Chapter 1: Every Trip is a Quest (except when it's not)
In almost all the quest driven books and
movies I've read or seen, there always seems to be a quest-er, a place to go, a
stated reason to go there, challenges along the way and self knowledge, While I
was reading this chapter, there was one book that kept popping up in my head,
"The Lord of the Rings." Its majestic quests with dangerous trail and
tribulations made it the perfect "quest driven" book in my library.
To begin, the questers are Frodo and
his loyal gardener Sam. The place to go is the kingdom of Mordor, the stated
reason for their quest is to find and destroy the ring. Along the way they face
many challenges ranging in size and difficulty. The most memorable would have
to be Gollum, a once sane Smeagol who fell under the rings control, banished into
the mountains and transformed into an obsessed, corrupted creature. As they
finally get the ring, they immediately begin fighting over it, almost killing
each other. They realize the true power of the ring and its potential to
override the brain. If they had gone alone, they would have never made it out
alive so friendship, being a main theme in the series, is considered self
knowledge. Also Sam's loyalty is highlighted in his hours of heroism when Frodo
gets into sticky situations. By doing so, both the characters develop a strong
appreciation and almost brotherhood towards each other. 
The Harry Potter books
are structured the same way as well. The quester; Harry and two
friends, a place to go: various ominous destinations, stated reason: to defeat some viscous monster, challenges: the travel,
wizards, obstacles and limitations along the way, and in
every adventure, the three friends become closer and discover more about each
other than they knew before. Okay, take any superhero story, let's do Batman.
The quester: Batman, a place to go: wherever danger arises, stated reason: to
save Gotham city, challenges: fan’s disloyalty, personal issues, and in the end
he either saves his lover, kiss and the movie ends, restores his fans' loyalty
in him or he discovers something about himself or one of his friends that he didn't know before. We could even go as far as to examine a play in this sense. I recently designed a show called The Immigrant by Mark Harelik. It’s about a Jewish-Russian
man who moves to the all catholic Texas town of Hamilton and struggles to
assimilate to American life. The quester: Haskell (the Jewish-Russian), a place
to go: a Jewish community, stated reason: to “find his people,” challenges:
hatred from community for his beliefs, and finally he realizes that in the
midst of trying to become an American, he lost all of his beliefs and essentially
lost himself.
Essentially these stories are all the
same. They are structured the same exact way, just exchange a wizard for two Jewish-Russian
hobbits place them in Gotham city and you've got an epic quest!
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