Journeys

Journeys are inevitable processes in which an individual undergoes. One may arrive at the destination as a stronger or weaker person. During the process of journeys, one would encounter obstacles and challenges to overcome. It is therefore for this reason that a strong human spirit is an essential component of one's journey. Without a strong spirit, the individual may not be able to persevere and overcome the challenges and obstacles of a journey and not reach their desired destination. ‘The well' by Elizabeth Jolley and ‘the Road' by Cormac McCarthy are example of texts which portrays the role of a human spirit during one's journey through effective utilisation of characterisation.

In Jolley's novel ‘The Well', the processes of imaginative and inner journeys are explored through the two main characters – Hester, whose physically crippled state reflects upon the wounds of her childhood; and Katherine, an impoverished orphan who was adopted by Hester. The beginning of Hester and Katherine's journey are conveyed during the midpoint of the novel. Both women are shown to have an unequal relationship with Hester being dominating and possessive of Katherine. Due to this relationship, both are shown to be within each other's company of all times. However as their journey proceeds into an unforeseen circumstance which creates a challenge for both characters, alters the nature of their relationship. Throughout the novel, both Katherine's and Hester's transitioning of their characters due to the challenge, and how it affects them differently are explored and seen as the blame for their distancing relationship.

During the course of the challenge, it is due to Hester's strong human spirit which allows her to persevere and reach her destination of the journey with positive developments to her character. An example of her development is shown in her eventual expansion of her social circle. Prior to the challenge which emerges, the number of acquaintances that Hester was connected with was limited to her father, her father's friend Mr. Bird and Katherine. ‘She was not used to crowds of people'. Hester is shown to have negative attitudes towards the prospect of having association with other people, such as Joanne, (Katherine's friend whom she can only communicate through post) as they pose the threat of having Katherine taken from her: ‘A whole page of kisses and hugs endorsed by this apparently innocent wish […] "For heaven's sake! Katherine there's nothing to cry about," Hester said, trying not to let her voice show that the letter caused her to feel threatened and afraid.' However, as the novel progresses, Hester's strong human spirit allows her to overcome her fear and challenge as she starts to do activities without Katherine. Hester's strong human spirit helps her to undergo an inner journey which allows her to become independent of Katherine.

With Hester's strong, dominating character, comes Katherine's weak and somewhat passive human spirit. Throughout the novel, she is ordered by Hester which she carries out her requests obediently. Katherine is portrayed as naïve physically and psychologically. She is a film and romance addict as she is obsessed with films with the ‘happily-ever-after' resolutions. She fantasises of such stories, in hoping them to become true for her one day: ‘She wanted all the life as she saw it in films'. This proves the notion of Katherine's weak human spirit as it causes her later to not be able to distinguish reality from her own fabrication during the situation of the challenge. Her fabrication causes her to undergo an imaginative and inner journey which results with her personality becoming inert due to her final realization. At the destination of Katherine's journey, her character had undergone