The Journey to the Star - Essay Example

The star Introduction This short story is about the journey to the star, a special symbol. It was set upon by a couple ofastronauts to a far planet that was destroyed thousands of years ago through a blast from the souring sun that wiped out the entire planet off its population and left the planet without habitation of any kind. The story is written by the author Clarke, who portrays himself as a scientist and an astronaut and believed in the existence of God in the beginning of the story. The author is faced by many questions that continually fill his mind, and those that he must find answers to. He has doubts with his fellow crew members over the answers and opinions that they give. The other story is of a woman called Aimee who is a magician in a special way. The book is written by the author Kij Johnson, who tells us the story of Aimee a woman who gets her leaving by doing tricks with her monkeys. The play is set and performed on stage in front of the crowd as Aimee entices them with her disappearing act with the monkeys. Her biggest trick was to make 26 monkeys disappear on stage in front of her audience. The author has illustrated the use of internal and external conflicts in both the story. Internal conflicts The author is faced with the issue of internal conflict as he tries to control the faith that he has of the God he believes in. this is seen when he takes a look at the crucifix that was hanging on the wall in the cabin room above the computer. He is troubled by his faith as he starts to slowly see the crucifix as just a sign that he has been holding on for a long time. The loss of faith by the author is due to the findings that they stumble upon of a star, planet that was once used to be until it was blasted by the sun. This has an internal effect on the author as he starts to believe that a living God cannot allow such a heinous thing to happen. He is not sure whether to tell his fellow crew members that he has slowly stated to lose faith with God. Internal conflict is seen again when he is confused and wonders who gave the name to nebula, and he thinks the name was not appropriate as it was very misleading since the object that was referred to as nebula was very small merely than the clouds of mists. The author, further more demonstrates internal conflict as he finds himself asking questions to no one but rather his sub conscious mind. He tries to ask what God would have done if he had the evidence and discoveries that the author had made on phoenix nebula. He tries to console himself by asking God if he was in his position whether he would have strengthened his faith or let go of it. The author continues to demonstrate how he has lost his faith with God as he reads the message on the book and he cannot believe in it again. He then continues by asking himself why the whole population of the phoenix nebula was wiped away and that he had hoped that the faith he had would have helped him in his exploration. He says that he had exercised spiritual faith in vain. While in the second story, we start off as the author tells us how Aimee is bothered by the fact that she does not know where the monkeys disappeared to after she performed her act of monkey disappearance in the bath tub. This is clearly an internal conflict as Aimee is constantly trying to ask herself what happens to the monkeys after they enter into the bath tub. The author demonstrates another instance of an internal conflict as he tells us that Aimee does not know why she has all those monkeys in her possession, and why she is doing all that she is doing, acting with the monkeys. The author continues to say that she does not even know why she has a boyfriend as well. Aimee finds herself in constant self questioning, and she still hopes for something that she is not sure of whether it exists or not. Another instance of internal conflict is when Aimee is much concerned bout the health of the oldest monkey she has called Zeb. The monkey is dying and she is worried that this might have a negative effect on her shows and performance. She is left thinking to herself over and over about the condition of Zeb, as the biologist tells Aimee that Zeb is very old indeed. This brings Aimee a series of thoughts that kept running in her head. She must have thought that everything in this world has a reason for purpose and that even his monkey Zeb to be almost living his final moments had a reason for it to be the way it was. She thought to herself that if Zeb died it would be because it was meant to happen and not that it was an accident, as everything had a reason to happen as Aimee would put it. Again the author tells us that Aimee is depression as the thought of losing Zeb keeps hunting her mind as she tries to wonder what will happen to the rest of the monkeys, if the show will continue or not. External conflict The author finds himself in an argument on how nebula was created and in the middle of the argument as he tries guesturing out a point; he stumbles on his words as if he was not sure which position to hold in the argument. It is this that causes a conflict between him and the fellow crew as they find this quite amusing and laugh it out to the writer. The writer again finds himself in a conflict as he thinks that he is being mocked by the Rubens engraving of the Loyola. The author also demonstrates external conflict as he questions God why he chose to destroy the people of nebula with fire yet there were many stars in the universe that he could have destroyed. On the other hand, the author of the second story demonstrates this when he tells us that Aimee only see the fairs and carnival as nothing but just as artificial as a titanium knee and that everything is a bright symbol for a good thing. Another instance is when Aimee is contemplating on the issue of life where the author demonstrates an external conflict between her and nature, when she tries to question nature, the way nature handles things. She is left wondering that life is almost like luck. She does not believe that anything is certain in life and that people only live with uncertainty. She also finds herself in an external conflict with her boyfriend Geoffrey, she was hungry and did not want to cook she decided to go to usual restaurant where they are used to taking hotdogs and cokes. This is when Geoffrey turns on her and suggested that he wanted them to eat at another place like normal people do, so Aimee was obliged to change her mind and go with Geoffrey at the Irina’s’ villa where they had pasta and wine. The author also tells is that Aimee invited some of the audience onstage who had doubts about her disappearing act to come and inspect the bathtub themselves. This shows that Aimee had to prove to the audience that the bathtub was okay hence this illustrates conflict between audience and Aimee. Characters