The Weekly W: Wandering

There are so many series that revolve around a character wandering around.  Why is this?  Does the journey set up a convenient way to advance the plot?  Does it reduce the need for the character's acquaintances and history to be brought up?  Or is there some deeper reason to have our protagonist go on a journey?

The journey can be seen as a neat way to explore the world in which a story takes place.  The variety of life from place to place can be hard to capture if the story focuses on a single city.  By travelling around, the series is able to depict a broad range of landscapes, livelihoods, and lifestyles.  It allows the story to be about more than the protagonist.  Instead of showing a single person's life, we are able to use their experiences and travels to experience the possible lives of many different people in that world.  It allows us to broaden our horizons, and give the fandom plenty to contemplate.  Oftentimes small things don't seem important, until the fandom extrapolates them to a logical conclusion that paints a different world from what we had originally imagined. 

The journey is also highly symbolic.  Coming of age tales often utilize this as an opportunity to catalyze growth in a character.  Seeing the world outside of what they once knew, the character's opinions change, and they grow into their own self.  It can be small, gradual changes, or linchpin events that shatter previous beliefs about the way the world works.  Making a journey on one's own takes the character away from what they once knew, and throws them against challenges they'd never imagined facing.  Often, this is a matter of becoming independent and handling something that previously was taken care of by someone else, without the protagonist realizing.  This can lead in a humbling of the main character, as they understand the value of the people around them.  

The third effect of a journey is the effect it has on the people who encounter our traveler.  They meet someone outside of their daily routine, and sometimes the change caused by their encounter can be lasting and profound.  Sometimes the protagonist is a hero, saving those they meet and leaving the townspeople better off than they were before.  Other times, the protagonist brings destruction and chaos in their wake.  For better or for worse, change happens to those who encounter travelers, and it can be an exciting (or terrifying!) thing.

Journeys can reach across countries, across continents, or across planets.  Other journeys are simply taking the long way home one day and meeting someone new.  Soon, we will be heading back to URI for another fun-filled semester.  Are you taking any journeys this summer?  Do you have any goals for your journey at URI this semester?  I'm looking forward to all of the memories we will make this fall. 

Hope Burns Bright