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Cline Final Presentation 

Cline Final Research Paper

Working Thesis: 

Louis Sachar and Christopher Paul Curtis both create maturation novels for boys where the heroes are confronted with unearned guilt; in Sachar’s novel the white hero deals with that guilt in X way and the African-American hero (foil) deals with it in Y way, in Curtis' novel the African-American hero deals with that guilt in Z way and his African-American foil deals with it in AA way.

Research:

Main point

Bildungsroman - hero is always the dominant group. 

Race: white characters are central to hero's journey. 

African American characters had a harder journey - function as a foil for white characters. 

Scholarship is not problematizing this mono-chrome/racialized bildungsroman. 

Subject of the hero's journey comes up... However, white heroes are the focus of most discussion (White 17, Johnson 12) EXAMPLE.

This paper looks at the way race impacts/shapes... the bildungsroman in two novels... 

What does the (white) hero do - paragraph on hero's journey. 

Rough Draft:

How Race Shapes the Hero’s Journey

Louis Sachar and Christopher Paul Curtis both create maturation novels for boys where the heroes are confronted with unearned guilt; in Sachar’s novel the white hero deals with that guilt by blaming life's problems on the family curse while the African-American hero (foil) internalize it, in Curtis' novel the African-American hero Kenny internalizes his guilt and goes through post-traumatic stress and his older brother Byron uses the trauma to mature and help Kenny come back. 

Lois Sachar's Holes and Christopher Paul Curtis' The Watsons Go to Birmingham are both fictional novels that pertain to racial differences and Bildungsroman. The term Bildungsroman, deals with fictional novels pertaining to a coming-of-age for the characters, which is what occurs in both novels. Both novels consist of the vast amount of differences between racial inequality and how that affects the characters on several different spectrums, while they are on their own formative journeys. The characters of both novels, mainly Stanley and Zero from “Holes” as well as Kenny and Byron from “The Watsons Go to Birmingham”, are on their own maturation journeys. In a bildungsroman, the hero is always the dominant group, which is usually the white main character of the novel in the English speaking world. There are instances when the main character that is the hero is of a different race other than white. In instances such as this, the hero of a different race seems to be faced with a more difficult journey and is still yet at times the main foil for other white characters. With that said, white characters are more likely to be central to the hero’s journey whereas characters of other races are not. Sachar and Curtis both create maturation novels for boys where the heroes are confronted with unearned guilt; in Sachar’s novel the white hero deals with that guilt by blaming life's problems on the family curse while the African-American hero (foil) internalize it, in Curtis' novel the African-American hero Kenny internalizes his guilt and goes through post-traumatic stress and his older brother Byron uses the trauma to mature and help Kenny come back.The different ways that characters deal with guilt shape the final outcome/mindset of the hero. Only the white hero is truly allowed to end his hero's journey at the top of the social pyramid. Byron and Kenny's maturation is to accept that they cannot ascend to the top of the social pyramid in the United States in the 1960s.  This paper expands on the scholarly evidence that analyzes the way race impacts/shapes the main characters’ bildungsroman in both of the novels “Holes” and “The Watsons Go to Birmingham” by .... 

This paper expands on ---'s analysis of the minority hero's journey by looking at the way the bildungsroman Holes and The Watsons Go To Birmingham allow the minority hero to internalize external obstacles in the form of guilt; thus limiting their internal ascent in the social pyramid. 

Artifact:

The Watsons Go to Birmingham and this artifact relate with one another because in the story towards the end, there was an explosion at a church in Birmingham. The church explosion claimed several victims and the victims are engraved on this sign. This was a real event that was added to the story that powered the Civil Rights Movement in the 60's. When Kenny and the family realized that Joetta had gone to the church they panicked because they thought she was dead. Once she revealed that she was still living, everyone was relieved at first. Kenny took it the hardest once they got back to Michigan. He refused to speak to anyone and he hid behind his couch because of the fear. Byron strenghtened him like the church bombing strengthened other African Americans. The church bombing strenghtened the fight for civil rights, whereas Byron pulled Kenny back together and helped him let the fear drift away. 

