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THE HERO CYCLE
Dr. J. TaylorTHE HERO CYCLEMythology in Art and Literature
In his famous study of heroes, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell claims that most heroic adventures follow the formula of the rites of passage: separation–initiation–return. Campbell calls this the nuclear monomyth:
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a
region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there
encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes
back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow
boons on other humans.(Campbell 30)
DEPARTURE
Call to Adventure – Destiny summons the hero to leave society and enter a region of treasure and danger (dark forest, great trees, babbling spring)
Refusal of Call – Hero refuses call and brings disaster on himself and others.
Supernatural Aid – Motherly/fatherly guide protects hero with powers of a benign destiny.
Crossing the Threshold – First step beyond the familiar boundaries into dangerous unknown.
The Belly of the Whale – Transit into sphere of re-birth, symbolized by womb-like belly of the whale.
INITIATION
Road of Trials – Hero must survive succession of trials, aided sometimes by advice, amulets, and secret agents.
Meeting with the Goddess – Achieves mystical union or confrontation with Queen Goddess of the World, in her benign or horrible aspects.
Woman as Temptress – Hero must withstand temptations of destructive Mother-Bride.
Atonement with the Father – Hero abandons self and trusts that terrible Father is, in fact, benign and merciful.
Apotheosis – Hero becomes one with God or the universe.
The Ultimate Boon – Hero receives or captures key to happiness in social world.
RETURN
Refusal of the Return – Hero refuses return and denies his knowledge to social world.
Magic Flight – Having won trophy, hero uses supernatural powers to achieve an otherwise dangerous return.
Rescue from Without – Return requires assistance from without.
Crossing of Return Threshold – Transit from divine back to human world.
Master of Two Worlds – Hero able to cross and re-cross world division
Source: Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2nd ed. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Pr., 1968).
The Helix Nebula
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The Helix Nebula
The Helix Nebula is a celestial body found in the Aquarius constellation about 650 light years away from the Sun. The nebula has the catalogue number NGC 7293, by which it is otherwise known. It is the closest body to the Earth spanning about 2.5 light-years. It is an example of planetary nebulae, which are remnants of stars that once resembled the sun. Karl Ludwig Harding discovered the helix in the 18th century, in 1824, when a star resembling the Sun was in its final stages of evolution (Dunbar Web).
The degenerating star sloughed off shedding gas shells that formed the nebula. What remained at the core of the star was a pinprick, hot, and dense center, referred to as the white dwarf. The white dwarf weighs close to the original star, but it is almost the same size as the Earth. It emits a bright ultraviolet light that shines on the shed gas layers giving it an infrared glow. The center has a bright, purple core that results from ultraviolet and infrared combination. The core is actually a glowing dusty disk that surrounds the white dwarf. Planetary nebulae turn hydrogen into helium in their cores while undergoing intense nuclear fusion reactions. The fusion is responsible for the supply of heat and light received from the sun (Walsh and Meaburn Web).
The chemistry of the Helix Nebula comprises of molecular gas, ionized material and dust arranged in a spectacular complex that resembles a flower pattern. The nebula also contains elements such as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, sulfur, and carbon among others. It shines in the vicious beam of ultraviolet light from the central hot star about 500 light years away from the Earth. Although the nebula appears like a big object in the sky, its angular size is about 2.5 light-years in diameter, halfway that of the moon. Images taken of the nebula reveal that it appears like a flat disk, which is about a third of its diameter in thickness. It also has inner and outer rings, with the core containing hot and highly ionized gas. The outer ring measures 742” in diameter while the inner has a diameter of 499”. The plane of the outer ring is greatly inclined to the plane of the disk unlike that of the inner ring. A larger ring that measures about 1500” in diameter surrounds the outer ring (Lamers et al. Web).
The images further reveal that the edges of the inner ring have tiny knots and tails that point away from the original star. The emission knots appear like bow-shaped structures bearing a glowing tip on the globular side of the main star, with an outwardly extending tail. The knots result from shooting hot gas from the star surface and collides with the cooler surrounding substances (O’Dell, Peter and Margaret Web). The most striking feature of the nebula is the collection of many filamentary structures or gas strands that appear like a transparent blue background with red lines emanating from the core. The aforementioned are the identifiable features of the nebula as revealed by images taken through the Hubble Space Telescope and Wide Field Imager (Henry et al. Web).
The Helix Nebula is of interest to humans because it is facilitating change in the European research sector in the application of IT for cloud services. It has revolutionized the infrastructure in the scientific and industrial sectors and society as a whole through the provision of secure, accessible, competitive and sustainable development. Therefore, the helix is the next big thing in the research and industrial world as it facilitates the evolution of infrastructure since it is among the most eye-catching discoveries in astronomy (Dunbar Web).
