“For times they are a changin’” Bob Dylan saw the world through futuristic eyes. He saw the world with accepted civil rights, and world conflictions being solved with conversation and music rather then wars. He saw all people treated and accepted as total equals by their morals rather then their race or cultural backgrounds. He was a rebellious peacemaker, he caused a riot at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 when he went on stage and played his normal folk music in electric heavy medal guitar. His radical ways of making points are all for the cause of getting societies attention to issues like civil rights and anti-war, the heavy slashes of the notes flowing from the guitar were ways of expressing war, and illustrating how war invades on peaceful communities, much like the heavy medal he played interrupted the peace of the folk festival. Bob Dylan was born Robert Albert Zimmerman and is foremost an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He composes all of his music down to the very technical threads, and because of this his music is very raw, but still has a point and is musically phenomenal. He was the Holden Caulfield of 1960s America and was the head spokesperson in opposing societies imperfections; he was a form of an activist most would say. Dylan expressed his activist point of view through what he knew best, his music. His songs like “Blowin’ In The Wind” and “Times They Are a-Changin’” express societies ignorance towards racial segregation and the violence in war and the ironic component in America of fighting a war for peace. His lyrics were philosophical, political, and enlightening to every listener no matter what the interpretation. He was multitalented in the fact that he could sing and compose folk, blues, rock and roll, gospel, and country music. He even contributed to jazz, swing, and Irish folk music. He toured through every musical endeavor he went about, and his most famous tour was in the 1980s known as “The Never Ending Tour”. His work has been so significant to society that he has won Grammy’s, Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Amazingly, in 2008 years after the significant part of his career had passed he received a Pulitzer Prize for his musical work, and his work as an activist through music. Dylan is significant to U.S. history because all though he wasn’t a major event or a president, he used his musical talents and his good morals to stand up for what was right. He pushed until Civil Rights were accepted, and to this day still protests war and other imperfection in U.S. society. The most phenomenal part is he did this through music, a network that intrigues millions of people and creates fan addicts, and addicts who fought for the same causes he did.

Falling down a rabbit hole and hitting ones head seemed to clarify the scrambled thoughts in young Alice’s brain, and after her sudden awakening she was able to travel through Wonderland, and then back to reality with a sudden realization of her future and her goals. This is both true in Lewis Carroll’s book Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland and the movie adaption recently directed by visionary artist Tim Burton. But one doesn’t have to have tea with a demented hatter in Wonderland to find their path and meaning in life. In fact, works of literature that are both mandatory in life and amusement in a boring world have a star character that is often on the path to self-discovery. In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, the protagonist is a young woman named Jane. The novel is a bildungsroman taking the audience on the path from childhood to adulthood, but simultaneously taking the audience on a trip to find Jane’s true self. Much like the character Alice, who finds her true identity by traveling through Wonderland, Jane is also aided by magic. A major theme in the novel is Jane’s overall search and discovery of her true self, but magical symbols are placed throughout the novel to aid Jane, much like Wonderland aided Alice.
The majority of society doesn’t believe in magic. Most people are convinced that magic and fairy tales exist because they’re useful to teach children right from wrong, in a style that captures the child’s imagination. But even in fully developed novels magic can exist. It’s hard for the common person to believe in such ridiculous ideas because magic doesn’t come to the common person. Jane Eyre experiences guidance from different forms of magic throughout the novel because she is an extremely unique individual. Her unique personality was most likely developed from her childhood of neglect. Jane’s parents died during her infancy, and her nasty Aunt Reed at Gateshead estate raised her. Jane also grew up with her three cousins, the eldest being cruel and obviously a copycat of his mother. As a child Jane kept to herself, and was mostly occupied by books. But not the typical fairy tale books that often occupy a child’s attention, instead Jane was mainly interested in books illustrating gothic scenes and deathly looking birds. The gothic scenes in the books foreshadow Jane’s future life living at Thornfield, the creepy estate owned by her future husband Rochester, her viewing of the book as a child can be interpreted as a magical sign leading her in that general direction. When Jane is ten years old she is blamed for a fight between her and her cousin, he attacks her and she defends herself, but her cruel Aunt Reed solely blames her. As punishment she is sent to the “red room” that occupies no one, is too small to live in, and she spends an entire day and night there. As a result, Jane becomes claustrophobic and eventually she grows very ill, and in her time in the room she claims to see her dead Uncle Reed’s ghost and it causes her to melt down. The results of her melt down lead to the annoyance of her Aunt Reed, and from that annoyance her Aunt Reed sends Jane to a boarding school called Lowood. The ghost is a magical form, and he takes her from one step to the other on her path to self-discovery. Without the guidance from the ghost of her Uncle Reed, she might have never made it out of Gateshead.