Final Draft:

How Race Shapes the Hero’s Journey

Nathan Cline
Tuesday Thursday 9:30-10:45
Student ID: 161844

Nathan Cline

Dr. Heiniger

Regional and Ethnic Literature

24 April 2017

How Race Shapes the Hero’s Journey

            Louis Sachar's Holes and Christopher Paul Curtis' The Watsons Go to Birmingham are both fictional novels that pertain to racial differences and bildungsroman. The term bildungsroman deals with fictional novels pertaining to a coming-of-age for the characters, which occurs in both novels. Both novels consist of the vast amount of differences between racial inequality and how that affects the characters on several different spectrums, while they are on their own formative journeys. The characters of both novels, mainly Stanley and Zero from “Holes,” as well as Kenny and Byron from “The Watsons Go to Birmingham”, are on their own maturation journeys. In a bildungsroman, the hero is always the dominant group, usually the white main character of the novel in the English speaking world; however, there are instances where the main character and hero is a race other than white. In instances such as this, the hero of a different race seems to be faced with a more difficult journey and yet is still the main foil for other white characters. With that said , white characters are more likely to be central to the hero’s journey whereas characters of other races are not. Sachar and Curtis both create maturation novels for boys where the heroes are confronted with unearned guilt. In Sachar’s novel, the white hero deals with that guilt by blaming life's problems on the family curse while the African-American hero (foil) internalizes it. In Curtis' novel, the African-American hero, Kenny, internalizes his guilt and goes through post-traumatic stress, and his older brother Byron uses the trauma to mature and help Kenny come back. The different ways that characters deal with guilt shape the final outcome and mindset of the hero. Only the white hero is truly allowed to end his hero's journey at the top of the social pyramid. Byron and Kenny's maturation is to accept that they cannot ascend to the top of the social pyramid in the United States in the 1960s. Percy Adams’ study of the hero’s journey emphasizes the different obstacles that each character must face to achieve their final quest of becoming a hero. His study focused on the dominant white character’s journey to become the hero of the story and how different obstacles along the way affected that dominant character. This paper expands on several scholar’s analysis of the minority hero's journey by looking at the way the bildungsroman Holes and The Watsons Go To Birmingham allow the minority hero to internalize external obstacles in the form of guilt; thus limiting their internal ascent in the social pyramid.

            “Holes” is a novel about a boy, Stanley Yelnats, a dominant hero, who has bad luck because of a curse that was placed on his great-great grandfather by a gypsy. He is sent to a juvenile detention camp called Camp Green Lake because he was charged for a crime that he didn’t even commit. He and the other boys must dig holes every day as their punishment for their crimes that they committed. He and a boy named Zero, a minority hero, become acquainted and without even knowing it, Stanley breaks his family curse and finds treasure in the process. Zero deals with internalized guilt by eventually confessing to Stanley that he was the reason that Stanley was at Camp Green Lake. Zero becomes a leader to Stanley and Stanley becomes a leader to all of those that attended the camp and those outside of camp. “The Watsons Go to Birmingham” is told by the narrator Kenny, a minority hero and the youngest son, who tells the story about his family, the Weird Watsons. Kenny is bullied a lot by his brother Byron, another minority hero, as well as many other kids. Byron is the King of Clark, he is basically a juvenile delinquent and his father finally has enough. His father decides that they need to go visit Grandma Sands in Birmingham, Alabama, hoping that she will adjust Byron’s attitude. The family witnesses many events in the South, even a historical event pertaining to racism where they thought Joetta (Joey), the youngest child, was killed. Byron and Kenny’s attitudes change drastically, and they both mature in opposite ways as they deal with the events that they witnessed. Kenny unsuccessfully copes with his internalized guilt formed by the explosion by thinking that Joey may have possibly died because of his negligence. Byron deals with the aftermath of the explosion by comforting and assisting Kenny with adjusting himself back to the person that he was before the explosion occurred. In the end, both brothers become heroes to some extent, but only between the two of them and their family. Both novels describe minority heroes that are limited in ascending into the social pyramid because of internalized external obstacles that affect them along their hero’s journey.

