Haroun and the Sea of Stories

• Blog – Why is this a story we should end the semester on?

We ended this semester with a happy book. I think that we ended on this book because it a lot of the material we have covered in class in it, including the heroes journey. Haroun went through every step in the Heroes journey. Haroun’s hero cycle started with his unusual birth as an only child. Haroun’s call to action is to go and help his dad to (save Bacheet and the ocean and the princess). Haroun’s spiritual guides are Mali and Butt. His mystic weapon is the wish water. As with all heroes, Haroun has trials that he must face and most of those trials for Haroun occur in Kahani. Haroun must drink the wish water, but it doesn’t work because he is unable to because he cannot concentrate. This book also brings back the archetypal hero. Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a book about the real world and a fantasy world, just like Alice in Wonderland, which we saw earlier in the semester. The book had real world and fantasy world connections just like in Alice in Wonderland. There was a question posed in the story, why do we listen to stories that aren’t real? This is a good question to ask because throughout the semester we have read several stories that aren’t “real”. Another question could be that why do we listen to stories that don’t even relate to our lives?

Sea of Stories Blog 1

• Blog – On p. 107, Blabbermouth gives Haroun a piece of feminist advice. She basically says that girls aren’t able to be strong (or heroic) characters because of the ways people stereotype them. Think about contemporary female heroes. Do we have any? Do we value the fact that they are female?


We do have female superheroes today but they are not as popular as male superheroes. Society doesn’t value them as much. The heroes we value today are the one’s that entertain us, and normally not the ones that are in the real world making a difference. The heroes that entertain us are the ones that are aggressive and tough and females just don’t seem to have those traits. Also having a female hero in a movie makes the movie lose the "getting the girl" part of the movie which happens in male hero movies. The female heroes that we valued the most are Superwoman or the superhero from X-Man. For me I don’t really “notice” that they are female because they are doing the same things that male superheroes do. Female heroes in movies tend to be young and pretty. There are females who have attempted to change the world, but to society their actions are viewed as jokes. However, Oprah is a female hero that everyone knows about and loves. Society sees Oprah as a nice woman instead of just a nice person. Oprah is an example of a female hero is real life, and those seem to be more prevalent than female superheroes in movies. Another female superhero is Hermione Granger in Harry Potter. This is an example of a hero portrayed in a movie, and Granger in Harry Potter is an example of female superheroes progressing forward. The majority of society still values male superheroes over the idea of a female superhero. Male superheroes have the traits of being aggressive and warfare. If a female were to be placed in this situation it would seem very unrealistic.