Time To Wake Up!!

What’s going to happen days from now when we don’t spend all our time thinking of new ideas for blogs, or disagreeing/agreeing with people on their blogs?

It’s time to get back to the same 10th grade English class like the beginning of the year. Hey I didn’t say anything was wrong with it, it’s just going to take awhile to get back in the way of things. This project has really taught me a lot. When we were first assigned this project I didn’t realize what an obsession I would have with it. My first thought was “Oh, here goes another English project…” Now looking back on everything I wouldn’t have changed one thing.

Blogging has now become one of my favorite things to do. I love that I can express my feelings on the internet rather than in person because I feel a lot more comfortable and confident. I usually don’t like speaking out in class just in a case I say something wrong and look not so smart. Other classmates and people all over the world can read my blog entries and have their opinions over my thoughts and then I can read how they feel about what I’ve written and if I didn’t see it from their point of view. It’s an awesome way to expand out minds. It’s not just like any other class project. This one allowed my classmates and me to have open opinions without being judged about how we interpret different things. When we open this to the real world they can see how there are very many ways to analyze this book by 10^th grade students. I bet there’s a million other ways with different age groups also.

When Mr. Long first assigned us this I think it was a challenge to see if we could actually successfully fulfill what he wanted. From what I know, I think that we did an awesome job! I love how he assigned our partners by each of our unique attributes that we can help contribute to our groups. My group personally did an amazing job. We worked so well together and communicated all the time making sure everyone was staying on task. We all accomplished everything we hoped for. I know we are going to do well because of the team work and all the hard work we put into this project.

I loved having a project that was basically a “do what you want” but while we knew what we had to get done. Mr. Long kept us up to date and let us lead ourselves down the rabbit hole. I felt a lot better doing this without being under pressure. I’m so excited to get graded from people we don’t know. I feel like it will be a better way and it’s not just one person being the judge of us. We can have people that have just come and followed our blogs but don’t know us as a person, but as a writer.

I’m very sad that this project has come to an end, because I truly loved expressing myself and thoughts through these blogs. Like my group discussed on a CoveritLive, this was like our own “wonderland” and this was our adventure to take us through new paths and for us to discover the bigger picture. I really feel like I learned a lot more because we learned the symbolism through the story. I know I’ll be looking for symbolism in all new books I read from now on. Unfortunately, it’s time for all of us to wake up from this “dream” of ours and get back to the normal routine. I will miss coming in class everyday not being able to do things that go along with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. But I would like to thank my group for doing such a great job and Mr. Long for assigning this amazing project!

14:Rescue From Without/15:Crossing of the Return Threshold/16:Master of the Two Worlds

These are the last three steps on Campbell’s ”Hero’s Journey”.

Step number 14 is when a person out of nowhere comes and saves the hero. It’s an unexpected source that rescues them and or a person forgotten in the story that doesn’t seem very important. In the story Alice doesn’t ever get rescued from anyone. I guess you could say she rescues herself by waking up. She becomes worked up at the end of the story and eventually wakes up and realizes it is all a dream. If I was Alice I would be disappointed that is was all a dream because she was away from the real world and in a fantasy land where anything could happen, and she didn’t have to have her parent’s approval for anything. So I think she rescues herself from anything bad that could have happened to her. Say for example, the Queen shouting “Off with her head”. But as we all know she never really went through with that.

Step number 15 is Crossing of the Return Threshold. This is when the “hero” has made is home and is safe once again. They won’t have to worry about anything bad happening to them because they are back where they know everything around them. This can be hard or easy for the character this is happening too. Alice never really returns home, she just wakes up from her dream. this could be easy for Alice because it was never a real thing happening it was all a fantasy, but it also could be hard for her if she became attached to wonderland and all the things it involved.

The last step is number 16, Master of the Two Worlds. This is when the hero has fully been returned and now has been the “master” of both worlds… or in Alice’s case she is an expert for her home land, but also wonderland. She has gone a long way to get through it all and come out and still be the person she is. She could take this all into perspective and change her ways and be more careful or she could take it as a fun experiment and something she doesn’t regret.

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As I finished writing all my blogs on Campbell’s series, I’ve learned that not all characters will qualify to be a hero in the end. I showed what Alice has in common with the different traits but she doesn’t follow all of them. I wouldn’t say Alice is a hero after all. She was just an average little girl who made a “mistake” and fell down a rabbit hole. I think that she had a fun time and was pleased it was all a dream. When she wakes up in reality she is still a happy girl, but I think it’s all a little more than a dream.

12:Refusal of the Return/13:The Magic Flight

After the Ultimate Boon has happened the character doesn’t want to leave their “happy place”. They don’t want to go back to the normal life after they have experienced all of this. Like I said before, Alice never really has her “goal” reached, because she never made on in the beginning. Maybe it’s just the satisfaction of being in wonderland and being somewhere that is different and interesting to her. She enjoys wonderland because it is different and not like home. She can be anything she wants and be happy there. There’s not actual proof of Alice saying “I don’t want to go home”, but wouldn’t you say that she seems happy in wonderland? We never really saw her at home but being in wonderland would be happy for a seven-year old girl.

