...“Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”-Mad Hatter. This is a question I have been pondering since I first watched the movie Alice in Wonderland. One thing I noticed, while I watched the movie for a second time, was how closely it followed the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey is a theory that all common great stories follow. The theory was constructed by a man named Joseph Campbell, who wrote about the subject in his book “A Hero with a Thousand Faces”. The book explains the 12 steps that almost all hero’s follow. These steps can be interpreted in many ways, but the most critical steps usually include the call to adventure, crossing the threshold, challenges and temptations, helper or mentor, death and rebirth, and lastly, the return. Over all, I think Alice in Wonderland is a great example of how movies, books, and everyday life, follows the hero’s journey. In my opinion, the call to adventure for Alice happened several times before she finally crossed the...
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...a variety of characteristics of the human experience. An important work that he has developed is the path of the “Hero’s Journey”. This is a buildings roman story that helps the character find themselves throughout their given experience. In the novel “Song of Solomon” by Tori Morrison, Morrison explains with great detail the Hero’s Journey that Macon encounters. Through his journey, he encounters life changing experiences that shaped him into the person he grew up to be. Joseph Campbell describes the hero's journey as taking place in a cycle that consists of three most important phases,...
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...opportunity to make choices and decisions that ultimately affect our own personal stories. Carol Pearson, in the Hero Within says the “Heroes take journeys, confront dragons, and discover the treasure of their true selves. Although they may feel very alone during the quest, at its end their reward is a sense of community: with themselves, with other people, and with the earth.” The Life of Pi is a wonderful story about the voyage of life and learning for Piscine Molitor Patel, a boy from Southern India we come to know as Pi. Pi’s journey has many classic elements of a monomyth quest. The values and beliefs that create the framework we follow can shape our experiences and just as importantly how we perceive our experiences. As significant as Pi’s life challenges and experiences are, the real learning for those who travel with him is how he approaches them, endures them and ultimately survives them. Our belief in Pi’s authenticity is grounded in his beliefs and perceptions of life. Thesis Statement The Life of Pi is a classic study of the Monomyth Quest. Through discussion I will prove this claim by drawing from Joseph Campbell’s description of the essential elements of the “Hero’s Journey”. The story of Pi is broken into three parts and within these distinct parts there are elements of the Call to Adventure, the Initiation and The Return will be evident supporting the claim that the story follows the Hero’s Journey. Three Supporting Arguments 1. Pi’s rich and varied background...
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...encyclopedia "The Hero's Journey" redirects here. For other uses, see The Hero's Journey (disambiguation). The twelve stages of the hero's journey monomyth following the summary by Christopher Vogler (originally compiled in 1985 as a Disney studio memo): 1. TheOrdinary World, 2. The Call to Adventure, 3. Refusal of the Call, 4. Meeting with the Mentor, 5. Crossing theThreshold to the "special world", 6. Tests, Allies and Enemies, 7. Approach to the Innermost Cave, 8. The Ordeal, 9. Reward, 10. The Road Back, 11. The Resurrection, 12. Return with the Elixir. In narratology and comparative mythology, the monomyth, or the hero's journey, is the common template of a broad category of tales that involve a hero who goes on anadventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and then comes home changed or transformed.[1] The concept was introduced by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), who described the basic narrative pattern as follows: A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.[2] Campbell and other scholars, such as Erich Neumann, describe narratives of Gautama Buddha, Moses, and Christ in terms of the monomyth. Critics argue that the concept is too broad or general to be of much usefulness in comparative mythology. Others say that the hero's journey...
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...Humanities 220 Professor Cope 12/8/14 In 1949, American scholar Joseph Campbell, published what could possibly be one of the most influential non-fiction books of his time, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. (Joseph Campbell Foundation) After lifelong research, Joseph Campbell discovered as well as exposed, a number of common patterns linked between multiple myths and stories spread all over the world. Thus, giving way to the composition of his book. The “hero’s journey” can be described as the various stages or phases that pretty much every hero-quest experiences, with no regard to what culture the myth plays a part in. Put more explicitly, the “hero’s journey” is an adventure the person known as “the hero” takes on behalf of the...
