Hero Journey In The Novel 'Inhuman' By Kat Falls

“Safe and happy don’t always go together.” (Inhuman; Kat Falls). This quote was one that seemed to describe Delaney McEvoy’s, or Lane, life; who is the main character in Inhuman by Kat Falls. In the novel, Lane’s life follows along that of Joseph Campbell’s Hero Journey. Her story began with the separation or departure from her normal life, then led into the initiation or fulfillment, then the return. The first stage of the hero journey, was the separation or departure. The first part of the separation is the Call to Adventure. That all started out when Delaney and a couple friends flew a remote control helicopter into the Feral Zone, which is illegal to go to, as they have been quarantined to the west of a wall that was built, keeping them

Soon after, a mass amount of people from the biohazard group showed up to the apartment that they were flying the helicopter from and took Lane to the biohazard base where she met Director Spurling; who needed Lane to find her father, who was a fetch in the feral zone. The second part of the separation motif, is the refusal or answering of the call. Both of these occurred, first when Director Spurling threatened Lane that if she didn’t help find her father, then Spurling would turn him in for being a fetch; which could have him killed as it was illegal. “If Mack brings me what I want, I’ll destroy the recording and his file.” Director Spurling blackmailed Lane into agreeing to finding her father. Along the way, Lane meets many new people, including Rafe, who was a guide or a mentor for a vast portion of the novel, Everson who helps her make it safely to see Doctor Solis, who is the one who

The first motif shown was the Refusal of the Return, which is when Lane didn’t want to leave Rafe, though Everson was against the idea since Rafe was contaminated. The next part of the return is the magic flight or pursuit, which is where the hero is being chased or trying to escape. In the case of this novel, they were trying to escape Chorda, who was tricking Lane multiple times during her attempt to take Rafe back with her. Following that is the rescue from without, which is when the hero is wounded or needs outside help to return to the ordinary world. Lane had needed Everson’s help, who previously abandoned her, then returned with a helicopter. The next is crossing the return threshold, which is returning to her normal world. There is no more difficult tasks that she has to complete, as the end of the story occurs as she travels back to the west. Following that, is the master of two worlds; which is where they seem to have conquered both lives, and travel freely. However, Lane cannot travel freely due to the law, although she knew people on both sides if she was to return. The final motif in the Return would be the Freedom to live, which is where the problem is fully resolved and they can live freely. This is apparent in the story, since Everson and Lane are close and Everson’s mom is in charge of the lineguards who defend the