This is from awhile ago but I was thinking about how Jeffereson and Jack (both names that start with J, coincidence I THINK NOT) are trapped in small rooms and at the mercy of others. Jack probably has a lot better time considering he knows nothing but Room and isn't waiting his impending doom but that's irrelevant. This got me thinkin' about ma boy Jeff and what he's been up to with his new best friend; Grant. I'll talk about Room next time around I just wanted to blog this because I think it's cool. I wanna get back to something we haven't really talked about as much recently as we used to; The Heroes Journey <- I like this thing.
What I'm here to propose is that Grant and Jefferson, instead of us thinking about how they are going on their own journeys. Are ACTUALLY two sides to the same coin here. Grantman and Jeffboy are both central characters, while the narrative is from Grant's point and he is certainly our main character a lot of the book rides on Jefferson. So you can argue that they are both our heroes. I looked through all the pieces of the heroes journey and often times where Grant doesn't fit the bill Jefferson does and in some instances they both fit.
We start out with the ordinary world, which is a part of the heroes journey I think they can both fit into. Jefferson is the first one we see in the ordinary world when Grant is telling the story of Jefferson's grand heist. Jeffie starts out having a normal day walking on a normal sidewalk when his BFFs show up to give him a ride, then they rob a liquor store, die, and Jefferson goes to jail, FIN. I don't think Jefferson had a particuliar call to adventure. I think Jefferson really just sorta skipped that and the refusal of the call. We also see Grant start off in the ordinary world. It was pretty lame. But then he got the call to ADVENTURE! Which was his aunt asking him to teach and inmate how to be a man (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSS5dEeMX64). Grant refuses this call because that's work. But like all heroes--not good heroes, just heroes--Granite does a lil' backflip and changes his mind.
After the refusal of the call we have meeting with the mentor, which is another thing both G-dawg and Jeffie do. For Jefferson it's obviously meeting Grant who is his former teacher. Their first encounter doesn't go very well and neither does their second one. Grant sucks at his job, but he learns. And he goes to see his own mentor! Who basically tells him he can't do it and black people can't be equal to white people (he's right, Camden still beats me in every frickin' race). Grant and Jeffers continue together on their journey when crossing the threshold. Except they do it at different times... Jefferey the giraffe does it when he is sent to prison, one may argue he crosses a mental threshold at this point as well since he begins to act like a pig towards Gant and his food provider. Grant crosses the threshold like way more of a champ than Jeff. He does it over and over (therefore he's the most heroic one we've read about so far because he's done the most journey stuff) when he goes to the jail to speak with Jefferson. It's a very different enviroment involving a security check he has to go through to gain access.
But I wanna move on to the ol' switcheroo. Once we get to the testing of allies and enemies, Jeffalicious takes his place on the journey. There may not be a lot of actually testing people but Jefferson is certainly judging them to see whether they be friend... or foe/dickthathedoesn'tinteract withalot. He judges the gaurds and other inmates, Jefferson comes to different conclusions about and even though he may not express it know some of the people there are good. And, of course he judges Grant, thinking of his as sort of a dog at first but progressively more as an ally. Grant already seems to know who his enemies and his allies are so I don't think he really goes through this, Jefferson has this one covered.
Approach is next really doesn't have to come up with any strategies or prepare anything for his trip to jail so we go back to Grant. Granny starts out completely unprepared but, as he interacts and learns more about Jefferson he gets some ideas on how to help. On top of thinking of "lesson plans" Grant secures a radio, a notebook, and a pencil and these seem to be pretty crucial to the story's end (always be prepared kids). Speaking of the end, Jefferson dies, and the ordeal part of our journey is another Chef Jeff special. During the ordeal the hero is supposed to have to confront death or their greatest fear. Whaddya know that's what Jefferson is doing throughout pretty much the whole book. I think this is just kind of a given, not a lot of explanation needed. I guess Grant has to accept Jefferson's death but I don't think that really fits the ordeal any of my sources are talking about.
I say the reward goes to Jefferson because that's what I wrote down a while ago and I don't remember why. But I'm gonna reverse that (sorry past me) and say it's Grant because Jefferson died. Also, because in the end we hear about Jefferson's execution and how dignified and "manly" he was. This means Grant was successful in teaching Jefferson to be a man and hearing about how Jefferson died is his reward. After the reward is the the road back which Grant definitely takes because Jefferson isn't going on any roads any more. Also because Grant returns to his normal life of teaching in the classroom. In the road back the hero is supposed to bring and secure the reward however, when we see Grant return to normal life he appears to have left his reward. He doesn't change his teachings at all, they don't reflect what he has just gone through at all. His current students could just as easily end up in Jefferson's position one day as Jefferson himself had. This is, disapointing.
I couldn't figure out what to do for resurrection because Jefferson died, stayed dead, and Grant didn't really do anything to to represent what Jefferson was representing right before his death. Of course I still gave Grant the honor of being the one to return with the elixir because his experience with Jeffers should have changed him or his views and given him what he needs to make changes in his community, even if they're itty bitty. And if Grant is still too lazy I guess we can make it like a TRIOMYTH and bring in the white officer who was moved by Jefferson right before his death as he may have more influence to change things than Grant does.
Anyways that's my story hope you liked it I'm gonna go finish Dying in Room now.
Have some sources:
http://www.mythologyteacher.com/documents/TheHeroJourney.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey#Genres
http://www.thewritersjourney.com/hero's_journey.htm#Hero
Yahoo answers (you'll never guess what for)
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