The Hero's Journey Essay

What do Batman, Harry Potter, and Dorothy Gale all have in common? While our initial thought might be their strength, courage or integrity, there is one more common factor that connects not only these three characters, but perhaps heroes in all stories. According to mythologist Joseph Campbell, all stories follow the very same pattern: “The Hero’s Journey”. While this monomyth can easily be recognized in many books and movies — not all stories about heroes follow this pattern to a tee. Unlike in stories like The Wizard of Oz, the hero of the story is not always the main character. The novel Moth Smoke is an example of a fictional work where the hero is one of the supporting characters, and the stages of the hero’s journey are not

According to dictionary.com, a hero is “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.”. This description provides a sufficient general idea what a hero is, but I believe that it is also important to note that being a hero does not necessarily imply perfection. Like Mumtaz, heroes can be flawed beings with just as many, or perhaps even more, imperfections as anyone else. What makes them different, however, is their desire to put others’ needs ahead of their own. The hero’s journey that most heroes follow, according to Campbell, is divided into three major stages, namely: departure, where the hero is in the midst of leaving their comfort zone to enter a new and unknown world, the second stage: initiation; where the hero must face a set of challenges in order to reach their goals, and the third stage, the return to the familiar world; where the hero enjoys the ultimate boon or achievement, and can revel in their freedom to

It is important to have heroes in our lives, they give us a goal to strive towards, and a role model to look up to. It is equally important to remind ourselves that no one is perfect, not even the heroes who we look up to. In real life, heroes are the people that stand up for what is right and sacrifice their own wants and needs to help others. The fact that heroes perform many heroic actions, doesn’t imply that they have to be heroic or successful in every aspect of their life – at least not in real life. We have to remember that heroes are human too, and we can’t always help what we feel, or in Mumtaz’s case, what we don’t feel, but it doesn’t make someone less of a hero, it just makes them honest and real. Unlike many fictional characters, and real life people, Mumtaz is honest about her flaws, and she takes responsibility for her decisions. Some might believe that a quality like this is more praiseworthy than a person who seems to lack, or perhaps even disguise their flaws. I would much rather look up to a more relatable hero that has flaws and is honest about them than a hero with unrealistic characteristics. This novel reminds us that there are many kinds of heroes, and in real life — none of those heroes are