Michelle Baleka

Out of all the essays I have composed during my time in university, this one remains my favourite. With no restrictions on the kind of thesis I was allowed to argue, I felt I had the freedom to analyze Heart of Darkness in a creative way. At the time, I was also taking a mythology course – a subject I find interesting and instrumental in the field of literature studies – and I began to see a connection between what I was reading in the 20th century literature course I wrote the essay for, and the Epic of Gilgamesh. Excited by this connection, I explored it a bit more deeply, grabbing quotations from an outside source (in this case, one of Freud’s theories) to create a sort of backbone for my arguments. It was not my first time reading Heart of Darkness, and this time around I found much more points of analytical interest within the text, and I felt I was able to see much more than I had in a previous reading. Feeling passionate about the discoveries I had made and the connection I had been able to draw, I set about the task of writing this essay. In the editing process, I had to narrow down some of my points and cut out extraneous information, but I feel that I presented my ideas with the proper amount of detail and elaboration necessary to make them convincing. I believe I was able to efficiently express an original argument; out of all the essays I have written, this is one of my highest marked compositions.

What is it that makes a hero a hero? Is a true hero one who transcends all expectations and flaws associated with average human behaviour, or is it a journey through crisis and tragedy that truly make a hero exemplary? In this essay, I examine Oedipus as he is presented in Sophocles’ famous Theban plays, with my focus largely on Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus. Looking at this notorious character from a non-Freudian viewpoint, he appears to be a relatable symbol of the human condition, regardless of gender and sexual orientation. Helpless to prevent his fate, Oedipus fulfills the role of a tragic hero, bearing other, positive traits that serve to both worsen and counterbalance his flaws – flaws that are largely inherent in the very nature of humanity.

To write this essay, I examined some theoretical modes prior to writing, such as heroic models by theorists such as Frye. In doing so, I was able to see that Oedipus’ journey truly fit a heroic pattern, which made me more certain of the direction to take my essay in. However, for the purposes of my arguments in the essay, the viewpoints I cite relate more directly to essays and articles written about Oedipus’ position as a tragic hero, his flaws, his intelligence and knowledge, and some of the opposing perspectives that arise in regards to these issues.

Published in the Spring 2015 issue of the Semicolon. There is something inherently difficult about reading poetry, and that is partially what makes reading it such a moving experience. I wrote my analysis of the contemporary poem “Thanatosis” while I was taking a poetry writing course at Western University. Reading poems critically was helpful in shaping how I employed images in my own poetry. When I sat down to describe and reflect on the structure and imagery of “Thanatosis” I found I was slowly peeling through layers and layers of meaning. The more I examined, the more closely I looked, the more I found, until a number of possibilities presented themselves. I attempted to sum up the meanings I found in the notably dark imagery of the poem, stating the more surface interpretations and then examining what they could symbolize, and diction used to paint these images could truly be saying on a deeper level. I found the poem to be a fascinating psychological exploration, and had settled on an interpretation that garnered pathos and provided a metaphorical and darkly fascinating view of the narrator’s internal world.