Stanley was found guilty of a crime that he did not commit, so in fact, the guilt he felt was unearned. This unearned guilt was placed on him because of Zero’s actions. Stanley places the fault of his guilty verdict on his family curse, because he believed that if the curse wasn’t present that he would not have the terrible luck. This curse, bestowed upon him by his parents, made him eventually believe that it was a serious issue facing their family. With that curse, his parents “constructed the world” for Stanley. According to Johnson, “the adult invents the child and constructs the world”, this was significantly done to Stanley in the form of his family’s curse (Johnson 2). Zero knew that the curse was not to blame for Stanley’s guilty verdict, because Zero knew that he was actually the one guilty of the crime. Stanley and Zero become close once Stanley starts teaching Zero to read. This was an important occurrence for Zero because he began to feel the guilt of his actions that had fallen on Stanley. Zero began helping Stanley dig his holes, but the other campers were completely against that and they even hinted their outrage with racist remarks. They felt that a black man shouldn’t have to do a white man’s work while the white man just sat back and watched. This was a huge symbolic account for racism in the novel, even if they were all doing equal work. The holes were that equal work. Each camper, no matter their ethnicity, had to dig  holes as their punishment. This punishment expressed the racial equality in the camp because nobody (white or black) went without digging. The holes were obstacles that each boy had to face by digging daily, they were a part of each character’s “quest or trial” (Adams 4). Zero and Stanley had a trade going on between them that was fairly agreed on and distributed between the two of them. Stanley was exchanging his time with Zero to show him how to read and Zero was assisting Stanley with his holes, so he wouldn’t be too exhausted to teach him reading skills. Stanley and Zero create a bond together that increased both of their peer self-esteem, and with this bond both boys had a feeling of purpose which directly affected their maturity. With the increase of peer self-esteem came the increase of performance between the both of them, one with digging holes and the other with learning to read. According to Constantine and Blackmon, positive peer self-esteem increases performance, mainly that of academic performance, shown by both Stanley and Zero (Constantine 3). Stanley’s feeling of purpose was to help Zero succeed in reading. By creating this relationship with Zero, Stanley broke his family’s curse. Zero’s purpose was to assist and befriend Stanley so that Stanley could complete his holes daily and help Zero with his reading skills that he struggled with. With this, Stanley embraced his unearned guilt and became a hero for Zero, who never had anyone to look up to. Prior to Stanley becoming Zero’s hero, Zero became a hero for Stanley by voicing the wrongs that he bestowed upon Stanley by accident. By carrying Zero up to “God’s Thumb” towards the end of the novel, the curse placed on Stanley’s family ceased to exist. If Zero had not confessed his actions and befriended Stanley, then Stanley would not have become the dominant hero in the novel. With this being said, Stanley and Zero found the Yelnats’ family treasure together in a hole at the end of the novel. If Zero, the minority hero, had not worked with Stanley, the dominant hero, in the novel then the treasure would not have been found. Both boys each had a key significance that was of major importance to each of their journeys to become a hero. Throughout the lessons that Stanley and Zero both dealt with, they finally understood their own purpose: no matter the circumstances one can always make a huge impact on someone else, whether it be negative or positive. Both boys had a positive impact on one another, and it played out well for both of their journeys. Stanley became the dominant hero, whereas Zero became the minority hero.  

