Going_It_Alone

English GIA Essay “It takes courage and determination to stand alone” Do you agree' Discuss is relation to your prescribed text and at least one related text of your own choosing. Courage and determination are both key factors and characteristics of a person who chooses to stand alone. Without these two factors a person who chooses to go it alone will find themselves suffering to a greater degree and will be forced to concede defeat. The external pressures that are associated with their journey do prove to be too much to handle. Through the examination of the journeys and mindsets of specific characters this is proved as shown in Elissa Down’s “The Black Balloon” and Uwem Akpan’s “Luxurious Hearses. In Elissa Downs’s “The Black Balloon” the character of Thomas as a protagonist clearly exemplifies these two qualities of courage and determination as a necessary means to be able to stand alone. This is seen best by the journey he seems to take with his autistic brother Charlie and the way in which he deals with the difficult situations that Charlie poses. In the beginning of the film Thomas is seen to handle Charlie with a sense of immaturity. He is trying to hide Charlie from his new society that he trying to fit into, he is trying to separate his two worlds. This is well shown in the scene “The Unexpected Visitor”. Here when Jackie comes to visit Thomas attempts to lock Charlie within his room. The shakiness produced by the handheld camera during the struggle to achieve this represents the unstable nature of their then current relationship. Also adding to this is the constant metaphorical barriers present in the scene. The metaphorical barriers are placed there by Thomas in his attempt to divide the two worlds as shown when he locks Charlie away and then proceeds to let Jackie through the screen door. This attempt however to avoid the use of courage and determination fails as his two worlds collide when he walks out with Charlie’s dirtied clothes. The fact that he tried to avoid using these two characteristics which caused an ensuing worse situation shows that they are necessary to stand alone. Like Thomas, Jubril from Uwem Akpan’s “Luxurious Hearses” takes a journey both mentally and physically alone. His obvious determination and courage is seen to be the only factor keeping him from a certain death and though not as extreme this can be likened to the story of Thomas in that these two characteristics when displayed allowed for him to progress in his journey. “Luxurious Hearses” follows the tale of a young Muslim boy named Jubril as he flees the conflict in religiously divided Nigeria. He travels among many people in his same situation with one key difference. He has hidden himself within fleeing and enemy Christians because he was turned upon by his own Muslim community. With certain death present upon the discovery of him to be a Muslim the only factor keeping Jubril alive was his courage and determination. This is best shown by the fact that he maintains a determination to accept and tolerate the Christians around him while still maintaining and hiding his Muslim faith. The extended motif of his stump hand shows this very well and also represents his separation from the surrounding society by physical means. This is because the stump identifies him to be a Muslim and the courage that he displays to continue to travel with Christians while hiding this is shown to keep him alive and show his ability to stand alone. “The stump was unsteady, vibrating as if the source of his fever” This quote further exemplifies this through the simile used within it. The link between his stump and the source of his discomfort and nervousness to the point of being physically sick shows that it was hard for him to hide it but was able to because of his determination and courage. Overall both texts of “Luxurious Hearses” and “The Black Balloon” through their key protagonists portray that determination and courage are necessary factors in the fight to stand alone. With Thomas failing in the beginning to show these factors it was shown that his situation worsened while as Jubril displayed them he was kept from a certain death. Therefore it can be conceived that it takes courage and determination to stand alone.