Prompt 5: Hornby

Hornby believed that motifs are meant to fortell and support the plot of a story. They are repeated often throughtout the text so that they are hard to miss. If an audience can pick out the motifs that are put into a play, they can gain a better understanding of the story.

1)      A motif from Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive is driving instructions. Driving instructions are repeated all throughout the play, especially between scenes. The driving lessons seem to direct Lil Bit’s memories. “You and the Reverse Gear”, for example, means that we are heading into a flashback. The use of this motif helps the audience understand the sequence of the play.

2)      The other day, I was watching my favorite Disney movie, “Sleeping Beauty” with a few of my friends. I noticed a reoccuring element in the film is dreams. When Aurora is a baby, the fairies bestow gifts upon the princess. They display these gifts with dream like visions. Later, she sings the song, “Once Upon a Dream” as she describes her meeting with Philip. Vision- like dreams are also used when Milificent puts visions of Aurora in Philip’s head. This movie is all about sleep, and when we sleep, dreams come naturally. This movie shows that they go hand in hand