The Hero With A Thousand Faces By Cheryl Strayed

What is a hero? In Joseph Campbell’s book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, he proposes a theory about someone who goes through a series of events typically experienced by a mythic hero. These events are known as the Hero’s Journey. Cheryl Strayed’s journey on the PCT can be closely related to that of the Hero’s Journey. As strayed sets out on the PCT, she unknowingly is following these steps and is on her way to a new life. It’s no doubt that the tragedies and misfortunes Strayed has endured influenced her decision to go on her journey. Beginning in her teenage years, she has faced many family and relationship issues. She has gone through her parent’s divorce, living without electricity or running water, separation from her siblings, and divorce.

Trials and tribulations can make or break a person. As Strayed sets out alone, she realizes how troublesome it really is to hike to Pacific Coast Trail. Her inexperience not only made the hike miserable, but it left her questioning herself. Strayed was skeptical and this quote showed that, “There, I’d leave my troubles behind, I thought. Instead, I only found more (37)”. From the two sizes too small boots, encountering dangerous animals, and coming close to dying of dehydration, Strayed had not seen a good day. Towards the beginning of the book, her feet began to ache so she decided to take of one boot. Mistakenly kicking it off the side of the mountain, she was left with one shoe. It can be said that Strayed is the boot and her life is represented by her kicking the boot. She has plunged into a world of the unknown. She does not know where she will end up or see on the way down. To make it through, Strayed used the sole of her shoe to create a shoe for the opposite foot to prevent herself from forming horrendous blisters that would make her incapable of

It felt as if she finally accomplished something in her life. She did not know where this road would take her; she simply used walking as a coping mechanism. ”There’s no way to know what makes one thing happen and not the other. What leads to what. What destroys what. What causes what to flourish or die or take another course (304)”. This quote simply gives life to the fact that you cannot control everything that happens. Strayed has come to the realization of how much Eddie has helped her throughout her journey. He was the one who taught her how to build a fire, paddle a canoe, and skip rocks on the lake. A new life was created and for that Strayed is forever grateful to the PCT. It gave her a chance for a new beginning and to start fresh. The outcome of this journey was a remarkable one. The new world the hero is forced into is much different than the old one. Campbell describes this new world as a “fateful region of both treasure and danger…a distant land, a forest, a kingdom underground, beneath the waves, or above the sky, a secret island, lofty mountaintop, or profound dream state…a place of strangely fluid and polymorphous beings, unimaginable torments, superhuman deeds, and impossible