NEW PARIS BOOK IN PROGRESS IN 2024: DO I NEED A MENTOR – Blog # 17.
Do I need a character archetype of the Mentor in my book? As keynote speaker J. Loren Norris said: “If you cannot see where you are going, ask someone who has been there before.” But I ask, who was a foreigner locked down in Paris simultaneously during a pandemic and Brexit before me? Sure, there were people experiencing this at the same time, and a mentor could be anyone offering me advice, yes? Or someone with similar life experiences? Let me ponder this.
Poet Samuel Taylor said:
“Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon you, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.”
But The Supremes lead singer Diana Ross said:
“You know, you do need mentors, but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself.”
Which books have I read with a character archetype of the Mentor? For me, this archetype has not only advice, but wisdom, and serves as a guiding light for the main character. The mentor is not necessarily in the spotlight but is a principal guide and support to enable the main character to overcome obstacles and perhaps provide social, emotional, financial, or other support to help them stay strong in tough times.
The mentor does not provide definitive answers, but knowledgeable, experienced suggestions – options for the way forward. The mentor has “been around the block” or “been through hell and back” or “been there and done that.” The mentor has much experience, coupled with patience, because a Hero’s journey can take a long time with many twists and turns.
Mitch Albom’s 1997 memoir Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man and Life’s Greatest Lesson surely fits the ticket about the giving and receiving advice. However, it’s not such a good fit in my context because the mentor is Albom’s university professor aged and dying Morrie Schwartz.
And because I live in France, what about The Count of Monte Cristo written in 1844 by Alexandre Dumas? Protagonist 19-year-old Edmond Dantès is in prison for a crime he has not committed, betrayed by jealous men, and he becomes determined to escape. His mentor is Abbé Faria, an Italian sage and priest, also imprisoned, who reveals knowledge about a hoard of treasure on the Isle of Monte Cristo. The novel is too revengeful for my contextual purposes, but nevertheless, it is, as author Vadim Nikolayev says “a megapolyphonic novel” – i.e., a novel of diverse, independent, simultaneous points of view and voices, in which conclusion are not foreordained and nothing truly comes to an end.
Unique times in history call for unique perspectives.
A book on my high school reading list was the 1927 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse. Apart from this half-man half-wolf Faustian story (in which Georg Faust is successful but dissatisfied in life, at a crossroad, making a pact with the Devil to exchange his soul for unlimited knowledge and pleasure), Steppenwolf inspires hope for the hopeless. Of relevance in recent tough times, Steppenwolf is about a disaffected generation, losing faith in humanity, on the cusp of radical change but conflicted and out of touch with reality. The protagonist Harry Haller is trapped and isolated, intensely lonely with an imagined female mentor leading him to a means of escape and a road to hope.
I love Steppenwolf for my Paris book context because, as author Kurt Vonnegut said about the novel: it is “the most profound book about homesickness ever written” – and the main character in my Paris book has pangs of homesickness.
As for Paris, and gaining lessons in life, American diplomat and philosopher Thomas Jefferson said:
“A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of life.”
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Photographer: Martina Nicolls