The author is the main character in this story, as he is the center of conflict and questions through out the entire story. The author is dynamic in his story. It is seen that the author portrays a change in dynamic as he converts from being a strong believer of God to an atheist. This is evident because we can clearly see that at the beginning of the story after making his discovery and findings, he starts to slowly shifting his faith from God. This is brought about by the fact that he could not understand why God would allow such a good planet be destroyed by fire. The author again shows dynamic as he comes up with evidence, reports and pictures of the planet nebula that was destroyed, which he plans to bring back to earth. This shows that he gained permanent information on the exploration of planet nebula. We also see the author using the word Jesuit to tell us how the crew mocked at him when they knew he had changed his stand on his strong faith in God. This use of irony tells us that the crew and the author had been on the defending end of their religious status for a long time. They demonstrated their stand in being static. In the second story the same aspect is seen as the main character, Aimee is puzzled by the chains of events that are taking part in her everyday life. She is a woman of enthusiast and she faces life in a much complex manner. She does not see the need of having a boyfriend and she perceives life with no certainties. She sees her life like a wheel rolling down a long hill without the brakes. She is a woman with many questions in life than answers. She portrays herself as a dedicated person as she dedicates herself and time to care for her monkeys. This can be seen as irony since she does not know anything anymore and she does not know the reason she is even caring for the monkeys as she does. She is full of skepticism in life and doubts. She does not value the things that she possesses like her bus full of monkeys. She view life as something that does not have a meaning and that everything in this world is temporary and does not have a meaning. She has no interest in life and that is why she bothers not to live anywhere in specific. She preferred her bus which she thought to be manageable as it was her, Geoffrey and her monkeys. Aimee is static in this story because she remains with her aspects of life and she does not change in her opinion toward the life that she lived. She is solid on her stand from the beginning of the story to the end and she was never persuaded in changing her opinion about life. The author shows us that Aimee undergoes a dynamic change when after selling her monkeys she moved to an apartment in Bellingham with her boyfriend Geoffrey. This shows a transition from the life she lived, where she never used to be in one place. Mean while, the author writes how Geoffrey is non selective in life since he chose to be with a woman who was fifteen years younger than him as hi girlfriend. He has no goals in life since he is a degree holder of history but fails to look for a job maybe as a teacher. He is rather gloomy since he prefers keeping quiet most of the time and he only smiles quite often. Geoffrey is rather neat and self conscious since he knows how to keep up with his gorgeous look. Geoffrey is static since he does not change in any trait through out the story. Also, the author uses Zeb to represent the traits of other monkeys. Zeb is seen as an experienced monkey because he was viewed as being the reason why all those monkeys that varnished in the bathtub came back. The author portrays Zeb as being dynamic as a result of him dying to at the end of the story. Another group of character is the audience; they are seen as being happy and joyful as they are seen as being interested at Aimee’s performance. Story setting The setting of the story is general in almost all aspect. The setting of the story first starts in the universe as the writer is in a ship with his fellow crew as they discuss on the discovery they have made on planet nebula. The author shows us that he was a true believer and follower of God when he mentions the crucifix hanging in the cabin wall. He also demonstrates the grudge between him and the crew as he shows us that the crew and he had been on the turmoil since they were dwelling on earth. He uses the words serious war to tell us how far they had been competing on each other. The remarks by one of the crew that it goes on forever tell us that the author and the crew were amazed by the size and complexity of the universe that seemed to be endless. The author also shows us that his fellow crew is atheists, when he speaks to him and tells him that something must have made the universe as big and wide as it was. This setting reflects a journey from planet earth to nebula that was full of conflicts between the astronauts who had ventured in such of the truth. The author tells us that he had travelled a very long distance from planet earth to planet nebula as a way of showing us that they had surpassed the limits that God may have set for human beings. The phrase death and obscurity shows us that the universe is very violent and merciless when it turns against you. The author also makes it clear that the people who lived on planet nebula were almost humans as they had evidence from the sculpture they recovered as the only survived monument after the planet was blasted away. The author hence tells us that there were people living on that planet, plus he includes a large animal and children playing in the beach. This can prove that the people living in the planet were happy and lived harmoniously among each other. The author uses the language as a way of showing irony and mockery, for instance when he says Excercitia Spiritualia he tries to convey the message that he has believed in God but has found nothing or benefit in doing so. Another instance of irony is when the crew mocked the author for confessing to them that he was no longer a believer in God whom they later call him a Jesuit. While the author of the second story is specific in his setting, he concentrates on the main characters in the whole story. The author uses the story to concentrate mostly on the performance and life of Aimee and her monkeys. He first introduces Aimee as a hollow woman who lived in a furnished apartment and had been in the act of acting for three years now. The phrase, she was hollow indicates that Aimee was negligence of her health especially food since she does not put to much time to her self. The author uses the bath tub to convey the message that it is like a home to the monkeys, without it they would not travel since the bathtub was a magical thing to them. He has clearly shown the monkey disappearing into thin air, these shows that the monkey had some sought of super power over the human being. The author uses the bus as a symbol