Chapter 1 - Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not)
The five aspects of the quest are: a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials en route, and a real reason to go there. In Matilda, this can be seen:
Our quester: 6 year old girl, quiet, obedient, doesn’t like her family, very smart.
A place to go: The library is a sacred place for Matilda.
A stated reason to go there: Matilda finds out that she loves to read and the library is where she can learn about pastimes or the endless fiction-made stories.
Challenges and trials: Matilda’s parents have made it especially hard for Matilda to enjoy her time reading, they don’t believe that people should spend their time reading books. In addition to her slimy parents causing trouble, Miss Trunchbull also finds it hard to accept Matilda for the learning-loving girl that she is.
The real reason to go: The library, or books rather, allow Matilda to escape her reality. She be transformed into another world at 4PM and due to her quick reading, she can be a completely different person at 7PM. Books have given Matilda a way to escape from her nightmare of a life without actually ever leaving.
Chapter 3 - Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires
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Authors utilize their ability to include symbolism into the story to hint at something without ever actually mentioning it, such as sex. The story describes Rhett carrying Scarlett and then moving from that scene to morning with a look of guilty pleasure spread across Scarlett’s face. Without the author even mentioning what happened between the two characters during the night, the readers can infer the act that took place. This scene actually causes some more problems within the book. Rhett comes back and apologizes and offers to get a divorce, but Scarlett doesn’t want him to. This act of infidelity further characterizes the characters as selfish and
-Every time a character sets out to do something it's a quest. The idea of a quest has evolved greatly, as literature has evolved.
A quest in a book consists of five aspects. A quester, a place to go, a reason to go there, challenges and trials, and a real reason to go there. Eragon, by Christopher Paolini, is a book that consists of all five aspects of a quest. Eragon is the quester in this novel. He lives a simple life, farming with his uncle and cousin. The place he goes is out of Carvahall, because he is running away from monstrous villains that want to find him and the dragon egg Eragon hatched. Eragon will travel through almost all of the country Alagaesia throughout his journey. The intended reason for Eragon to travel through Alagaesia is to avenge the monsters that killed his uncle Garrow. Eragon has to go through many challenges and trials before he finally avenges
The five aspects of the QUEST are a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials en route, and a real reason to go there. I believe these aspects have been shown in the popular movie Shrek. Shrek fulfills the title of a quester because he is an ogre living alone in a swamp until one day Lord Farquaad takes away his home. The destination for Shrek and his partner Donkey is the Dragon’s Castle to rescue Princess Fiona. The stated reason to travel there is that if Shrek is capable of rescuing Princess Fiona and bringing her back to Lord Farquaad, he would be allowed to return to his swamp and move on with his lonely life. There are many challenges throughout Shrek’s journey. When Shrek and Donkey arrive at the large
In a novel, when a character makes a trip it usually becomes to be a quest at one point. “… structurally. The quest consists of five things: (a) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, and (e) a real reason to go there” (Foster 3). Questers are so often young, inexperienced, immature, and sheltered, that it makes the real reason for the quest, self-knowledge.
There are many novels that use the plot diagram called the Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey is comprised of twelve sections that move along the story of adventure. Some of the most common sections include Crossing the Thrushhold, Refusal, and Atonement. Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes uses the Hero’s Journey as a plot diagram. In this book, Jerome, a black twelve year old boy, is shot and killed by an officer.
1-3. The main idea of Chapter 1 Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not) (pp.1-6) can be concluded in the following sentence: every story is a quest that consists of a person that has a reason to go to a certain place with challenges on one’s way which then leads the particular person (usually the main hero of a story) to the actual, or real, reason associated with self-knowledge, because the quest is always educational.
In the book "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" by Thomas C. Foster, the first chapter is dedicated to explaining the aspects of a quest in literature. Using this chapter, entitled 'Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It's Not)' (page 1-6), the aspects in question can be related to the quest in "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. The first aspect listed is 'a quester' or 'a person who goes on a quest' (page 3, HTRLLAP); within the first line of the main story, our quester is revealed. We learn that 'the boy's name [is] Santiago,' (page 3, Alchemist). The focus of the entire story is on him and his journey, so the first aspect is there. 'A place to go' (page 3, HTRLLAP) is the second aspect, a very pivotal component for the development of the story.
