Journeys

Everyday people undertake physical journeys. They could be as easy as walking down the street or as hard as leaving your home and moving to a whole new place. Journeys can be good or bad. But along with all journeys come obstacles. One’s perspective and opinion can be changed along the way with these journeys. The poem ‘Crossing the Red Sea ’ by Peter Skrzynecki relates to the concept of journey as it illustrates the physical voyage the immigrants take over the sea and the obstacles they encounter and subsequently learn from. In the short story Rapunzel, by Brothers Grimm, the protagonist Rapunzel and her family embark upon a journey in which they similarly are thrown into situations beyond their control and as a consequence learn more about themselves and their world.

The journey of immigration from Europe to the southern hemisphere is described in “Crossing the Red Sea ”. For the travellers this is a journey to a new and unknown place and for many is the longest journeys they had ever taken. This journey is a metaphorical as well as literal journey. Their (migrants) getting away from the war and mayhem in there past life in Europe . But their journey represents there changing perspective on life which they hope for a new existence. The thing with their journey is that it’s uncontrollable and uncertain. They can’t decide where the boat takes them, It’s wherever they end up, Somewhere across the equator.

Skrzynecki uses an inner journey along the same time as the physical relocation this has an effect on the healing process f the migrants. When reading the poem you feel for the migrants and how they suffered before hand and along the journey. It does this by the fact that they were described as shirtless and barefooted shows how little they had and that they left so much behind. The migrants were very emotional on this journey. Its portrayed through the metaphor “Voices left their caves” which could refer to the migrants mouths which effectively captures their emotional grief and emptiness and they can now be heard, their free to express themselves, no longer subdued.

“Silence fell from its shackles” Shows that their finally able to speak about the war, their affliction can fall away. It’s the beginning of the healing process along this journey. “From behind sunken eyes” could imply that they’ve been crying due to home sickness or relief of getting out of their past. It also gives images which highlight the sense of despair and suggest pain and hunger as they search for beauty. “To look for shorelines….shared secrets” shows the passengers opening up and sharing their lives with one another. With the imagery of “peaks of mountains and green rivers” its a description of people using a metaphor of a landscape which enlivens the scene, bringing it to life, it also touches on linking the emotional journey with the physical journey.

“blood rimmed horizon” is an indication that journey is just beginning and wont be easy. “The equator was still not crossed” suggests the hardship of the journey would still be endured before the promise is fulfilled.

As in Skrzynecki’s poem Rapunzel,