Haroun and the sea of stories

We ended the semester with Haroun and the Sea of Stories because the content contained multiple things we have learned through out the semester. We were also in need for a happy ending after reading two depressing stories in a row. At the beginning of the semester, we learned about Beowulf and his completion of the hero cycle. We discussed what it took to be the archetypal hero and the 10 steps in a hero’s cycle. In Haroun and the Sea of Stories, we followed Haroun’s journey through the 10 steps of the cycle. But Haroun was not the archetypal hero for many reasons. For one he did not complete all of his trials, he failed at a few. But he made up for those trails at the end when he defeated the shadow ship and saved the ocean from being polluted and destroyed. He also was able to renew his dads subscription, which was his original goal. We also shortly discuss female heroines and why they are not as successful as male heroes. In the story, Blabbermouth, who has to pretend to be a male to be successful, ends up saving all of the Gup warriors from being blown up. We talked about romance and tragedy, which was all covered in the story. Haroun and Blabbermouth both of a crush on one another. Haroun and his father, Rashid both experience tragedy when his mother leaves his father with another man. This book tied everything we have learned this semester together, which was a great review.