In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas Foster presents a guide to help readers further understand the novels they read. In chapter one, he claims that every trip is a quest, and every quest has five main components. Each journey consists of a “quester”, or a journeying character that lacks self-knowledge. This character has a desired destination and a stated purpose of going there. Throughout this journey, the character experiences challenges and obstacles, eventually learning something new about him or her self. Thus, we learn that a simple trip has a deeper meaning and purpose.
The first chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s guide to finding symbolism and motifs in literature, How To Read Literature Like a Professor, details the literary plot device of a quest and how to identify one in a novel. He introduces the chapter by explaining how a seemingly normal trip to the grocery store is a quest because it is structurally a quest. The hero, a boy named Kip, like every other hero in a quest, confronts various trials (his jealousy of another boy and his rejection by the girl he likes) in search of a “Holy Grail” (a loaf of bread). According to Foster, there are five components of a quest, all of which can be found in Kip’s story. The first structural component is the quester, or the character who is undertaking the quest, consciously or not. This character is known as the hero or heroine of the story, which in this case is Kip. The second and third elements are the “declared” purpose of the quest: a location that the hero must travel to and a reason to go there, which would be Kip’s search for a loaf of bread at the grocery store. Sometimes,
Melanie and Scarlett both start their journey home with Rhett Butler, a blockade runner who has shown a strong interest in Scarlett. Because the South was rapidly losing men as well as the Civil War, Rhett makes a decision to join the Army to help the South. He has taken Scarlett halfway home at this point when he stops the carriage and gets out. She is terrified to
In Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, it is stated that a quest consists of five things: a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges on the way, and a real reason to go there. In this particular situation, there is not just one quester, but instead and entire family: the Joads. They are headed to California in search of a steady job that will support them. On their way, they face money problems, car troubles, deaths, and issues with the government. The real reason to go there is always self knowledge in the eyes of Thomas Foster. The family learns that they must stick together and help each other and others out in order to survive. Without the help of their neighbors they would have perished of hunger and never would have made it into California. Unfortunately, they never actually reach the point where they have steady and happy lives. This is their Holy Grail. They were journeying toward something that they were never going to find in
To begin with, the quester is Crispin. Each quester has a stated reason to go on a quest or trip. Crispin fleas his village in search of liberty. As stated in the novel, “I beg you to find your way to some town or city with its own liberties.” Secondly, a quester must travel somewhere.
suffers from cowardly guilt and hypocrisy after he commits adultery in this novel staged in the
Foster breaks down the aspects of a journey to describe the quester, the destination, the stated reason, the challenges, and the real reason. The character who embarks on the journey, also known as the quester, has a defined reason to do so, whether it is to obtain an object, save one from the lurking dangers, or acquire life-saving knowledge. Along their way to reach their destination, they may encounter various challenges such as a physical barrier, a challenger/defender, or a personal obstacle they must face. Through whatever form it takes, these barriers force the quester to challenge their abilities and beliefs, which ultimately leads to them discovering personal knowledge previously unknown about themselves. Though the quester may have accomplished their stated goal of their journey, they return from their voyage often as a changed person as the real reason for their quest was to gain self-knowledge. After they finish their conquest, the quester realizes that the journey was more important than the destination whether they built upon their relationships with another, conquered a personal fear, or gained new found knowledge about themselves, altering their personality and their identity. Foster believes that every trip is a quest, and the quest is a revelation about one’s
The five aspects of the quest are the quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials on the way, and the real reason to go there. When I read The Secret Life Of the Bees the quester was Lily, she was looking to go to Tiburon to find out more information about her mother and the past. On her journey she runs away from her father, falls in love, and becomes a part of a family. The real reason behind her journey is to get away from her father and feel connected with a family.