Hero’s Journey Essay
The hero's journey is a very simple process that can fit in with almost any story. The book that I have chosen to analyze is Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone which is written by J.K Rowling. After analyzing the book I have seen that it does in fact follow the hero's journey.
Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's stone is an excellent example of the hero’s journey. It follows the first step “The Separation”. Harry lived in a Modern suburb with an abusive family consisting of his aunt, uncle, and his cousin. They made him feel awful and like he didn't matter to the world. After receiving many strange letters addressed to harry the family moved into a secluded shack; you could definitely tell
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Harry makes close friends with Hermione and Ron when he gets to hogwarts. One of the challenges that Harry faces at Hogwarts is a troll that professor Quirrell snuck into the school. Harry and Ron had shown bravery because they went into the girl's bathroom to help Hermione. Later on in the story the trio faces other challenges such as fluffy who guarded the entrance of the sorcerers stone. After Ron wins a game of giant magical chess Harry goes alone into the chamber that holds the Sorcerer's stone. Harry sees professor Quirrell and Voldemort in the room with the mirror of the arised. “Come here,” Quirrell repeated. “Look in the mirror and tell me what you see.” Harry is forced to look into the mirror by his captors and has the idea of lying to them. “He saw his reflection, pale and scared-looking at first. But a moment later, the reflection smiled at him. It put its hands into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone. It blinked and put the stone back in its pocket — and as it did so, Harry felt something heavy drop into his real pocket. “Well?” Said Quirrell impatiently. “What do you see?” Harry screwed up his courage. “I see myself shaking hands with dumbledore,” he invented. “I — I've won the house cup for Gryffindor.” Quirrell saw through his lie and was ordered to seize Harry. Harry's scar hurt Quirrell and he passed …show more content…
Harry has a calm trip back home since he has no immediate danger or enemies pursuing him. He wakes up in dumbledore's office and gets an explanation of his past and inner self. “Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leave its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign...to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good.” Harry returns with the knowledge of the wizard world, gained two very close friends, and overall became a stronger more experienced
One well-known example of “The Hero’s Journey” from popular culture is the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling. In the novel, Harry Potter, the main character, is the chosen one and “The Hero’s Journey” applies to his life from the moment he is attacked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a baby. Joseph Campbell calls the initial phase of a hero’s development the “Call to Adventure.” The call is the in... ...
He discusses demise in the primary sentence, saying, “The marvelous thing is that it’s painless” (Hemingway 826). As the story creates, Harry as often as possible specifies his desire to pass on or the way he feels that passing is close now. “You can shoot me.” (Hemingway 826) and “I don’t want to move” (Hemingway 827), and “There is no sense in moving now except to make it easier for you” (Hemingway 827) and “Can’t you let a man die as comfortably as he can without calling him names? “ (Hemingway 827). It sounds as though Harry is surrendering, not so much, since he is a weakling, despite the fact that his wife calls him that, yet more since he feels that, it is more agreeable for him right now to set down and pass on as opposed to sitting tight for a truck or plane that will most likely never arrive. During the rest of the story, Harry has several moments when he feels the proximity of
Watching a film, one can easily recognize plot, theme, characterization, etc., but not many realize what basic principle lies behind nearly every story conceived: the hero’s journey. This concept allows for a comprehensive, logical flow throughout a movie. Once the hero’s journey is thoroughly understood, anyone can pick out the elements in nearly every piece. The hero’s journey follows a simple outline. First the hero in question must have a disadvantaged childhood. Next the hero will find a mentor who wisely lays out his/her prophecy. Third the hero will go on a journey, either literal or figurative, to find him/herself. On this journey the hero will be discouraged and nearly quit his/her quest. Finally, the hero will fulfill the prophecy and find his/herself, realizing his/her full potential. This rubric may be easy to spot in epic action films, but if upon close inspection is found in a wide array of genres, some of which are fully surprising.
The human need to be relatable is unquenchable. We love to be able to see parts of ourselves in others, and to be able to feel like our idols are not untouchable. The Hero’s Journey format is one that can be found in almost any story, even in real life. Overall, it is the perfect recipe for keeping readers engrossed. Another place the journey has shown up is in Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Odyssey by Homer. These two stories—one a biography, the other, an epic poem—are so effective in their storytelling, it is easy to see how authors today continue to use the same method to make stories that grab the readers’ attention. What makes them most alike, however, is the emotions and thoughts they have the power to provoke.
In this world that we live on there are a plethora of cultures and people but one thing that brings all these cultures together is a certain story base, the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey has been around for the longest time and many commonly known stories that we know today are based off of the hero’s journey.
