The Role of Context in So Much Water So Close to Home - Essay Example

Text in Context Assignment “So much water so close to home” is one of the literary pieces that have captured the attention ofmany readers in the world. The narrative revolves around the journey of Stuart as he and his friends went for a fishing trip far away from their home. On arrival, they encounter the mysterious death of a young girl that unfolds a completely new dimension of this trip. While one of them decides that they should end the journey after this weird encounter, the rest insist that they need to proceed with their plan. At the end, they end up spending there for two nights instead of the planned three days. When the story of the raped and killed girl becomes public, Claire, Stuart’s wife concludes that the four men were involved in the death of the young girl. Claire only realize the innocence of her husband after the overhears that the killer had been found. In this story, the narrator creates a hero in Stuart, drawing his journey from the time he took off for a mysterious fishing trip. According to Campbell, the creation of a hero is crucial in a story and he holds the idea that the journey of a hero can be defined through a number of stages that he identifies in his monomyth. However, from the Story of Stuart, it is clear that the some authors deliberately divert from Campbell’s journey of a hero depending on the context of a specific narrative. As Campbell states, the journey of a hero starts with a journey to a mysterious, where the hero has little knowledge about. He receives a call to start a journey whose predicament in unknown. In “so much water so close to home”, Stuart begins his journey with his four friends on a fishing trip. Little does he know what he is likely to encounter in this journey. Together, they undertake a long journey that leaves tireless and comes to and end when it is already dark. From the title of the book, we learn that there was no apparent reason why the four friends had to undertake such a long journey. Claire, the narrator asks “so much water so close to home, why did he have to go miles away to fish” (Carver 76). Just like Campbell states, the hero has to undertake a mysterious journey. It was only reasonable for Stuart to fish close to their home rather than travel a whole day journey. It is by no surprise that this journey leads to his encounter with the body of a young girl dumped close to their destination. This fateful occurrence allows the author to create his hero within the narrative. Next, Campbell points out that there a supernatural aid intervenes as a rescue to the hero’s crisis. In this narrative, Stuart gets into a crisis after his wife links him with the crime and ends up treating him with contempt. She feels that somehow, the four men are responsible for the maiming of the young girl and that this is the reason why they had to undertake a weird journey. Campbell (64) states that “for those who have not refused the journey, the first encounter is with a protective figure”. The words of the author explain that the journey of a hero is characterised by the encounter of a person who steps in to close crisis that he has to confront. In the narrative, the supernatural aid appears in the form of a woman who lets Claire know that her husband is innocent of the crime. On the burial day, a woman who walks in front of Claire discloses that the police had found the young man who perpetrated the crime. The limping woman says that “they got him…a boy right here in town” (Carver 79). This woman mysteriously appears to inform Claire of the truth of the matter. Here, the woman stands takes the role of supernatural aid to protect the hero from his challenges. After this disclosure, Claire admits that her husband was all along innocent ends up making love with him after she arrives home. Therefore, Campbell’s idea of a ‘supernatural aid’ is clearly established in this narrative. Through this journey, Stuart passes through many challenges before he overcomes the situation. When he arrives back, his wife holds the opinions that his mysterious journey has something to do with the mutilation of the young lady. She is obsesses by this feeling and she cannot believe when he explains his innocence. She recalls the death of her friend in a similar fashion and feels that men are merciless creatures. In general, she hold all men in contempt and holds the believe that they are all guilty of such crimes. Although she feels that the four guys are responsible fathers who care for the family, she does not rule out the idea that they are evil as well. Campbell (89) states that as a hero of the narrative “…he must survive a succession of trials”. After his return, Stuart has to persevere cold treatment from his wife, which becomes his trail moment. When he leaves for work, she does not even want to see him because of the hatred she develops. She doesn’t want him to touch her since she feels that the same hand committed crime. His hairy legs scare her and she decides to sleep away from him to ensure that she does not come in contact with him. These are the trials that the hero has to undergo before he becomes emerges as a hero. Therefore, the passage through trials, as Campbell points out, is pivotal in the modelling of a hero in narratives. However, it is clear that contextual, not all narratives adhere to all the stages of Campbell’s stages of the journey of a hero. Notably, Stuart does not encounter with the “Woman as the Temptress’. Campbell (111) states that the “seeker of the life beyond must press beyond, surpass temptations of her…” to illustrate the struggle of the hero within a narrative. However, in this narrative, Stuart does not undergo this stage. Evidently, he has not temptations along his way. The author of the narrative deliberately skips this narrative to show a new process in creating a hero in a whole different context. While it is clear that other authors come into face with temptations, it is clear that this does not happen in all the stories. Therefore, the creation of a narrative is flexible and there exists different approaches of defining a hero. While Stuart does not precisely follow the stages mentioned by Campbell, he comes out as a hero at the end of the story. From this point of view, the creation of a hero is unique and depends on the context of the narrative. In addition, Stuart does not pass through the stage of a transcendental hero, who has masterly of two worlds. Campbell (212) describes a stage where the hero has “the freedom to pass back and forth the world division”. This stage refers to part of the narrative that creates a powerful hero who after passing his trials conquers the power of the world. The experiences of the hero allow them to cross both world and to understand the mystery beyond the division of the world. He or she becomes supernatural person who has more understanding than that of a common person. However, in the narrative, Stuart does not pass through stage in his initiation process. The author creates a unique character, different from one that Campbell paints. However, this stage is common in other narratives that involve supernatural characters such as gods within a community. The creation of a hero and the stages that he or she passes through largely depends on the characters that the narrative features throughout the story (Neely 12). Therefore, it is possible that authors divert from Campbell’s description of a hero. Therefore, narratives are unique and are largely influenced by the image of the hero that the author intends to paint. In conclusion, the journey that a hero within a narrative follows depends on the context of writing and does not necessarily to follow all the stage of Campbell’s journey of a hero. In the narrative “So much water so close to home”, Stuart does not follow all the stages that Campbell describes. As he sets out to an unknown, he does not know what he is going to the journey. This is much similar to the “departure stage’ that Campbell describes in his monomyth. However, it is clear that in making the hero, carver does not strictly adhere to the stages highlighted by the Campbell. For instance, he does not create a transcendental character that can traverse through the two worlds. Though, Carver is keen to consistently paint Stuart as a hero throughout the story while leaving his other friends as support characters within the story. From this point of view, the creation of hero within a narrative depends on the context of the story and the specific significance of the story. Campbell’s stages of the journey of a hero are theoretical and authors writing in different contexts do not have to follow this framework strictly. Works Cited Carver, Raymond. “So Much Water So Close to Home.” What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. New York: Random House, 1981. Print. Top of Form Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. , 2008. Print. Bottom of Form Neely, Jen. “The Hero’s Journey as a Theoretical Lens.” A Student’s Guide to First-Year Writing. Eds. Kristin Winet, Brad Jacobson, Madelyn Tucker. 35th ed. Plymouth: HaydenMcNeil, 2014. 158-161. Print. Read More