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...Kaplan University | Unit 4: Biological Development in Adolescence | HN144: Human Behavior and the Environment | | [Type the author name] | 11/12/2013 | Prof: JoAnna Pintar Part A : Reflect on the article Halstead, Richard W. (2000, January). From tragedy to triumph: counselor as companion on the hero’s journey. Counseling & Values, 44(2), 100 This article was very interesting in a way from a counselor’s point of view of a new student struggling with a sleep problem. Right away the counselor assumed that Steve (the student) was struggling with the fear of being a new student on campus and that could be the result of his problem. But little did the counselor know that his issues where based on a larger scale. The counselor found himself going on a hero’s journey with Steve which was going through his unique past. As the story goes on through Steve’s journey I think the counselor learned a lot from the student. In the story it states that Steve has a personal goal in mind that he just wanted to be normal. The counselor on the other hand wanted to help Steve through any issues he might be having. But I don’t think the counselor quite understood Steve’s frustration until the part of the story was shared where Steve started to struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts. Steve took it upon his self during the schools winter break to check himself into a local outpatient group at a local hospital during the break. The counselor then recalls getting...
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...Hui-Fen Hsu The Heroic Pattern in Life of Pi 95 The Heroic Pattern in Life of Pi Hui-Fen Hsu Applied English Department National Taichung University of Science and Technology Lecturer Abstract This paper examines the universal structure of a mythological hero’s adventure in Life of Pi. The theory is based on Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which illustrated and distilled heroic patterns from various cultures. The hero’s journey has three stages: separation, initiation, and return. Answering a call to adventure, the hero departs from his familiar world and ventures into a region of supernatural wonder. Miraculous forces are encountered there and a decisive victory is won. He then returns from this mysterious land, bringing an elixir to bene¿t his fellow men. Through this journey of trials, the hero transforms his former self and achieves spiritual growth. Such heroes range from monster slayers to spiritual leaders such as the Buddha and Christ. Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel about an Indian boy who survives a shipwreck by drifting on a lifeboat with a tiger. His adventure ¿ts Joseph Campbell’s hero archetype. Similar to the mythological hero, Pi departs from his familiar land of India, answering the call for adventure to a new country. Protected by the supernatural powers of Hinduism, Catholicism, and Islam, he penetrates the dangerous and mysterious realm of the Pacific Ocean. After experiencing harsh ordeals, he returns...
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...Counselor as Companion on the Hero’s Journey The story of the hero’s journey has been told and retold in oral and literary traditions for centuries. The hero motif captures the strength and perseverance of the human spirit of men and women so elegantly that it has not been bound by either culture or religious tradition (J. Campbell, 1949). In this article a counselor discusses his experiences while working with a male client named Steve. Steve’s story is very inspiring to everyone. His story shows us that we should believe in ourselves. This story has touched me and I believe people can learn from it. I believe the counselor learned many things from Steve. The first thing I believe that the counselor learned from Steve is that believing in yourself is the strongest belief you can have. If you don’t believe in yourself no one will. Also no one can change you or what you want or believe in. The counselor also learned that some people have a lot of hope; and with that hope people can do anything. Another thing that the counselor learned was that setting small goals is better for a person to do. It may seem hard and take more time, but you can still accomplish your goals and maybe more. The counselor’s behavior may have changed as a result of working with Steve. The counselor may have doubt in Steve also, feeling like he did have limitations as the other doctors were telling him. Another thing that may change as a result of working with Steve may be that the counselor treated...