Her time at Gateshead is her time as a small child, but as she reaches the eerie dorms of a school run solely by a patriarch, she begins her time as a young adult, and as a young adult she meets the first person to love her, and discovers her own kind of love. The first person to love her is one of the first healthy relationships she has ever had, when she meets her best friend, Helen Burns, they immediately connect and watch over each other. In Jane’s spare time she also develops a love for painting, and her paintings often illustrate birds. Birds connect with not only the books she read as a child, but they also show the true colors of Jane’s personality. Birds are obviously free because they fly, and although Jane can’t physically fly she internally longs to be free, and her path to self-discovery is also a path to find freedom through something or someone. Throughout the novel Jane doesn’t stay in one location for long, and this is because she wont stop until she finds her true self, much like a bird doesn’t stay put because of migration. Again, the birds in the books and the birds in her paintings symbolize her longings and her actions, the birds are signs and signs are a form of magic. Eventually, as Jane and Helen grow Helen becomes ill and eventually dies in Jane’s arms. Shortly after Helen’s death, Jane reaches an age where she is no longer a student, and the school asks her if she will become a teacher, but Jane turns the opportunity down. However, sleeping in her dorm later that night she is completely lost and doesn’t know where to go, and so she asks if a fairly will leave her an idea on her pillow. When she awakes the next morning, she has a clear idea of what she wants to do, and decides to make an advertisement in the paper for a governess position. Before she fell asleep she had no idea what she wanted to do after Lowood, but when she asks a fairy for help, she awakes with a clear and precise vision. Much like the ghost at Gateshead, the magical fairy at Lowood guides her to her next step on her path to self-discovery.
The moon is depicted as a feminine light in our universe. Her light illuminates the darkness, and she gives guidance and nurtures all, much like a mother. She influences the waves in the process of waning and waxing, and on Jane’s long dark journey from Lowood to Thornfield, she sheds light for Jane to see and gives off positive energy. The moon is recognized in all cultures as mythological, and is therefore depicted as a form of magic. Jane is hired as a governess to young Adele, her guardian being the owner of the estate Thornfield. Rochester is just as average to the naked eye as Jane is, but he is also equivalent to Jane internally, therefore he is complex. Eventually, and unexpectedly Jane and Rochester fall in love and engage to be wed. But the events leading to the wedding put Jane on edge, and she convinces herself ghostly secrets lie behind the polished walls of the mansion. One night she awakes to find a pale bloody woman standing over her bed wearing her wedding veil. Previous to this incident a fire was started in Rochester’s bedroom, and when Jane volunteers to investigate with him he overly reacts and refuses to let her come, giving her proper reason to question him and his house. Another incident leads to the mysterious stabbing of a guest staying at the house, and Jane is left to mend him. She is given strict instructions not to go through the door in the room she is left in. While she is in the room she notices a fixture of Jesus hanging on the wall, Jesus is a symbol of the irony in the situation. Jesus is a holy symbol, but whatever force lies behind that forbidden door is far from holy. When Jane sees the woman in her room, her first thought is that the woman is a vampire. A vampire is a made up creature, but nonetheless a magical one. The fixture of Jesus lies next to the room where the vampire like woman lives, and the contrast between the two is noticeable to Jane. Eventually, when she discovers Rochester’s secret she refers to this contrast and its unholy vibes, and it leads her to her next step, among other things. The contrast is bad for obvious reasons. Magical symbolism and its contrast help her in her decision to leave Thornfield, both the miracle of Jesus and the existence of a vampire are forms of magic. The existence of the vampire like woman and her secrets chase Jane away from Thornfield and her true love, but they also bring her back to Thornfield, at the end of the novel. When she returns to Thornfield for the second and last time, her journey to self-discovery is over and she understands her true self.
Jane Eyre spends her journey from childhood to adulthood searching for freedom and self-discovery. Eventually she reaches a point in maturity, where she discovers who she truly is, through falling in love. But before she got to that point, she traveled from place to place learning and running from different people and different concepts. But she wouldn’t have reached a success point if magical symbols didn’t properly aid her. Not only did magic give her directions and guidance, but also magic showed her different pieces of herself, gradually, throughout her journey.