he is always sending warnings as well and he is a fantastic representation for death.
The very last thing that I would wish to draw your attention to is the dark pink thick ribbon that I have wrapped around the tree starting at the core of the tree and wrapping its way around the tree is a symbol of birth parents. This also exposes the idea that journeys can be life changing. In spite of this, I mentioned before that Elena had lost her parents in a car accident. This can be clearly seen as an emotional journey for Elena. However, Elena still has her family around her. She has her little brother Jeremy, Aunt Jenna who is her take over parent/ carer, her two best friends Bonnie and Caroline, Stefan her new love interest and his good looking and very attractive brother Damon. This ribbon represents the way they stand beside Elena, while holding her together and helping her complete her journey. The cuts in the ribbon that I have cut into it represent the times that Elena has come to a sudden brick wall in her journey pathway and that her loved ones have been there to help through that situation.
In conclusion to this speech, it can therefore be perceived that Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey or ‘monomyth’ is a thriving well – thought – out recommendation for the common structure or in this case, a notion (or in my case my understanding of a Hero’s Journey) that tolerates us to value, recognize and appreciate the complicated natural environment of how significant these phases or common structures are to emerging the character, creature or human being. In my related text, The Vampire Diaries… the differentiations are correspondingly essential for the reason that it describes and explains the personalities, features, uniqueness and physical characteristics of a hero. My artefact that I have produced lets me demonstrate in what way just exactly how important the stages in the monomyth are. These stages can either be spiritual, mental, emotional & physical as well as growth and personal development. Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen for listening to my speech and thank again for allowing me to illustrate my notion of a hero’s journey.

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