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...on the spiritual experience of practitioners in the Santo Daime Church. Based on his ayahuasca visions, Justin wrote and published a fictional book entitled The Knight of Dark Wood: The Last Tree Whisperer, which includes themes related to mythology and consciousness. He has spoken at several conferences in San Francisco on a topics related to Jungian psychology, archetypes, mythology and plant-based visionary states. He lives in Portland, OR. The Ritual Use of Ayahuasca: The Healing Effects of Symbolic and Mythological Participation Mythology and alchemy are significant aspects of humanity that have been lost in the modern world but carry important messages and tools for integrating various levels of the unconscious as well as engendering purpose and enhancing creativity and spirituality. Ayahuasca, and other entheogens (e.g., psilocybin, LSD, salvia divinorum, etc.) may serve as psycho-enrichment technologies (PETs) that enhance cognition, boost creativity and spirituality, and create harmonious relationships with others. The use of ayahuasca in a ritual setting has been found to stimulate optimal living through the integration of mythological, alchemical, and archetypal motifs into daily life. Ritual use of ayahuasca may include a shamanic ritual (healer-patient) or an organized religious group, such as the Santo Daime church, the Barquina, or the União do Vegetal (UDV), the latter 3 of which represent a type of collective shamanism. Based on my extensive interviews...
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...ACT ONE The Ordinary World: The hero’s life is established in his ordinary world. This story beat is also known as: * The Known * The Set-Up * The Status Quo * Limited Awareness Call to Adventure: Something changes in the hero’s life to cause him to take action. This story beat is also known as: * TheInciting Incident * The Call to Action * The Catalyst Refusal of the Call: The hero refuses to take action hoping his life with go back to normal. Which it will not. Also known as: * Threshold Guardians * Defining Moment * Separation * Reluctance * New Situation * The Debate * Meeting Mentor Crossing the First Threshold: The hero is pushed to a point of no return where he must answer the call and begin his journey. Also known as: * Energetic Marker 1: End of the Beginning * The Point of No Return * Committing to the Goal * Act One Climax * Plot Point One * Break into Two * Turning Point One * The Threshold * Awakening ACT TWO Tests, Allies, and Enemies: The journey through the special world is full of tests and obstacles that challenge the hero emotionally and/or physically. Also known as: * The Fun and Games * Resistance and Struggle * Rising Action and Obstacles * Belly of the Whale * Push to Breaking Point * The Special World * Road of Trials Mid-Point: The energy of the story shifts dramatically. New information is discovered (for positive or negative)...
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...defined by their past, but instead, what and who they find within themselves in a dire moment of need. There is a hero in everyone. Most people just need the right time and the courage to bring out their inner hero. The writer and philosopher Joseph Campbell wrote about the stages each hero goes through in their journey in a book called, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In Finding Nemo, there is tragedy before there is hope. There is also comedy, adventure and suspense to keep the viewer on their feet. Marlin, a clown fish father and the hero, embarks on a journey to find his son, Nemo. Marlin’s wife dies protecting Nemo and his siblings when they are still eggs and are being attacked by an eel who is trying to eat them. After the attack, Nemo is the only egg left. Nemo survives, but is injured, which leaves him with a gimp fin. This leaves the excited and adventurous Marlin a very scared and timid clownfish. When Nemo is captured by a scuba diver, Marlin must swim from the Great Barrier Reef to Sydney, Australia to save him. Marlin will find the hero within himself and act fast to save Nemo while also allowing him to learn and grow without sheltering him too much. The hero’s ordinary world consists of Marlin and his son Nemo, confined to the safety and protection of the ocean by their sea anemone. Although this may seem uncommon, in real life, this is a very common relationship between clownfish and anemone. Without the anemone, clownfish usually become prey to bigger predator fish...
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...clarify the sense in which Faustus’ fall is tragic. Faustus withstands the words of Bad Angel and it becomes clear that Faustus is going beyond despair to impenitence. Kaula, David. “Time and the Timeless in Everyman and Dr. Faustus”. College English 22.1 (1960): 9–14. This article compares the two morality plays and the time represented in each play. In Everyman play, moral time replaces astronomical time with human freedom, which also means that humans can control their destinies in any way they want. Both plays have their main themes as the eschatological predicament confronting each and every Christian individual. Besides, both plays are concerned with only one character and his spiritual destiny while other characters symbolize the hero’s personal conflict. Everyman is the representative individual while Dr. Faustus is the exceptional individualist. In Everyman, the soul unites the hero with the rest of his kind. In Dr. Faustus, the hero receives more emphasis when there is a...