Zero had completely given up on himself outside of Camp Green Lake. He was there watching his life slowly crumble, because he did not realize his own potential to be his own hero. Zero, an immigrant’s son, lost his drive in the world which is strongly correlated to his “academic achievement” outside of Camp Green Lake, which aided his issues with reading (Suárez-Orozco 5). His own self guilt was slowly determining his life forever. This guilt was all because of what he had unknowingly done to Stanley.  The camp “counselor”, Mr. Pendanski, spoke down to Zero and made it seem like Zero was a nobody. He spoke of how there was nothing in Zero’s head and that Zero had never had anyone and that he would never be anyone. The way that Mr. Pendanski (a white man) spoke to Zero (a black man) in such a negative way is racially and morally unjust. The obstacle of racial injustice placed on Zero made his own hero’s journey that much more difficult. Throughout the novel, Zero is basically made out to be a blank space, similar to the holes they all dig. The real truth is that Zero isn’t just a nobody, his real name is Hector Zeroni and he contains, like the holes, a vast treasure within once he discovers himself, all thanks to Stanley. Once Zero starts believing in and thinking for himself, he proves himself to be one of the most knowledgeable and toughest campers on the Lake. Without Zero’s friendship with Stanley and the strong relationship that they created, Stanley would have never discovered his own courage. Zero’s mother abandoned him, which made him believe he needed a hero to rescue him from his life, which was a hole that if he had followed would lead nowhere. What Zero didn’t understand was that he had the power to be his own hero, once he matured and discovered that he could be whoever he wanted to be. The major shift in his attitude came from his reading lessons with Stanley. Once he realized he could accomplish that, he figured out that he could accomplish anything with his amount of will power. This will power that he conquers within himself expresses the drastic amount of maturity that Zero maintains throughout the novel.

Kenny from the “Watsons Go to Birmingham”, deals with his unearned guilt in several different ways throughout the novel. He is a typical fourth grader that underestimates himself. This lack of confidence is one reason why he is picked on so much by other kids, as well as his trouble making brother, Byron. What Kenny underestimates is his own intelligence, which isn’t just book smart it’s people smart as well. Kenny can really read people, especially those he feels close to. Momma likes to repeat herself when she gets upset, which Kenny notices, and he always knows before Byron is going to do something to get himself in trouble. Not many ten-year olds can read people as well as Kenny does. He can even read his parent’s relationship at times. His intelligence and imagination make him the kid that he is. The “Wool Pooh” or the whirlpool that Kenny almost drowns in completely overtakes his imagination and is a source for a lot of his guilt after the church explodes. The “Wool Pooh” symbolizes death in the novel because of the little boy that drowned in it and the fact that Kenny almost did as well. Adam’s spoke of how the severity of “death” can strongly impact the hero on their journey (Adams 4). Joey went missing during the explosion at the church and because of this Kenny felt that he had to fight the “Wool Pooh”. This was mainly because he felt that it was the only way to get her back. The explosion at the church symbolized the hatred in the South for the African Americans at this time. This account of “discrimination or racism” is one of the largest issues that causes African Americans problems with their own well-being (Constantine 3). This explosion caused issues for Kenny once they went back home to Michigan. This was because he took the guilt of something possibly happening to Joey personally. The external issue of death characterized by the church bombing was internalized by Kenny. This guilt was one of the major obstacles that halted Kenny’s hero journey.The obstacle was attributed completely to racism which is one of the largest reasons that Kenny was unable to become a dominant hero on the social pyramid. Racism is attributed largely to guilt which can have several negative outcomes (Constantine 4). This guilt of possibly having something to do with the death of Joey haunted him until Byron was able to rescue him from it once they discussed that everything would be alright. When Kenny understood that Byron was his hero and that Byron did love him, his courage doubled and he was able to go back to the Kenny he always was, smart and loving with a huge imagination.

