Inner Journeys Within Texts
...Ballard to show how Jim has mentally matured under the trying circumstances. The result of an inner journey. Another technique used by Ballard to explore inner journey is symbolism. In Empire Of The Sun, Ballard uses many symbols as metaphors to show Jim’s inner journey. He uses repeated references to aeroplanes and rivers, but the most effective symbol he uses is the road. There are three major episodes that Ballard constructs in the novel: the start of the war in Shanghai, Lunghua Camp and the Olympic stadium at Nantoa. In between each of these major events, Ballard has his main character, Jim, make long journeys down many roads. “As he cycles along Nanking Road”…”An hour later he reached Szechwan Roach”. This repeated symbol is used by Ballard to put physically, the inner journey that Jim is embarking on. Roads themselves are associated with journeys, being a means by which to travel from one place to another. This makes it a very effective way in which Ballard is able to portray the inner journey of Jim. Margaret Atwood’s poem Journey To The Interior is another text that explores the notion of the inner journey. The poem is one large extended metaphor for the creative writing process which is, in its own right, a form of inner journey. Atwood constructs the poem as one big extended metaphor, contrasting the inner journey involved with creative writing to wild bucolic images. The challenging experiences are “hills which the eyes make flat as a wall” and of course the fear that “many have been here, but only some have returned safely”. These are the challenges that the creative writer has to face: writers block and the fear of failure, which can only be overcome by the inner journey. Another technique Atwood uses to shape the understanding of inner journey is the absence of a full stop at the end of the poem. This is suggesting that the inner journey process is never ending, that we are constantly being shaped by them until we die. The most prominent technique that Atwood uses to show inner journey is the title of the poem “Journey To The Interior”. Straight away, the reader is put into the position to expect a journey to the inside - an inner journey. The song Fade To Black composed by Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammet and Burton, depicts a melancholic inner journey of an unknown person. The composers constructed the lyrics of the song to be a reaction to some kind of negative experience, an experience that prompted an inner journey. Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammet and Burton use a range of language techniques to show inner journey. The lyrics are written in an AABB rhyming pattern. This creates a constant rhythm to the song, allowing the listeners to flow along with the words, as if they themselves are experiencing an inner journey of some kind. This technique is coupled with a few direct references to show inner journey. “Getting lost within myself” is used by the composers to show how the unknown person in the song is facing some challenging emotional problems that are forcing them to question who they are. This is reinforced in the line “missing one inside of me”. The person has now completed their inner journey and has discovered they aren’t the person they thought they were, which is summed up in the line “I was me, but now he’s gone”. These lyrics in conjunction with the rhyming pattern are used by the composers to show how the unkn...