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...,July 21st 2009 ENC 1102 M,W, 7:45am Term Paper “The Theme of Human Struggle in the Works of Ernest Hemingway” In my research paper I will show how elements of life and death, folklore/fables, myths, and rites of passage support the theme of human struggle against nature in the stories "The Old Man and the Sea," "Indian Camp," "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" and "The Snows of Kilimanjaro” by Ernest Hemingway. Through comparative analysis of these stories' underlying themes I will address the initiation experiences of his heroes. Human dignity, morality, and the formation of human individuality through mental strife and the struggle against nature are often themes of Hemingway. Humans cope with the complexity of the world by developing simple mental models based on opposite parts. Life and death are together, two extremes of one energy. Life is the active force and death is the inactive force, but they cannot be separated. Thus, they are two aspects of one reality. When people are reading about living beings and mythological beings or those who are dead, they view the word of the dead as a living world. The dead eat, sleep and move. In the book “The Hero in Hemingway's short stories”, J. DeFalco points out that: " in the Myth there are usually three dominant movements which are cyclic in pattern. They are the departure of the hero, the initiation, and the return from heroic adventure." (17). The movements of the hero to the world where...
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...the Mesopotamian city of Uruk in about 2750 BCE. In the epic, he has an intimate friend, Enkidu, a naked wild man who has been civilized through the erotic arts of a temple priestess. With him Gilgamesh battles monsters, and when Enkidu dies, he is inconsolable. He sets out on a desperate journey to find the one man who can tell him how to escape death. Part of the fascination of Gilgamesh is that, like any great work of literature, it has much to tell us about ourselves. In giving voice to grief and the fear of death, perhaps more powerfully than any book written after it, in portraying love and vulnerability and the quest for wisdom, it has become a personal testimony for millions of readers in dozens of languages. But it also has a particular relevance in today's world, with its polarized fundamentalisms, each side fervently believing in its own righteousness, each on a crusade, or jihad, against what it perceives as an evil enemy. The hero of this epic is an antihero, a superman (a superpower, one might say) who doesn't know the difference between strength and arrogance. By preemptively attacking a monster, he brings on himself a disaster that can only be overcome by an agonizing journey, a quest that results in wisdom by proving its own futility. The epic has an extraordinarily sophisticated moral intelligence. In its emphasis on balance and in its refusal to side with either hero or...
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...Diasporic Cross-Currents in Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost and Anita Rau Badami’s The Hero’s Walk HEIKE HÄRTING N HIS REVIEW of Anil’s Ghost, Todd Hoffmann describes Michael Ondaatje’s novel as a “mystery of identity” (449). Similarly, Aritha van Herk identifies “fear, unpredictability, secrecy, [and] loss” (44) as the central features of the novel and its female protagonist. Anil’s Ghost, van Herk argues, presents its readers with a “motiveless world” of terror in which “no identity is reliable, no theory waterproof” (45). Ondaatje’s novel tells the story of Anil Tessera, a Sri Lankan expatriate and forensic anthropologist working for a UN-affiliated human rights organization. Haunted by a strong sense of personal and cultural dislocation, Anil takes up an assignment in Sri Lanka, where she teams up with a local archeologist, Sarath Diyasena, to uncover evidence of the Sri Lankan government’s violations of human rights during the country’s period of acute civil war. Yet, by the end of the novel, Anil has lost the evidence that could have indicted the government and is forced to leave the country, carrying with her a feeling of guilt for her unwitting complicity in Sarath’s death. On one hand, Anil certainly embodies an ethical (albeit rather schematic) critique of the failure of global justice. On the other, her character stages diaspora, in Vijay Mishra terms, as the “normative” and “ exemplary … condition of late modernity” (“Diasporic” 441) — a condition usually associated...
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