The Patterns in Hero's Journeys in Literature and Film

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Joseph Campbell, a very well regarded mythologist and writer, believed that all adventure stories generally fallow the same story arch. The story starts off with the hero in his everyday life when out of nowhere, something calls the hero to his epic journey. He goes through a series of trials which he must overcome to reach the final battle. He wins and returns to his normal life as a changed man. This cycle is called “The Hero’s Journey”. Campbell talks about this idea in a few of his books including The Power of Myth and The Hero with a Thousand Faces. If you pay enough attention the next time you watch your favorite television show or movie or read your favorite novel, you should be able to notice this pattern. One example of a hero who plays out this journey is Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is about a futuristic dystopian society called Panem which is split into twelve different districts plus the Capitol city. As punishment for the rebellion to overthrow the Capitol, each year, two members from each district are thrown into an arena to fight to the death until there is only one survivor. This event is known as the Hunger Games. In the seventy fourth annual games, Katniss Everdeen, a girl from district twelve volunteers to take the place of her little sister, Prim who gets chosen to compete, for she knows that her sister will not last a minute against the ruthless killers that she will have to face, but Katniss might. This is where Katniss’ journey begins.

Step one in the hero’s journey is the call to adventure. The thing that rips our hero from their normal, everyday life and throws them into the unknown. For Katniss, this happens when she hears that it is her ...

... middle of paper ...

..., Suzanne, and Francis Lawrence. "Katniss Is "A Wreck": A Conversation with Suzanne Collins and Francis Lawrence." Interview by Lev Grossman.TIME 18 Nov. 2013: 1. Business Source Complete. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. .

Suzanne Collins and Francis Lawrence discuss Katniss’ mental state after the games and the casting process for Finnick and Johanna in the second movie.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. London: Scholastic, 2009. Print.

This book gave me a little more information about what happened after Katniss returned home from the hunger games.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.

Primary source: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

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