The magic flight is when the transition begins or the process of going to the previous existence. This is when the character tries to hurry home after the goal has been accomplished. But in the story like I said there is no goal that has been made. She never set one in the beginning of the story. Alice also never at any point in the story tries to rush home. She enjoys being there because it is different and something she has never been through before. Alice wakes up from the dream to realize it never actually happened. I think she was disappointed by this because she had a fun time. But isn’t it weird she can remember everything that happens? usually when I have a dream I forget it. I find it really weird she can tell the whole dream to her sister without leaving anything out and her sister can relate and say she saw the same thing.

10:Apotheosis/11:The Ultimate Boon

These are the next Hero’s Journey steps, 10 and 11.

The first one describes the character basically getting a higher place. As Alice goes through her journey she continues to get to know the other characters a lot more. When she goes to the Queen’s house, she really connects with the Duchess. They talk a lot, and get to know each other pretty well. Alice is kind of creeped out by the Duchess but she doesn’t let it bother her. She also gets closer to the Queen and everyone starts to like Alice a lot more than from the beginning. This is where she starts to realize that she has been changed as a person and the transition can be stated with the appearance change of the character. She doesn’t change at this part in  the story. Alice changes at the beginning of the story when she keeps changing sizes. But that’s a different part of the hero stage. But we do see Alice change again in the court room. She begins to keep getting taller and eventually almost get kicked out of there for being to tall.

Next is the Ultimate Boon. This is when the goal of the journey is reached. This is probably after a battle or when the great treasure is reached. Alice never had a physical battle with anyone and I don’t really think she had a goal of her journey. Her adventure started out because of a mistake she made by accidently falling down a hole. This can be the climax of the story or anything where is qualifies where the “goal” is accomplished.

8:Woman as the Temptress/9:Atonement with the Father

These are the next steps for the continuous Hero’s Journey.

Woman as the Temptress is when the character meets usually a female who becomes her temptation. I don’t think anyone qualities to play this part. I think she is a little to young and not complex enough to even follow this. As we see once again, she doesn’t follow this which is another proof of my believing she isnt a hero. But everyone has their own opinions and can still believe that she truly is going to be a hero.

Atonement with the Father is when the character comes in contact with a father figure. There usually is a complicated relationship between the two but eventually becomes in good terms together. Sometimes the person can be a god or a person that has a high authority. I think that the father figure is the Cheshire Cat. He is the one who really helps her a long the journey and supports her. I don’t think they ever had a “head butting” moment. They had always gotten along.

This leads to the next steps which are the apotheosis and the Ultimate boon.

6:Road of Trials/7:Meeting with the Goddess

I started writing about the Hero’s Journey at the beginning of this project. I definitely saw that Alice isn’t a hero at all. She might have some qualities that hero’s have but that doesn’t make her one.

The next of Campbell’s steps is number 6, Road of Trials. This is the path and journey of the character as they go through and what happens in their adventure. Alice did have this aspect in her adventure through wonderland after she got through the rabbit hole that’s when her journey started and most of her things from there on are now qualify her for her journey to begin being a hero. But don’t most all characters have the path of learning the good and bad of things. Alice learned a lot from her adventure but will she use any of it when it’s all over with?

Next is step 7: The Meeting with the Goddess. This is found in more hero’s stages through their adventure but it doesn’t always happen, just like every step here. This is the road when they meet a female figure that influences them. I think that her influence was the Queen of Hearts. In one of Kristen K’s blogs she relates the Queen as a sister figure that helps her out through this adventure. The ”goddess” can be a mystical or supernatural person along with someone they meet.

So I believe Alice isn’t a hero right? But she does relate to a lot of these qualifications. Maybe she is her own hero.

Modern Days

My group and I did a CoveritLive on Monday night discussing the new SyFy ”Alice” and also the new upcoming movie by Disney. We compared and contrasted a lot of the things we saw when we watched the “trailers” for the two items. I found a lot more differences then I did similarities. I also brought up about how creepy the new movie looks.

Do you think this could just be because of the creativity that Tim Burton has? Or could it be because this is the way he sees wonderland, and the other characters. Tim Burton is has done a lot with movies with either directing or producing movies. Some of the popular movies that you have probably heard of are; Corpse Bride, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Edward Scissorhands. If you have seen any of these movies before or even heard about them you will find that they all have that “creepy” feeling to all of them. I think Burton does a very good job on creating these stories and using a different aspect from other directors.

Another thing is that when you compare the SyFy version of “Alice” to the Annotated version you will find very many differences. In the upcoming show, Alice is a brunette and is very much older than in the book we’re reading. In the upcoming movie Alice is a blonde but also much older. In the book the Annotated Version, Alice is a young blonde girl. I find it interesting how so many people picture her differently.

