Journeys.

Journeys are rewarding experiences regardless of the end result is positive or negative. To what extent is this true based on your prescribed text and related texts of your own choosing. Experiences from embarking on journeys are more invaluable than reaching the destination, as it allows us to grow and assists in our self-development. This notion is true to an extent based on the analysis of Robert Grays’ imagist poems “Going Back, On a Hot Night” and “Late Ferry”. Through poetic devices, Gray enriches our understanding of the concept of journeys and expands our knowledge. However, by contrasting “Late Ferry” with Hayao Miyazaki’s Japanese animation “Spirited Away”, coupled with “Going Back, On a Hot Night” and Nadia Wheatley’s picture book “Luke’s Way Of Looking” respectively, the differences and similarities challenge us to further evaluate the truthfulness of the given notion. In a literal sense, “Late Ferry” dictates a story of a ferry departing from “beyond that narrow wood jetty” to travel into the “broad open harbour”. In a metaphysical sense, it is a journey from childhood to adulthood as the ferry struggles in the vast water. We can understand that in order to enter into the macrocosmic world, we must abandon our safe haven, connoting the idea that people do not like to change to establish a journey. The ferry’s struggle is evident through personification and simile as it “feels nervously about in the blackness…like hands after the light switch”. The visual imagery of the “neon redness…down in the water” is symbolic of upcoming danger for the ferry as the readers can already sense that it is already in the dominance of the city. Gray is establishing that as we get closer to the destination, we will face an obstacle that can have a negative impact upon us. This idea is embodied within the text because the ferry is ‘lost soon in the blizzard of light’. The ferry is negatively impacted from its journey through the simile “small as a moth” which represents it as something miniature and can be easily influenced, while the metaphor of it “wandering through the projector’s beam” emphasises how the city has a façade and distorts reality. From the poem, the readers can comprehend how the transition from childhood to adulthood is significant but can be influenced by external factors. Despite the negative influence, rewarding experiences are gained as the ferry realises its potential when it arrived at the “Busky Berkley spectacular”. Hence, to a high extent, we can agree that journeys are rewarding regardless of the end result. Similarly, the journey of transition to adulthood is evident through the contrast of “Late Ferry” and “Spirited Away”. Chihiro, the main protagonist, learns to accept that journey is inevitable and that we must always expect to start a new adventure. She developed towards maturation and the experiences she gained promotes self-growth. The outcome of her journey is siginificant as the opening sequence unveils to us her immaturity. This is emphasised by the panning effect of her bored facial expression in the backseat of the car, which connotes her lack of enthusiasm despite her mother stating “It’s fun to move to a new place. It’s an adventure”! Chihiro’s first step to maturation is her employment at the bathhouse, which is emblematic of her initial journey in the spirit world and her independence in the unknown world is of similar to the ferry’s struggle. The motif of the red bridge, similar to the “neon redness”, foreshadows an upcoming obstacle for the individual. Chihiro’s growth is evident through the comparison of her steps as she walks through the dark tunnel which connects the real world with the spirit world. The close up shot of her strong foot step compared to the timid one at the beginning of the film signifies the positive outcome of the journey. Although the ferry has been negatively influenced by the macrocosm in “Late Ferry”, Chihiro is supported by her friends. She utilise the connections that she has made on a personal level and utilises it as a fuel to sustain herself in the human world, further reinforcing the invaluable experiences she has gained. Therefore, we can witness that journeys rewarding regardless of the end result. Experiences gained from journeys are invaluable and more significant than reaching the destination. This idea is challenged in Robert Gray’s “Going Back, On a Hot Night”. The significance of the title “Going Back…” provides a suspicion to the readers that the protagonist has been on the same physical journey before. This suspicion is proven though the gloomy and tedious atmosphere evoked by the assonance “hollow long metal train” and the visual imagery “sandy flats with the paperbark”. The enjambment in the structure of the poem creates an undisrupted flowing effect of the lines. This convey to the audience that the journey is monotonous, and we can deduct that no experiences can be gained if an individual repeats the same adventure due to the sense of familiarity. In the third stanza, the protagonist digresses from his physical journey to an imaginative one as he observes “the moonlight in saucers, stacked up, teetering”. The personification of the moon reaching out to “mark the horizon” and the metaphoric “pond-life of stars”, which reflects the protagonist’s yearning for the journey to end, encapsulates the adventurist through their spontaneity. We can establish that although the same journey can be familiar and tedious, the routes to reaching the destination are always different. This provides the individual more opportunities to gain more rewarding experiences. The end of the poem marks the end of the journey, where his sense of relief is conveyed by the first person “I can stretch my legs awhile.” Although the destination has ended, his adventure is resonated in his mind by the onomatopoeic “clonk, clonk”, further reinforcing the protagonist’s negativity towards the journey. Despite that, he has embarked on a new adventure along the way in his journey. Therefore, it is highly true that journeys are rewarding experiences regardless of the destination. By contrasting the poem with “Luke’s Way of Looking”, we are further to enrich ourselves with the conceptual knowledge of journeys. The picture book details the school life of Luke, a creative individual, who is ostracised in his class as he ‘looked at things differently’. This sense of loneliness is represented by the light yellow hue in the background and creates a monotonous atmosphere similar to the one in “Going Back, on a Hot Night”. The synergy of the anaphora “He screamed…He tore…He broke’ with Mr Barraclough’s facial expression in the graphic further reinforces the idea of Luke being isolated in his classroom. However, this acts as a catalyst which initiates Luke to “hope on the first bus” to the museum. This suggests to us that journeys can often be initiated as a mean of escape and we often embark on an adventure in hope of finding acceptance. The sudden change of hues from plain yellow to a plethora of vibrant colours when Luke entered the museum is symbolic of Luke’s new perspective. We can view a paradoxic similarity of Wheatley’s picture book and Gray’s poem as Luke detours from an imaginative journey to a physical journey, where as the protagonist in the poem embarked on a physical journey but digresses to an imaginative route. The end of “Luke’s Way Of Looking” is ambiguous, as Luke arrives back at school to paint ‘what he saw’. The book ends with ‘Mr Barraclough didn’t know what to say. So he said nothing.’ We do not know the outcomes of the end result, but we are able to strongly agree to a high extent that journeys are rewarding experiences, as it allows us to search for acceptance and gain new perspectives.