Post by Serenity on Jan 9, 2013 17:45:38 GMT -5
Ukrainec 1
Dominique Ukrainec
Teachers name
English
January 8 2013
Dark Reality
In the minds of many, facing darkness is to face your own fears. To face
darkness could mean something different for everyone. In the story of The
Forbidden Game facing darkness results in a loss of innocence, in multiple forms.
This is shown in the beginning of the novel when they are forced to face their own
nightmares, then they confront the fear of losing their loved ones, and finally, they
find the true darkness in the Shadow World, and in their own reality.
During the first section of the novel, the antagonist, Julian, created a
magical world inside a paper doll house. This was to be the setting for this part of
his game. In this world, his players, Jenny, Tom, Aubrey, Michael, Zach, Summer
and Dee were to reach the top of the house before dawn. Their motivation was to
save Tom , whom Julian held captive. On their journey through the house,
each of the players had to face their nightmare, one by one, before the magical
house would change, allowing them to move forward. The only problem being the
nightmares were real. They had to either face it and move forward, or be consumed
by their fears and be lost forever. They were at one point separated, and Jenny
found them, one by one, having gone through their nightmares with them. At one
point they found Summer, and her turn was up. Summer did not make it out of her
nightmare. She was gone forever. This forced the group of friends to realize that
this magical reality was in fact real. They felt real pain, and when killed, they
would die. Their innocence of this form of darkness had been stripped of them.
Darkness slowly started to creep it's way into the minds of the young group of
people, causing panic, and caution. They were no longer just teenagers playing a
game.
They all knew that what they had gone through was not a dream, and was
certainly real, for Summer was still gone once they managed to return to their
world. Time passed by, and they slowly recovered. Then Julian returned again,
bringing a new game with him. Foolishly, Jenny agrees, believing he was only after
her. Her friends are put into danger, as one by one, he takes them, leaving a small
paper doll from the previous game in their place. As the group grows smaller and
smaller, their minds fall into a state of insanity. They are unable to stop him from
picking them off one at a time, and it tortures them. They are losing the people they
love and have no way to help or find them. This game makes them realize the true
meaning of friendship to them. How much they truly value eachother. It even
brings a few to love and romance. They would never take for granted the
friendships again.
The final game had begun, and again, Tom was captured, along with Zach.
In order for them to save their friends, Jenny, Dee, Aubrey and Michael had to enter
the shadow world. To draw runes, and play with a dark magic not meant for
humans. What they found in that world changed them forever. Lost souls consuming
their previous bodies, against their will. Bodies of humans that had once been
consumed by the older shadowmen. Jenny was hurt the most. In the amusement park
that the portal had brung them, they found an arcade, and in it, a puppet fortune
teller. After a long moment of looking at the body in the box of the game, Jenny
came to recognize the face of her grandfather she had lost when she was five years
old. She became determined to save her lost family, and set him free, by carving a
rune on the wooden box he was encased in. His soul was set free, but the elder
shadowmen were angered. That had been their prey, and she had let it go. She
would be their in payment. Julian protested for her, as he was her prey, and
rightfully his. Deep down, he truly loved her, but had no way to show it in a human
nature. The elders cared not. They would have her. By this point they had found and
saved Tom, and just needed Julian to set them free. He did, if only to keep the
elders from her. That final game brought them to a realization they never thought
possible. Their world was no different from the realm of shadows. No magic, true,
but the cruelty and ways of many humans was no different from those of the
shadowmen. They group vowed to never separate, and that they could never speak
of the games, or Julian to anyone.
They were forever changed, but in some ways, it was for the better. Jenny
was stronger, Dee became open, Aubrey less materialistic, Zach no longer cold,
Michael stopped hiding who he was, and Tom knew he needed them all more than
they needed him. They were all changed, in different ways, but in the end, in
brought them closer together, and to understand one another on a level they never
had before. Jenny almost thanked Julian for doing as he had. For if the Games had
never happened, they would never have became the people the were in the end. A
loss of innocence can be either good or bad. It can happen in many ways, not just
forced by darkness. They would never again be scared of what they know can not
hurt them, but they would also be forever wondering if the elder shadowmen would
come after them ever again. They could never be sure.
Ukrainec *
Works Cited
ADD QUOTES AT SCHOOL
UNFINISHED