This is from the SyFy “Alice”

http://www.daemonstv.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/nup_135521_0225.jpg

This is from the upcoming movie “Alice in Wonderland”

http://janezlifeandtimes.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/aussie-mia-wasiklowska-as-alice.jpg

This is Alice from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: The Annotated Version”

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Alice_par_John_Tenniel_30.png

Next I find it interesting that wonderland was never really described in the book to us, so basically anyone can have their own imagination and think whatever they would like about wonderland. One person could think of it as a bright happy place while another person could see it as a dark place where not everyday things happen. But what it looks like to me in the show and new movie, it looks like a dark place. It wouldn’t look very inviting if you asked me.

Why do you think Burton and the creator of the new series “Alice” would make Alice so much older?

I think maybe they are trying to appeal to the older age of people because those are the people willing to spend the money to go see the movie or the ones who know when a TV show is going to by airing. If they make it for little kids, they can’t always do what they want or watch what they want. Why would they do this? Carroll wrote this book for children but now it’s turned to an older age group. Or maybe the new movie is aiming for a young age but more likely get an older age group just depending on everyone’s opinion on it.

The Big Dream

So Daniel Lott wrote a really good blog about the whole concept of this book being a dream, and I am going to feed off of what he wrote.

His question at the end of his blog was, ” So is this really all a dream?”

I also think that it is very odd that Alice could recite every single thing about her dream and then her sister then had a dream about Alice’s dream. This is a little ironic right? More like very ironic. But do we really know when the actual dream started? We know that in the beginning of the book it states that Alice was outside with her sister and she was feeling “sleepy and stupid” Stupid… why would she randomly be feeling stupid? I don’t usually think randomly, “Hey I feel stupid right now!” I’ve been told you usually dream about what you are thinking about right before you go to sleep or some people say it’s almost like seeing something in the future.

If Alice was feeling stupid before she went to sleep maybe this could have been the cause of her dream being so weird in my perspective. But how do we know when the actual dream started if it doesn’t necessarily say that.

On the “Associated Content” website they say that dreams represent a world of imagery in which our darkest fears, deepest secrets, and most passionate fantasies break out from the unconscious mind and only at this time become present to our own consciousness.

I think this is a cool way of describing a dream because it all makes sense when I think back to previous dreams I have had. Now I think I should probably answer Daniel’s question…

I think it was all a dream and Carroll is trying to confuse us, or maybe it’s simple but we’re trying to confuse ourselves with making it more complicated and think outside the box when it’s right in front of our eyes.

Step 5: The Belly of the Whale

Here I go again with the next step. Step five is called the belly of the whale. This is usually when the person is in their lowest point of their journey. You are most of the time surrounded by unknown qualities and don’t know what is going to happen. This should be the time when Alice’s mind needs to realize what is ahead of her and that there is no turning back and she needs to rely on herself and just go with her instincts.

Just like when Jonah gets stuck in the belly of the whale (hence the name) he has to try and figure what he is going to do, now that he is stuck and he can’t turn around and get out so simple. It’s the time the hero needs to be creative and not freak out.

In the book, Alice goes through a lot and seems very confused but by the end of the book she has figured out everything. She has formed to the new group of people and acted just like them. She had been around them for so a good amount of time they finally just began to rub off on Alice. This state of mind is usually very confusing for the person, but it will rub off soon because it’s only temporary.

I think Alice goes through this stage many times and is confused for the first half of the book. I don’t think she understands why she keeps changing sizes and continuously gets smaller, or larger. She is also confused when she keeps seeing the white rabbit and how he randomly disappears talking about going to see the Duchess.

But I think that Alice’s time in the “belly of the whale” is really when she gets past the point of the curtain. Even though she doesn’t technically get out through that way, but when she cries. Alice cries because she is very confused and doesn’t know what to do anymore. She is sad and misses home. So this is the point when she is very confused but when all the animals come and talk with her she feels better and I think that starts on the point of her feeling more welcome and interested in her journey.

Step 4: Crossing The First Threshold

Now it seems like all my steps so far are only based on the first chapter in this book. It’s simple; it’s just where I see all of these events happening. The next step on the “Hero’s Journey” is step 4, the crossing of the first threshold. This is when the person or soon to be “hero” is crossing into the adventure. This is usually when the person is leaving what they call home, or their limits and going into a new “world” or in Alice’s case… “wonderland”. This could usually be dangerous because they are entering somewhere where they don’t know the rules or how to get around.

 Many people could have different opinions about when Alice actually enters the first threshold. I have several options that could work. One, it could literally be when she starts down the rabbit hole and just slides down there and wonders about the most random things because she is leaving her home and going into a whole new world and doesn’t know what to expect. It could also be when she goes through the little door behind the curtain after she has already met with her supernatural aid, because once again this could be very dangerous because she has no idea what is going on or where she is going. This makes sense because if you say the white rabbit is the supernatural aid entering the first threshold is usually after the meeting of the supernatural aid.

 So… if you say that the supernatural aid is the white rabbit, then entering the first threshold could either her falling down the hole or going through the tiny door. But, if you say the drink/food is the supernatural aid it would only make sense to say that crossing the first threshold would have to be after, which in that case would be going through the door behind the curtain. Maybe I’m wrong, but this is my opinion. What is yours?