Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Elements of a hero's journey
Elements of a hero's journey
Hero's journey with true grit
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Elements of a hero's journey
A rite of passage is a memorable, emotionally charged journey that leads a person from one place in their life to another. Joseph Campbell, an american mythologist, recognized a structure which was often used in the story of a heroes journey. This structure he called a Monomyth, can be simplified and described as a 3 step process of departure, initiation and return. The "hero" (or anyone for that matter) departs their current situation and perspective, iniaties in a journey, and returns to the normal flow of their life, with a new perspective, having learned or experienced something of importance. This process can be simplified further into the phrase, "rite of passage". Similar to Campbells three part departure, iniatiation and return, i view a rite of passage as something that can be div...
Heroes play a critical role in society. Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth explores the archetype of a hero as well as its necessities to society. In a hero’s journey, the hero will always return changed after being away for a long time. The archetypal hero in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, a work of science fiction, is Ender Wiggin. Shakespeare, Lord of the Rings, by Tolkien, and Beowulf, mirrors the traits that Ender portrays in Macbeth. By displaying acts of selfishness, extreme violence, and being egotistical, a hero, no matter and previous act, society no longer considers the a hero, a hero. Through the societal damage resulting from these acts, heroes show their true worth to society.
The second concept of the Hero’s journey shows us that all stories are the same. They all follow the same pattern or algorithm of separation, initiation, and return. An example from the movie is the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy is removed from her natural environment by a tornado, initiated with a lion, scarecrow, and tin man, and the group embarks on a journey to see the wizard. In the end, she is able to return home by clicking her heels. She realizes she has had the ability the whole time, but she needed to test herself. We are just like the characters we see in our favoritie movies, books, and shows – they are a metaphor for us as normal human beings. The last concept I learned is “Follow your bliss”. This concept of bliss is defined in many ways. One definition is serenity. Another definition is the thing you cannot not do. It is what makes a person feel alive. In order to answer the question of what is your bliss, you must ask yourself difficult questions like: What am I passionate about? What makes hours seem like minutes? What made me different as a child? After answering these tough questions, a person can find their
The third hero’s journey is supernatural aid. This means that the hero started to follow their journey and they met their mentor or person willing to help the hero. In the book Into The Wild, Alex's supernatural aid came when he left home to make his way up to alaska and found a bunch of people willing to help Ales and his journey north. In the book Shooting an elephant the officers the gun can be considered a supernatural aid because it killed the elephant in the book. Plus the gun was called Elephant Killer. In the book The Stranger, meursault's supernatural aid was his soon to be wife.Because she was the only person he cared about that was alive. In the movie V for Vendetta, V’s supernatural aid can be the series of events that was placed
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
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.
Different people see a Rite of Passage as a different challenge, but they all do one thing, they prove themselves not only to others but to themselves. In the story “Brothers Are the Same” and “Through the Tunnel” both characters had to pass their own rite of passage. Temas has to pass the village’s rite of passage which is to kill a lion. Jerry’s rite of passage is to swim through a cave in a rock underwater with no air pockets inside the cave. Both of these rite of passages are life risking.
Joseph Campbell describes the hero's journey as taking place in a cycle that consists of three most important phases, which are the following: Departure, which is where the hero leaves his/her comfortable and familiar world and endeavors into the unknown; Initiation, where the hero is tried with a series of tests, which he/she must prove their character; and Return, where the hero brings the benefit of his quest bac...
A Rite of Passage is a reference to a ceremony marking the time when a person passes from one stage of life to another. There are universal rites of passage in many religions and cultures. There are also unofficial rites of passage such as a first love or getting a drivers’ license. Many stories convey a rite of passage through the ways in which their characters develop.
In his epic poem, The Aeneid, the author Virgil depicts the incredible expedition of the hero Aeneas and his men who fled their home city of Troy after it was destroyed by the Greeks. Ultimately, after a long journey, Aeneas and his men would occupy land that would lead to the founding of Rome. However, this journey from Troy to the creation of Rome was not without hardship. Both Aeneas and his people faced physical challenges such as warfare, and mental challenges, such as a commitment to fulfill their duty to establish their city. Furthermore, many of these challenges stemmed from a desire from a god that did not want Aeneas and his people to succeed in the foundation of their homeland. In particular, through close examination of book four
Heracles favorite of the Greeks is a primary example of Joseph’s Campbell’s hero’s journey, proven by all the actions that Heracles has done during the span of his Life.
The American science fiction film ‘Avatar’, directed by James Cameron is about Jake Sully, a paralysed former marine who becomes an avatar to take his place on a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There, he meets the Na’vi people and gets attached to living in harmony with nature, where he must save their land when being attacked by humans. The story line of Avatar follows closely with ‘The Hero’s Journey’ which focuses on how the main character is experiencing a change from his ordinary world, turning into an avatar to explore a new world. Primarily, Avatar captures a call to adventure to begin the hero’s journey. The film also explores a new approach with crossing the first threshold of the hero’s joinery which is conveyed through a range of cinematic techniques. Furthermore, Sully experiences a major ordeal followed by a reward shown in a variety of dramatic shots.
In the poem, "Rite of Passage," by Sharon Olds, the speaker, who is a mother, goes into detail about her son's birthday party celebration. Let us first begin by analyzing the title of the poem, "Rite of Passage," Encyclopedia Britannica describes a rite of passage as a ceremonial event, existing in all historically known societies, that marks the passage from one social or religious status to another. Given the plot of the poem about a young boy having his peers over celebrate his birthday, one might be automatically compelled to say the rite of passage is for him, however with a closer analysis of the poem in its entirety, one can argue the title and the plot hold deeper meaning.
The saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” should give people motivation to continue on and face their problems. If you’re hurt at one point, but not killed, that shouldn’t stop you from moving forward. On the other hand, some people fear death, and they do everything to avoid being killed or hurt on their way to success. The different meanings of this saying are shown in The Odyssey by Homer and The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. The Odyssey is about the Greek hero Odysseus who hasn't returned to his home, Ithaca, for several years after the Trojan War. As Odysseus is determined to return back to Ithaca, he faces several obstacles throughout the years. As Odysseus faces his problems, such as monsters, he
A rite of passage is defined as a ceremony marking a significant transition or an important event or achievement, both regarded as having great meaning in lives of individuals. In Sharon Olds' moving poem "Rite of Passage", these definitions are illustrated in the lives of a mother and her seven-year-old son. The seriousness and significance of these events are represented in the author's tone, which undergoes many of its own changes as the poem progresses.
According to Webster’s dictionary a definition for a hero is “a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent” (Dictionary). The thing with heroes is that they are not all mythological or legendary figures; in fact, heroes can be almost anyone that hold our admiration towards them for whatever reason. Any person can be deemed a hero from the random person seen walking across the street to one of your relative, so eloquently it is there journey that person goes through that makes them become the hero. In Joseph Campbell’s book Hero with a Thousand Faces to be a hero you have to follow along the steps that Joseph Campbell created called Mystic Hero’s Journey. From the start of the first stage where the call to adventure begins it all,