that represented the house of Aimee through the story where she used to pet her monkeys. Tonal variation The author uses different tonal variations as he conveys his message, for instance he says that his faith is sorely troubled, he tries to emphasize that he is in a state of depression and sadness. This tells us that his character is self conscious. He also explains and goes ahead to show us that his fellow crew members were also in a state of boredom as he says they were sufficiently depressed. This tells us that they were not getting along quit well. The author uses the tone amused to show us that the crews had a sense of humor. The setting of the universe is evident when the author uses the tone that shows they were traveling in space as he describes the concentric gas formed from the blast of the planet. He also shows us how the planet was so large that the pieces it shed were huge enough to engulf the whole solar system. The author God as a supreme being when he uses the tone saying that God does not need to justify his actions since he is the sole builder of the universe and that man does not have any right to question him. The author clearly demonstrates that the planet nebula was a happy place when he uses the tone playing in the waves to tell us how happy the children were, and also the presence of wild animals as he points out using the tone wading animal. The second author introduces us with the phrase going wheeling without brakes, the author uses this tone to tell us that Aimee’s life was fast and busy most of the time. The author has also uses quotations on spoken word to present the word spoken by the first person. The death of Zed is a symbolic sign that the story has reached its peak and that this shed in a new beginning in the work of Aimee, as she followed up by selling the bus and the monkeys to hollow looking man for a dollar. Point of view The first story demonstrates well the usage of the first person as the central point of view. The author adopted this point of view since he wanted to put the readers of his story right there following the story. The author chose this as it made him feel more personal and involved in the story. This aspect of the first person allows the reader to follow the story more easily. In the second story, the author uses the third person to express her point of view to the reader. She chose this since it is more versatile and hence she gets the chance to use many characters in conveying her main theme. It allows the author to come up with many with much richer and more complicated usage of ideas in the story. Different usage of point of view gives the author a more free or restricted plot of the story. Language The author in both stories use language to express their views, themes and opinion about their story. They use different symbolism and figurative language which include; Simile- the author of the second story uses this when she tells us that the fairs were as beautiful as the titanium knees. Personification- the first story shows us this when the writer is in planet nebula, and him and his crew members find the sculptures that the people who lived there had sculpted. The author describes how the sculptured showed some distinct features resembling the human beings, the author tells us that he felt grief and sadness for them. Another instance is when the author describes the sun as being unforgiving and it gave its first warning years ago. He also tells us the sun was warm but it soon turned traitor and reduce to nothing the innocent happiness. The second story demonstrates this when it shows the bathtub had been like a living thing since it is magical to the monkeys and allows them to travel. Irony- the first story shows irony when the main character turns against his faith but cannot get the confidence to tell the rest of the crew since they were atheists whom he had always condemned. In the second story, the irony appears when Aimee is asked by the biologist how old was Zeb but she replied that she never knew nor the previous owner. This is an irony since it is expected for them to know. Theme and central idea In the first story, the theme and central idea is clearly shown. The author first introduces us with a speech that tells us that they are far away from earth. He then tells us that he is a believer of God and that he is about to stumble on the biggest achievement on space. He describes the process through which they discover the planet nebula and the revelation the learned. The author also shows us the indifference between him and his fellow crew members. He uses irony, simile and personification as a way of creating humor and symbolism in his story. He uses the point of view as the first person to fully fit in the story. The overall main theme is to try to bring space exploration to a more enjoyable aspect in life. The second story also uses symbolism and figurative functions such as personification and irony; this creates laughter to the audience and attracts their attention. She introduces us with the opening speech that catches our attention and the one that tells us the theme of the story. She includes the animals as characters so as to demonstrate the usefulness of animals in the society. She also brings romance to the story so as to break the monotony in the story. The story is about the life of a woman who tries to live life with no certainties and she gets involved in acting and performance as a career. She has used the third person perspective to influence the flow of the plot and to add more characters to the story thus making it more suitable to read. Evaluation In the first story the star, the uses one person as the main character to express his opinion. He describes the setting of the story in a general way and uses tone to convey his message clearly. He chose to set the story in the universe as this was a good way of demonstrating the central idea of the story to incline with the main theme. He uses mockery and irony as a way of bringing humor to the story. In relation to the second story the 26 monkey, the Arthur uses a few characters as the main ones, but Aimee was the main one. She uses the animals to show the relationship between humans and animals. The story is mostly based on the basis of transition in nature and events. The author uses his central idea through the changes that Aimee later on adopts to portray the theme of the story. The irony in the story is that no one really knows the age of Zed after so many years from one owner to another. The author also chose the monkeys since they had art of secrecy. It is through these traits that the story of the 26 monkeys’ appeals to be the most favorite to me by all means since it has included more characters in it thus making it more favorable and enjoyable to read. Works Cited C. Clarke, 2003, books and writers, Retrieved 2008-03-18. Print Read More