Technology and Mythic Narrative: The Matrix as Technological Hero-Quest

This article is mainly about the similarities that Joseph Campbell's idea of the "monomyth", otherwise known as Hero's Quest or Hero's Journey,and how it relates to the film "The Matrix" in regards to the technology shown in the movie. The monomyth idea is that one person is chosen from an ordinary world to enter an unknown world with different powers and abilities. The person chosen has to face many obstacles and at the end finally has the choice to return to their place of origin, in which they would use what they have learned to face different challenges that might arise. It speaks about how the Matrix follows Campbell's hero-quest but that Neo experiences seperation on two axes. Campbells hero-quest theory only states the seperation of one axes, existential. But Neo experiences existential an ontological. In other words he feels seperated from the idea of things existing or not.

Dorian Gray Rough Draft

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, one might say that this book is overflowing with different signs of a man with an overactive imagination. This character, despite the other characters that show an intense amount of imagination, is Dorian Gray. Another character whose imagination seems to take over so much that it is his reality is Lord Henry. Lord Henry actually propelled Dorian Gray into using his imagination more often. Not in a positive way but in a way in which Dorian sees things only as beauty and art. In a way that is only to please the senses and nothing more. The main reason for Dorian Grays sinful actions and the initial force that caused Dorian participate in all these immoral ways of living, is indeed Lord Henry’s first speech.
Dorian first met Lord Henry when Basil, the artist, makes a portrait of Dorian. At this part of this story, one can infer almost immediately that Lord Henry is very imaginative and manipulative in the way he arranges his words in order to change Dorian’s way of viewing life. Henry uses a combination of compliments and philosophic analogies to somehow get inside of Dorian’s head and manipulate him into thinking the way he wants. Henry’s imagination works in a way where he exaggerates the truth in order to get what he wants. When Lord Henry and Dorian are sitting in the garden, Lord Henry tells Dorian that if he gets sun burnt he will become very “spoiled and Basil will never paint him again”. This is both a sort of compliment because what he is saying is that he is so good looking that if he were to get burnt, his beauty would be no more. But at the same time he is also saying that his beauty is all he has, and that he needs to keep that because it is the most important thing to have. In this way, Lord Henry uses his imagination to find the way that works to manipulate Dorian Gray.
Lord Henry becomes successful in influencing Dorian into becoming a sinful man. The first time we see this is when Dorian Gray falls in love with an amazing actress named Sybil Vane. Dorian falls in love with Sybil’s acting, because of its grace and beauty. This shows that Dorian’s imagination had been tainted by Henry because his morals prior to meeting Henry was not anything like what they are now. Dorian’s imagination is now only about the beauty and the pleasure of the senses, whether the way he goes about is by sinning or not.
Dorian finds creative and imaginative ways for him to please his senses, by sinning excessively.