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Sunday, December 5, 2010

Research Paper. Artemis Fowl



For my research paper we have had to about the supernatural so I decided to write about my niece's favorite book Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. I've read this book a couple of times to my niece during her bedtime. Artemis Fowl is about a 12 year old son of a Irish crime lord, and his military trained man servant Butler. In the book Artemis decides to capture a fairy with the help of Butler after researching fairies online. He travels to a alcohol addicted fairy who was posing as a healer in Vietnam and obtains the "Book of the people" from her and decodes it and starts his plan. The theme of this book is the basics of good vs evil and a very big thing to do with greed. The fairies gold played a huge role until the end of the book, where Artemis gives up a sum of money to give out a helping hand. In the beginning of the book Artemis takes somewhat of a evil characteristics and the fairies good but sometimes it would vary with some of there actions, example; the troll and bio bomb.

The hero’s journey or know, as Monomyth is separated into three parts. The three parts are the departure, the initiation and the return. The hero must take on a bunch of task and test. They will venture into different and unknown worlds and choose whether they want to leave or stay in the new world.

The first stage in Monomyth is the departure; it is broken down into five parts. The first part is the Call to Adventure. This is where the hero is given a adventure. In “Artemis Fowl”, Artemis doesn’t really have a ordinary normal life, being the son of a Irish crime lord and all. Artemis is given a new adventure after he researches online about fairies and automatically believes they are real and makes a plan to kidnap one for it’s gold. Even though he as all his research done he still doesn’t know what he’s getting himself in. Next up is the Refusal of the Call this is where the hero has second thoughts of the call, in Artemis’s case he has second thoughts of dealing with fairies because he already is on a quest to find his father who has gone missing. The next part is Supernatural Aid where a guide or mentor gives the hero supernatural aid. Artemis is given aid by a fairy in Vietnam who Artemis tricks into lending the “book“ to him buy giving the fairy whiskey mixed with holy water and making a deal to give the fairy a antidote for the book. The book is the fairy bible in some cases built with rules and laws on must follow. The book becomes his guide to the fairies world. After getting the book Artemis Crosses the First Threshold, which in Monomyth is when the hero crosses into the adventure, leaving their world and venturing into an unknown, when Artemis and Butler venture into the forest to kidnap a fairy which they do, capturing Captain Holly Short a LEPrecon officer. In this stage was also the Belly of the Whale where Artemis knew there was no going back from capturing Holly, and holding for ransom.

In the second section in Monomyth is known as initiation, where the hero will be tested and thrown into many challenges and task to see if the hero succeeds. First part is the Road of Trails, in this stage Artemis is put into his first test, when the LEPrecon retrieval team comes to recuse Captain Holly, Artemis has to stop them, he does that by sending Butler equipped with a hunting rifle and a special goggles that can see through the fairies shields which makes them invisible, which was a advantage that fairies had for decades until now. Up next is Meet with the Goddess & Women as the temptress In “Artemis Fowl”, Artemis’s mother plays the part, his mother has not been the same since his father disappeared, she spends most of her time in her room in the dark, talking to herself, there are times where she doesn’t recognize Artemis and thinks he’s a worker or her grand father. His mother has him sometimes trying in the book that he should give up this fairies gold and continue looking for his father. The next part is The Ultimate Boon, where the hero achieves his goal in the quest, for Artemis’s case he receives the ransom gold from the fairies.

The last section in Monomyth is the Return where the hero questions why should he return into his own world. Artemis for a quick moment wondered why should he return into his old life, but remembers his previous adventure to find his father who was still gone missing. Up next is The Magic Flight where the hero escapes with boon or in Artemis case the gold. Artemis takes the fairy gold and locks it in his vault. The last part is Crossing the Last Threshold this is when the home returns to the heroes own familiar world. In “Artemis Fowl”, Artemis crossing the last threshold when he escapes the fairies time stop spell by drugging himself and his comrades with sleeping pills, and waking up with the metric ton of 24 cart of gold.

Artemis's archetype is a mixture of the Innocent mainly because no matter his actions against holly, he's still a 12 year old boy looking for his father. Also the Cynical Anti-hero has even though he is some what of a hero his action are questionable. Butler is more of Wise men/Comic Mentor for Artemis who even though is his servant is some what the closes thing he has to a father figure since Artemis's father had disappeared and the warrior as Artemis's bodyguard willing to do defend Master Artemis no matter what. Captain Holly Short's archetype is of course the hero, since she was kidnapped but Artemis and as a officer that protects and serves even though it's for a different species. Also a Trickster for her magic spells see uses to trick Artemis and his conglomerate.


Work Cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_Fowl_%28novel%29

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html

http://www.listology.com/list/character-archetypes

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