A hero‘s journey

In the various literature works in western world, and a lot of are about heroes. People write these stories to give an explanation for the questions that they are concerned with. It also shows what kind of characteristic is appreciated from the view of people at that time. In each character’s adventures, it is not really clear to determine which one can be seen as the hero’s journey. According to Joseph Campbell, a hero’s journey should have a departure, an initiation and a return. Achilles is a character from Iliad by Homer, and Odysseus is a character from Odyssey which is also a Greek epic by Homer. Odyssey is the continue story of Iliad. It takes Odysseus the years to go back to his homeland, Ithaca. He takes care of the suitors of his wife, and then he gets himself freedom. Achilles and Odyssey’s experiences fit he characteristic of the hero’s journey, and that makes him the hero of Greece.

During the departure of Achilles’ journey, he experience the invite of the mission, the refusal of the mission, and the help from god. The prince of Trojan, Paris steal Helen, wife of Agamemnon’s brother. Greece decides to fight with Trojan, and the Trojan War starts. Achilles is a great fighter of Greece. But Achilles quits later, because Agamemnon does not give Achilles respect. Achilles’s leaving makes a huge influence to the Trojan army, and the Greece army is weakened. Achilles’s old friends was send to negotiate with Achilles to get him back to the war. They are refused by Achilles, because Achilles is still made at Agamemnon. Achilles’s best friend, Patroclus goes to the war wearing Achilles’s armor, so that they can scare the Trojan soldiers. It works until Hector finds out that the man in the Achilles’s armor is not Achilles,...

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...When he acts as a beggar to come back home instead of a hero, it shows that it is not easy to get back to the life before he leaves. That makes a threshold for him to return to his world. Finally, all the things have been take care, and he recognizes with his families. He can have a peaceful life again, and that brings him freedom. The returning part fills with a magical experience, some difficulty to get the old life back and the freedom that he earned, and that makes the story successful.

A hero’s journey has a departure, an initiation and return. The story of Achilles and Odysseus are the best example for a hero’s journey. They have courage, intellect and sometimes they need the god’s help, and because of these factors enrich the story and the hero’s journey. There are still many examples of hero’s journey in other works, and they all make the story more vivid.