El Fin

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a good story to end the semester on because it is a happy hero’s story that involves most of the elements we have talked about this semester. We have talked about different kinds of heroes all the way from the archetypal to the anti and tragic heroes. Haroun is a true hero that goes through the Hero Cycle. He has many different calls to action as well as trials. He has multiple spiritual guides and uses several different mystical weapons. Also, it is a very easy and enjoyable read which makes it easier to talk about it class. I liked that there was a hero in it that is a girl, like Blabbermouth. This book was also easier to read than Beowulf or Notes from Underground because it allowed us to connect to it. The main hero is just a little boy. He doesn’t fight mythical monsters like Grendel in Beowulf, but he still saves everyone by using his stories and with the help of his other friends on the moon of Kahani. This was good to end on because it allowed us to end this class and the year on a happy note.

Heroines

Blabbermouth tells Haroun, “You think it’s easy for a girl to get a job like this? Don’t you know girls have to fool people everyday of their lives if they want to get anywhere?” Blabbermouth pulls a Mulan and pretends that she is a guy so she can get the job as a Page. This is true because people do stereotype female heroines. Heroines are different than heroes because there is no damsel to save, and there is no girl to be won in the end. Most female heroines in our culture are valued because of their looks rather than their heroic actions. The first contemporary female hero that I can think of is HitGirl from the movie Kick-Ass. She is the first that comes to mind because she is the only female hero that I can think of that isn’t valued because of her sex appeal or outfit. Unlike heroes like Elektra or Silk Spectre, who wear skimpy wetsuits and are wooed over because of their sex appeal, HitGirl is a 12 year old girl that knows how to fight, use weapons, and defeat her enemies. What makes her a hero and effective is that fact that she is a hero for what she does, not because she is a little girl, or has any sex appeal whatsoever.