 Since Kenny is the narrator, he explains right off that Byron is a troublemaker, a juvenile delinquent at that. Byron’s behavior can be correlated in with the “boy problem,” the belief that all boys are physically aggressive, that it is somewhat in their nature (Kidd 2). Throughout the majority of the novel Byron consistently gets in trouble until his family decides to visit Grandma Sands. It’s a little odd that Byron is as mean as he is coming from a family that is loving and quite fun, but every family differs. Byron is the main problem in his family, and he is the one that causes the many issues that occur within family unit. According to Adams, during a hero’s journey there must be some sort of “family discord” (Adams 2). This family discord is initialized by Byron throughout the majority of the novel until the end when it is initialized by Kenny. He can be compared to the Civil Rights Movement in this novel because at times he has so much hate in him and at other times he has so much love in him. This to me, is a valid depiction of what the Civil Rights Movement was like between the colors black and white. His significance in this novel is to show that people are not all bad, but they’re not all good either. Byron matures the most of anyone in the story and completely changes who he is once his increasingly elevated feelings emerge. He is quite sensitive at some parts in the novel, one example is when he kills the bird with the cookie. He begins to cry uncontrollably, while thinking about his bad actions. His sensitive nature may explain why he becomes so upset when Kenny almost drowns. The bird dying symbolizes that death can occur quickly, and Byron is scared to lose those that are close to him. This realization is the beginning changing factor for Byron, he realizes what death is and how easily it can take anything and anyone from him. Byron matures increasingly and his attitude changes so much that it is almost like he’s a different person. Once the family goes back to Michigan and Kenny begins to hide behind the couch because of his fear from the blast, Byron tries to make him feel better by doing acts of kindness for him. He sleeps on the couch so that Kenny doesn’t feel alone and he gets his tougher friends to be friends with Kenny. The bomb at the church changes Byron completely. The awareness of death made him show a more loving side, because the thought of losing any of his loved ones in that blast would have been detrimental to his well-being. He internalized the church bombing into a loving type of guilt that he progressively displayed daily. The bomb signifies death as well as hate, and when that bomb exploded all the hate that Byron had in him went away with the bomb. His guilt from being so mean and showing so much hatred changed and matured him into a better young man.

            The dramatic changes in the characters during their maturation journeys are extremely significant to the outcome of each novel. The guilt that each character dealt with differently led them to change certain aspects of themselves, even their outlooks on their individual situations. Each boy changed in their own way, but each change in every boy was for the best of their own recreated character that they constructed. Every boy had something special about them that differentiated them from the other characters. A hero arised in each novel and rescued the counterpart that completed them. The most difficult part for the boys was finding the courage to set themselves apart from those around them. The internalized guilt each character developed placed a halt on their hero’s journey. Once they were able to capitalize on that guilt and complete their own journey, their level on the social pyramid had seemed to already have been chosen. Stanley, a dominant hero, was able to rise to the top of the social pyramid and be known for his actions outside of the world that he had already known. Zero, a minority hero, was unable to rise any farther on the social pyramid than he already had.  Byron and Kenny, both minority heroes, were both faced by the same outcome as Zero, they were also unable to rise on the social pyramid. During these time periods, only white heroes were allowed to be victorious by rising on the social pyramid and increase their social statues. Race kept the minority heroes from ascending on the social pyramid and that continued for generations to come.

Works Cited

Adams, Percy G. “Structure: The Hero and His Journey.” Travel Literature and the Evolution of the Novel, University Press of Kentucky, 1983, pp. 148–160, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt130j8gp.8.

Constantine, Madonna G., and Sha'Kema M. Blackmon. “Black Adolescents' Racial Socialization Experiences: Their Relations to Home, School, and Peer Self-Esteem.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 32, no. 3, 2002, pp. 322–335. www.jstor.org/stable/3180866.

Johnson, Rachel E. “Child and Hero: The Construct of the Child 1850–1900.” A Complete Identity: The Youthful Hero in the Work of G.A. Henty and George MacDonald, Lutterworth Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2014, pp. 91–124, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cgdxxm.11.

Kidd, Kenneth B. “Reinventing the Boy Problem.” Making American Boys: Boyology and the Feral Tale, NED - New edition, University of Minnesota Press, 2004, pp. 167–190, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.cttttqx3.10.

Suárez-Orozco, Carola, et al. “Immigrant Boys’ Experiences in U.S. Schools.” Adolescent Boys: Exploring Diverse Cultures of Boyhood, Edited by Niobe Way and Judy Y. Chu, NYU Press, 2004, pp. 295–316, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt155jkhc.19.