Inner Journeys Essay

What extent has studying the concept of inner journeys expanded your understanding of yourself individuals and of the world? Inner journeys are about the process in which we move from naivity to maturity. In this proccess we learn new things about ourself that help us grow and become wiser and better people. The texts cosi by louis Nowra, the film groudhog day and the poem the road not taken all depict journeys of the mind and spirit which open up a greater understanding of the sense of self. In cosi louis nowra presents the inner journey of lewis, a young first time director who is hired to direct a play to bring the inmates of an asylum ‘out of their shells ‘. At the begining of the play lewis is indecisive in his understanding of others, uncertain of his opinions and unconfident of his own abilies. Diresting cosi fan tutti with emotionally and mentally handicapped people is the catalysts for lewis’ own emotional and mental maturity. As a metaphor for the world the charred theatre represents the challenges that will confront lewis. The characterization of lewis is established by the realism that of his language when he initially states † i need the money. However this realism is threatened when both nick and lucy leave him alone to deal with the inmates. lewis’s growing fear and uncertainty is emphasized through Nowra’s stage directions. Gradually as lewis spends more time with the patients like when he like when he lies about cherry â€Å"thats why she spends so much time in the toilets in order to keep the production going he starts to see the value it has for them. Lewis also changes his attitude toward love and fidelity. This evident in the contrast when he says † loves not so important nowadays† to now saying â€Å"without love the world wouldn’t mean much†. Nowra uses the play within play within play structure to emphasize the importance of love and fidelity. The opera cosi fan tutti functions somewhat as a mimetic device as it becomes a reflection of lewis’ relationship with lucy and his realisation that fidelity is an essential part of love. The inner journey that allowed lewis to gain this insight has been a product of his relationship with the mental patients. Finally lewis develops personally as a a director. Initially conveyed as a timid character, evident as roy talks over him, he learns to control and direct as he gains the respect of the mental patients. The film groundhog day starring bill Murray show’s the Inner journey of Phill as he is trapped in a recurring day. Through the brilliance of the plot we can observe as he deals with his unique predicament. We see how he struggles to find meaning and purpose in life. Each day he experiments with new thoughts and behaviors and he learns what works and what doesn’t. Any change that occurs must be inside him because only he can change. All the other characters repaet eaxcly what they did the day before. This shines an intense light on Phils abilty to change himself. Over countless days he learns that what pleasure he thought would make him happy have failed to, and he has to accept his old self has completely run out of steam. From this he is forced to place all his attention on changing the way he interprets the world, on his personal reality by changing his attitudes, values thoughts and feelings. like lewis he literally recreates himself becoming a mature. loving and giving person. His journey proves that inner change is the key to personal growth and happiness. The road not taken by Robert frost uses a metaphor of traveling to explore our chooses in life. It depicts the difficulty of making choices available and presented to people. Frost traces the way we make decisions, enjoying the options life has to offer us yet he also acknowledges that we cannot realistically do everything that is presented to us. The first person perspective instantly brings the audience close to the experience being recounted. The use of ‘i’ establishes the personas personal dilemmas as his journey brings him to â€Å"two roads diverge in a yellow wood†. â€Å"Two roads† and yellow woods are metaphors for the choices he confronts. Rhyming creates a flow to the piece while the rhythm forces us to pause effective for thinking what the persona is contemplating. Stanza 1 shows that persona is ‘sorry i could not travel both’ roads and show that life’s journey requires chooses that exclude alternatives. The second stanza shows that the choice has been made. The use of the language â€Å"As just as Fair and † Perhaps suggests both roads are equal. However there is slight confusion of the personas choice, conveyed in ‘perhaps the better claim, really about the same’. At the time of his choice he believes it was a better claim than the other. Later he thinks there much the same. In the third stanza, the exclamation ‘ oh I kept the first for another day†! suggests the optimism of being able to retread ones steps and take life’s journey by a different route. But the use of the conjunction ‘yet’ he later says ‘ I doubted if i should ever come back’ which suggests that after taking one route, That’s the route he has to live by, it is a choice he has made in life. Finally in the last stanza the pause suggests regret. The persona is now not sure if he took the better route but this decision is one we have to make in life and we have to life with the consequences and hopefully learn from our past experiences. The poem suggests that inner journeys are irreversible and the choice we make define the person who we become and our understanding of life and the world. This idea is similar to lewis experience where his decision to direct Cosi fan tutti moulds him. Through a close analysis of the three texts Cosi, The film Ground hog day And the poem the road not taken by robert frost that convey the ideas that an inner journey forms as a response to life’s changes and particularly the climatic moments which force a spiritual, mental and emotional re-evaluation of values of priorities.