Transcript Hero Monomyth - Ms. Keeler's Heavy Haunt

The Hero
Monomyth
Joseph Campbell
Most quotes are from
The Power of Myth
Taken from www.emich.edu/public/english/childlit/Monomyth.ppt
 Moyers:
Why are there so many
stories of the hero in mythology?
 Campbell:
Because that’s what’s
worth writing about. (123)
Example

Here’s one example of an application of
Joseph Campbell’s ideas to a
contemporary text, Hunger Games:
The Question
is not whether we tell the same hero story over
and over again (it is pretty clear that we do),
the question is, “Why?”:
Why are we compelled to tell and re-tell the
same story? Is there something about this
particular narrative we are drawn to, or that
we, as humans, need?
Let’s begin with the basic pattern:
1. A call to adventure, which the hero has to
accept or decline
2. A road of trials, at which the hero succeeds
or fails
3. Achieving the goal or "boon", which often
results in important self-knowledge
4. A return to the ordinary world, at which the
hero can succeed or fail
5. Applying the boon: what the hero has
gained can be used to improve the world
Where the Wild Things Are
By Maurice Sendak
a deceptively simple picture
book for children that follows this
pattern . . .
 Is
Max learns
To be more human, a better human
 To love and to be loved
 To conquer his fears, his inner demons
 Self control, especially the ability to
master his emotions

Campbell on the spirit quest:
“All of these different mythologies give us the same
essential quest. You leave the world that you’re in and
go into a depth or into a distance or up to a height.
There you come to what was missing in your
consciousness in the world you formerly inhabited.
Then comes the problem of either staying with that,
and letting the world drop off, or returning with that
boon and trying to hold on to it as you move back
into your social world again. That’s not an easy
thing to do” (129).
The popularity of Harry
Potter and Hunger Games

Campbell argued that contemporary,
industrial cultures are starved for myth,
“America has no ethos,” he said. “What
we’re learning in our schools is not the
wisdom of life.” Such wisdom – learning
how to live – can only come from myth (89).
Are we, as a culture, starved for myth?
 Who are our contemporary heroes?

Campbell claims that myth has four
functions:
 Mystical
 Cosmological
 Sociological
 Pedagogical
1. Mystical
Myth helps us to “realize what a wonder the
universe is, what a wonder you are, and
experiencing awe before this mystery” (31).
It is it not so much about learning the meaning
of life, as it is about taking pleasure in the
experience of living.
2. Cosmological
Myth shows “us the shape of the universe, but
showing it in such a way that the mystery
comes through” (31).
It explains why things are the way they are, but
not in the same ways that science explains
these things.
3. Sociological
Myth is a way of “supporting and validating a
certain social order” (31).
Myth both reflects and helps to shape a
particular culture’s values and belief systems.
4. Pedagogical
Myth teaches us “how to live a human lifetime
under any circumstances” (31).
Myth can teach us how to be more human, how
to be better humans, how to survive, how to
know ourselves, and how to lose ourselves.
Myths are models for living.
Popular Culture as myth
Campbell argues that in our
contemporary, diffused, destabilized,
commercial culture (made up of many
sub-cultures) where there are no unifying
myths, we create unifying myths through
popular culture.
 Most of these follow the pattern of the
hero monomyth . . .

Campbell outlined 17 Stages of
the Hero Monomyth:

We’re not going into that much detail
here! (I’m borrowing from Wikipedia, a
great source for over-simplified
information.)

If you are interested in learning more,
read The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
The Call to Adventure

The adventure begins
with the hero
receiving a call to
action, such as a threat
to the peace of the
community, or the
hero simply falls into
or blunders into it.
The Herald

The call is often
announced to the hero
by another character,
who acts as a "herald".
The herald, often
represented as dark or
terrifying and judged
evil by the world, may
call the character to
adventure simply by the
crisis of his appearance.
There is a choice:

The hero-to-be can refuse the call (not a good
idea, because characters who refuse the call
often don’t end well)

Or, the hero can choose to accept the call and
begin the journey.
Crossing the First Threshold

The hero must cross
the threshold
between the world he
is familiar with and
that which he is not.
Supernatural Aid

After the hero has accepted
the call, he encounters a
protective figure (often
elderly) who provides
special tools and advice for
the adventure ahead, such as
an amulet or a weapon.
Tests, Allies, and Enemies

The hero, rather
than passing a
threshold, passes
into the new zone by
means of rebirth.
He/She must pass
tests of allegiance.
Approach

The Hero and his/her allies ready
themselves for battle in the special world.
Initiation: The Road of Trials

The hero is challenged to survive a succession
of obstacles and, in so doing, amplifies his
consciousness. The hero is helped covertly by
the supernatural helper or may discover a
benign power supporting him in his passage.
Road of Trials: Why so many
tasks?
Campbell said, “There’s no reward without
renunciation, without paying the price. The Koran
says, ‘Do you think that you shall enter the Garden of
Bliss without such trials as came to those who passed
before you?’” (126).
The hero has to be tested, has to be proven worthy.
Also, learning self-consciousness is a long path.
ROT: Why are so many tasks in
labyrinths and underworlds?
“The belly of the whale” (from the story of
Jonah): “It’s a decent into the dark.
Psychologically, the whale represents the power
of life locked in the unconscious” (146).
The hero (like Max) has to come to terms with
his subconscious mind, that dark part of himself
beyond his control and mastery.
ROT: “The Journey Within”

Campbell used the phrase “the journey
within” to demonstrate the way that the
hero’s journey represents an individual’s
journey toward self-knowledge. This selfknowledge is an understanding of self, not
necessarily a mastery of self.
Death and Rebirth: Accepting
death
Campbell: “You don’t understand death, you
learn to acquiesce to death” (151).
The hero’s greatest task is learning to accept
his own mortality and the role that death plays
in the cycle of life.
ROT: Villains

Villains often are
villains precisely
because they refuse
to accept mortality
ROT: Death Eaters

The hero’s nemesis, the
monster, the villain, “has
not fully developed in his
humanity” (144). The
nemesis (Voldemort,
Darth Vader, etc.) is
stunted in spiritual
growth and is always a
threat to the hero because
he represents what the
hero could become if he
takes the wrong path.
Death Eaters

Defeating Voldemort
and the Death Eaters,
then, is not defeating
death. It is defeating
the fear of death.
Transforming the Self

Becoming a hero is about transforming –
changing from one thing into another, from
one kind of human into another kind: “The
basic motif of the universal hero’s journey—
leaving one condition and finding the source of
life to bring you forth into a richer or mature
condition” (124).

The hero has to grow up.
Self-Sacrifice

Paradoxically, finding the self means learning to
become selfless, and reaching a place of honor,
means learning humility:

“Losing yourself, giving yourself to some higher
end, or to another—you realize that this itself is the
ultimate trial. When we quit thinking primarily about
ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo
a truly heroic transformation of consciousness” (126).
Btw, Harry’s not the only hero
In HPSS:
Ron
Hermione
The Reward and the Road Back
The hero receives a boon and selfknowledge. He or she also may receive a
treasure of some sort won by facing death.
 Having found bliss and enlightenment in the
other world, the hero may not want to
return to the ordinary world to bestow the
boon onto his fellow man. But he usually
does.

The Resurrection

The hero is tested one more time closer to
home. Because of the boon or due to his
experience, the hero may now perceive
both the divine and human worlds.
The Hero Returns

The hero bestows the boon to his fellow
man giving them and himself the freedom
to live.