Works Cited
Dunbar, Brian. The Helix Nebula – Bigger in Death than Life. NASA, 3 Oct. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Henry, R.B.C., K.B. Kwitter, and R.J Dufour. Morphology and Composition of the Helix Nebula. Cornell University Library, 8 Jan. 1999. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Lamers, Henny, Antonella Nota, Nino Panagia, Linda Smith, and Norbert Langer. Chemical “Composition and Origin of Nebulae around Luminous Blue Variables.” The Astrophysical Journal. 551.2 (2001): 764. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
O’Dell, C. R., Peter R. Mccullough, and Margaret Meixner. “Unraveling the Helix Nebula: Its Structure And Knots.” The Astronomical Journal, 128 (2004): 2339-2356. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Walsh, J.R. and J. Meaburn. Imaging the Globules in the Core of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293). University of Manchester, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
The Heart Of Darkness The Paradox Of Imperialism In The 19th Century
The Heart Of Darkness: The Paradox Of Imperialism In The 19th Century
Colonialism marks one of many countries’ common denominators. Needless to say, the foundation of colonialism was imperialism, which quite a large number of scholars have explored in varied works of literature. While numerous scholars have covered it, none explores the topic more critically than Joseph Conrad in his book that goes by the title, “The Heart of Darkness”.
“The Heart of Darkness” is essentially an overview or outline of the adventures of an ivory transporter in the African country named Congo. In the course of his voyage, Marlow gets to know about Kurtz, an ivory-trading agent. He becomes particularly interested in the varied aspects of his business and especially the manner in which he dealt with the native Africans. Of particular interest (and surprise) to Marlow is the impunity with which the varied Europeans dealt on the Africans, all in an effort to fulfill their selfish desires (Conrad 34).
Joseph Conrad has undoubtedly brought out the element of paradox through the analysis of the imperialism subjected on the Africans. He brings out an overview of the costly nature of imperialism, more so with regard to the African invasion. According to Conrad, conquest brought in a relatively low amount of returns in comparison with the capital that was used to make the invasion possible. This simply shows that the results of the invasion did not really justify it or justify the strategies that were used in pursuing the objectives. The literature incorporates varied notions pertaining to the absurd attempts that detail how acquiring resources from Africa vindicated the effort that was placed in acquiring them. The Paradox of imperialism in “The Heart of Darkness” is clearly depicted by the manner in which Europeans treat African natives.
First, it is worth noting that Kurtz believed that he was bringing civilization to Africans, which was undoubtedly a white lie. Africans conceived him as a god, a notion that he cemented through the use of intimidation and threats. It is worth noting that the intimidation was aimed at scaring the African natives into bringing or supplying Kurtz the valuable stones and metals. Initially, Kurtz was had come to Africa in an effort to satisfy his immense desire for adventure. He essentially aimed at improving, instructing, as well as humanizing, which he had outlined in the first report that he made to the company. However, he got rid of his philanthropic intentions after recognizing the amount of power that he could potentially hold in the jungle. He essentially created the impression that he was a supreme ruler, an indomitable being and a god among the common people or natives. This is essentially an indication of the excuse that Europeans used in introducing colonialism and imperialism to Africa. Initially, they created the impression that Africans would benefit more from them through civilization and an introduction of modernity. However, it turns out that they merely used this as a white-cloud to mist their true intentions.
On the same note, Kurtz practices imperialism through the use of the company’s humanitarian mission or aim in the African country. His outlines his mission as opening and exposing Congo and Africa at large through education. It goes without saying that he tramples the European values in Congo thanks to his use of dictatorship compel Africans to bring him ivory. It is noteworthy that the station that Kurtz manned held the highest collection of ivory collection, larger than all the other collection centers combined. As much as Kurtz is carrying out the company’s bidding, his approach was entirely wrong. He employs intimidation without the smallest attempt at hiding or concealing his draconian attitude behind a cloud of worthy or positive intentions. Kurtz’s operation strategy does not escape the criticism of people such as the manager even though he is also responsible for availing ivory to the Company.
Kurtz believes that ideologies and strategies that he utilizes in Congo would be of benefit to the locals as they would upgrade their lifestyles. Nonetheless, this is not the case as observed by Marlow. Marlow states that Kurtz is a construct of the entire Europe. He is driven or motivated by extreme greed just like other European entrepreneurs like the Company. His imperialism obstructs him from caring about how other people like the Manager perceive him. Kurtz is open about his greed and desire for power. On the contrary, Brussels is a tomb for European hypocrisy hence they practice imperialism under the facade of good objectives. The characters depicted by Kurtz are exaggerations that are concealed in the hearts of individuals who are attempting to establish empires internationally.
Despite being a white, Marlow does not embrace all the things he is told. His skepticism makes him distrust even innocent remarks made by other individuals such as the brickmaster and the manager (Conrad 26). This character of sifting through the details of the things that he is told assists him to discover that the definition of civilization he developed from Kurtz and the company was wrong. Imperialism was their way of attaining their selfish desires in the pretense of offering assistance to the destitute locals.
In addition, imperialism is depicted by the rivalry that pits the manager against Kurtz. The manager has employed varied strategies that would prevent Marlow from offering any assistance to Kurtz, who is his key rival in the company. When the Manager told Kurtz that he had gone to save him when he was sick, Kurtz retorted, “To save the ivory, you mean?” Marlow could also tell that the manager’s sympathy was far from sincere. He wanted Kurtz dead simply because he posed an immense threat to his job in the company. In fact, he was immensely overjoyed when Kurtz died, which outlines the misplaced priorities that imperialism introduced. These people valued position and money over human life without a tinge of guilt.
Works cited
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Harmondsworth. Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1978. Print.