A Picaresque Novel is a style of fiction that follows a rough and at times dishonest but likable hero. This picaresque style of writing originated from 17th century Spain. A good example of what a picaresque story would look like is the Disney movie “Aladdin”. Aladdin is a great example of a picaro, a rouge, who at the same time is the lovable hero of the story. Aladdin isn’t your typical hero, he isn’t famous, admired for his brave deeds, nor is he role model. He’s just a hood rat from the streets who happened to find a magic lamp along with a magic carpet and an extremely hot princess who lives in the Taj Mahal.
Just like Simplicius from “The Adventure of Simplicius Simplicissimus,” Alladin is cut from different cloth than all the other heroes and princes of a story. They faced adversity like any other hero but they were born with disadvantages. Simplicius didn’t even know what soldiers looked like while Aladdin had to steal food on a daily basis to survive. “These are the four-legged rascals and thieves of whom you knan spoke.’ For at first I thought (as did the American Indians when they first saw Spanish cavalry) that horse and man were but one creature, and must be wolves. (Ch 3:12-15)
When Do You Think People Die?
“When do you think people die? When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease? No. When they drink a soup made from a poisonous mushroom!? No! It’s when… they are forgotten.”
-Dr. Hiriluk
This quote is from my favorite show One Piece. Dr. Hiriluk is talking to Chopper, his rookie assistant, who had accidentally made him a poisonous soup. Chopper is just a little kid and he wanted to save Dr. Hiriluk’s life so he researched and researched what kind of medicine would cure his illness. Dr. Hiriluk knew that he was going to die regardless of any medicine he takes but he saw how hard Chopper was working so he couldn’t bring it upon himself to tell Chopper that all his hard work was for nothing–so he ate the poison soup.
Dr. Hiriluk had come to terms with his death and he explains to Chopper, who is extremely sad at this point because he just found out that he had given Dr. Hiriluk the wrong medicine, that people don’t die from poison mushrooms, they die from being forgotten.
This idea of death by being forgotten proposed by Dr. Hiriluk can be connected to the idea of “kleos” in The Iliad. Kleos means “glory or immortal fame” in Greek, but it can also mean “rumor or renown.” Kleos seems to be the motivating force for actions for many of the characters in the Iliad.
“Then Pallas Athena granted Tydeus’ son Diomedes strength and daring–so the fighter would shine forth and tower over the Argives and win himself great glory.”
In this short passage we see the goddess Athena egging Diomedes into battle using glory as a motivator. It’s important for characters for Diomedes to achieve glory in the battle field because if they don’t then they are just regular people who hasn’t performed any great deeds.
Characters like Achilles and Hector value being noble and achieving great glory rather than saving their lives. Both characters knew that they might die in the battle field if they kept on fighting. There were moments in the story where both characters had a pause so that they could make a decision to keep fighting in the war of to stay out of it to save their lives; both characters chose to fight. For Hector it was when his wife begged him to stop fighting, but he replied:
“All this weighs on my mind too, dear woman. But I would die of shame to face the men of Troy and the Trojan women trailing their long robes if I would shrink from battle now, a coward…I’ve learned it all too well. To stand up bravely, always to fight in the front ranks of Trojan soldiers winning my father great glory, glory for myself.” (Book 6:522-529)
I don’t know what characters like Hector are thinking but I can only assume that being noble and gaining glory is a big aspect to them and their culture. Maybe they don’t want to be forgotten, just like people in the 20th century want to leave a mark on the world so did Hector back in the Iliad. Doing something noteworthy in the battle-field is a ticket to being remembered because when people only really die when they are forgotten.
The Power of Will
One Piece is the greatest story ever written. It is a manga (Japanese comic book) written by Echiiro Oda and it was serialized in Julyy 19, 1997. For those of you who don’t know what One Piece is about it’s story that follows this seventeen year old boy named Luffy on an adventure to become the pirate king. The person who finds the treasure “One Piece,” which was hidden by the previous Pirate King, Gol D Roger, will be the one who inherits the title Pirate King or “The Freest Man on the Sea”.
The story is still being written but it is at a point where power levels are easily accounted for. In the story there are people people called the Yonkos who are considered to be the four most powerful pirates according to the World Government. The World Government consists of 170 nations united all across the globe and on their side are the Three Admirals. They are the three strongest marines in the story who are powerful enough to squash any pirate they please. The Yonkos and the Three Admirals and any pirate who has a shot at being the pirate king have what we call “haki.” Without learning the power of haki it is impossible to become the king of the pirates. Haki is basically a power up to anyone who can bring it within themselves to develop it. I say this because “haki” translated into English means “will power or ambition.” Will power is what it takes to conquer the world. If you have a weak ambition or a weak will then your dreams will not come true. The stronger your will is the stronger you become. In One Piece the idea of “will” is translated into a tangible thing. One of the forms that your “will” can take is that of “armament haki.” Armament haki is the power to cover any part of your body with a hard dark casing so that when you punch, it’s destructive power is increased base on how strong your will power is. So the stronger your will/haki is the stronger you are.
I wanted to talk to you guys about haki because it reminded me of an important topic in The Iliad: human agency. Human agency is the capacity to act in free will. When the gods interfere with the war they aren’t really forcing the humans to do their will. For example when Athena “breathed fury in Diomedes” she didn’t do anything to take away his free will. Since he was bent on hacking his enemies to the ground he accepted Athena’s gift and used it to his advantage. No one is The Iliad is deprived of free will, it’s just that the stronger you are the more things you are able to do.
This is picture is an example of “armament haki.” If two people are fighting and both have armament haki the one with a stronger “will” will win the fight.
The Very First Post
This is my first post, aka the “test post.” I’m just going to write what I hope to get out of the class: HUMCORE. Hopefully throughout this course I will improve my ability to write concise and coherent essays. I know that…
I got to lazy to write the rest. I have to go read the rest of the Illiad right now, peace!!!
OntheWarside 