... not a hero journey, lacking of foes and partners is an incomplete adventure. They provide the obstacles and support for the protagonist to complete the journey they are on. By having the hero journey cycle composed by Joseph Campbell, it demonstrates the complexity of how a hero's defined. It's about the growth of the character by separation from his comfort zone and venturing into the unknown. By successfully passing the stages, then one is called a hero.
The Hero’s Journey describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization. After reading the epic poem The Odyssey, by Homer, and watching the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?, by the Coen brothers, they both show evidence of the Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey is based on Joseph Campbell’s A Practical Guide to The Hero With a Thousand Faces. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is projected as the “hero” while in O Brother, a man by the name of Ulysses Everett McGill can be seen as the “hero”. Elements of The Odyssey and O Brother are shown through the stages in the Hero’s Journey like the Approach to the Inmost Cave, The Supreme Ordeal, and Threshold Crossing.
Harry has spent all summer waiting to hear news about Lord Voldemort, a evil wizard that Harry saw return the year before, but nobody believes him. One evening after listening to news ,he decides to go for a walk. He then sees his cousin, who he lives with and hates. They then get in a fight and Harry pulls out his wand and at that exact moment two dementors attack them. Dudley thinks Harry is attacking him so he punches Harry. Harry then heroically saves them both by producing a patronus and driving away the dementors.
The Hero’s Journey is an ancient archetype that we find throughout our modern life and also, in the world of literature.Whether metaphorical or real, the journey that a character goes on shows not only the incredible transformation of the hero but it also gives them their life meaning. It is the ultimate human experience and it reflects on every aspect of life. Take Logan, also known as Wolverine, from the X-Men movie as an example. His adventure starts with “The Call,” which is the first step of the Hero’s Journey. This step happens due to the realization of imbalance and injustice that the character has in their life. Logan steps into the first stage of the pattern but is hesitant to start his adventure because he does not know what and
Refer to specific examples. What sets your hero’s journey in motion? What elements of the hero’s journey does it conform to? Use distinctive examples of what you see on the screen. Include quotes from the movie.
The Hero’s Journey is a pattern of narrative that appears in novels, storytelling, myth, and religious ritual. It was first identified by the American scholar Joseph Campbell in his book A Hero with Thousand Faces. Campbell also discussed this pattern in his interview to Bill Moyers which was later published as a book The Power of Myths. This pattern describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds. Campbell detailed many stages in the Hero’s Journey, but he also summarized the pattern in three fundamental phases: Separation, Ordeal, and Return that all heroes, in spite of their sex, age, culture, or religion, have to overcome in order to reach the goal. Alice in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll, provides a good example of the Hero's Journey. This story describes the adventures of Alice, a young English girl, in Wonderland. Although she lacks some of the stages identified by Campbell, she still possesses many of them that are necessary for a Hero to be considered a Hero.
We all are heroes of our own story, and it is a quality seen in many movies and books. The hero's journey is about progress and passage. This journey involves a separation from the unknown, known world, and a series of phases the hero must go through . Each stage of the journey must be passed successfully if the person is to become a hero. In “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, the main character Amir faces a series of trials and goes through obstacles where the concept of his childhood dies.
Just to quickly run through the two previous books; Harry Potter is a wizard, who’s parents were killed by the worst dark wizard ever known. The reason why Harry Potter is still around, is because Lord Voldemort failed to kill Harry. His spell hit Harry, but then backfired on Voldemort taking all of his powers with him. Harry is so famous for two things. Withstanding the powers of Lord Voldemort, and, taking him back in to the underworld in hiding. In the first book, Harry receives a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He’s eventually allowed to go, and spends the next six months there learning magic, getting into trouble, and trying to solve mysteries of his past, and the school. In the second book, Harry goes back to his second year at Hogwarts, and gets into more trouble, figures out many astonishing mysteries and learns loads more magic. His best friends in the two books consist of Ron and Hermione (two of his fellow wizard students) and Hagrid the gamekeeper who was expelled from Hogwarts but allowed a job as the gamekeeper.
“The journey of the hero is about the courage to seek the depths; the image of creative rebirth; the eternal cycle of change within us; the uncanny discovery that the seeker is the mystery which the seeker seeks to know. The hero journey is a symbol that binds, in the original sense of the word, two distant ideas, and the spiritual quest of the ancients with the modern search for identity always the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find.” (Phil Cousineau) The Hero's Journey has been engaged in stories for an immemorial amount of time. These stories target typical connections that help us relate to ourselves as well as the “real world”.
Stephen Richards once said, “When you do what you fear most, then you can do anything.” Joseph Campbell has written a three stage theory that every hero in a story goes through, a journey if you will. Every journey is different, but it's always structured around his formula, a hero will: separate from his/her known world into a new one, they'll challenge opposing forces or complete a series of tests, and lastly they return to their world again with a gift. Going along with this formula I've gone through my own hero's journey, and succeeded.