Hero's Journey Blog

 Angelica Pono

Hero’s Journey

Crash Course Mythology:

• Hero’s are EVERYWHERE! All cultures and places have hero stories
• What makes a hero?
• Villains, role model,
• Joseph Campbell: Monomyth of Hero
• (sadly) male appearance due to joseph’s male dominated ideas
• Developed “the hero’s journey” to read through hero stories
• We as humans want to be heroes, struggling to find our place in society
• Followed many theorists like carl jung, sigmund freud, otto runk
• From this, he drew the highlight on the mother figure (sigman) and parental relationship to a hero
• Reading heroes as psychological journey that humans go through
• Hero myths from psyche, following monomyth, 3 part, 17 subparts
• PART ONE: Separation
• The call to adventure
• Refusal of the call
• Supernatural aid
• Crossing the threshold
• PART TWO: TRIALS AND VICTORIES OF INITIATION
• The belly of the whale
• The road of trials
• Meeting with the goddess
• Woman as temptress
• Atonement with father
• Apotheosis
• The ultimate boon
• Refusal to the return
• Part THREE: the return
• The magic flight
• Rescue from without
• Crossing the return threshold
• Master of the two worlds
• Freedom to live
• 7 girls, hunger pain and fear, tell elders they'll do whatever it takes
• 3 years isolated from brothers and sisters
• Each day is a sunrise and sunset meal, at the end of year is a week-long journey, walk for 3 more days, roasted kangaroo, and a knife to eat what they need. They cut the same size of their meals and therefore conquer is hunger
• Pain: front teeth broken, breasts cut, ashes, noses pierced, sleeping on ant hill, no more pain 
• Fear: tell them scary stories, and scare them through the night, they are able to do it
• How does it reflect on us? 
• The Matrix
• PART ONE: Separation
• Call to adventure: Neo’s computer has message inviting him to the matrix via the white rabbit
• Refusal of the call: Main Lead received invite from someone with white rabbit tattoo, and follows, and becomes unsure to follow journey
• Supernatural aid: Morpheus helping neo see the world with the pill
• Crossing the threshold: ?, meeting morpheus/Nebuchadnezzar….?
• PART TWO: TRIALS AND VICTORIES OF INITIATION
• The belly of the whale: not applicable
• The road of trials: After meeting the Nebuchadnezzar the tests he goes through
• Meeting with the goddess
• Woman as temptress: The oracle? 
• Atonement with father: Morpheus calling Neo, “the One”?
• Apotheosis: trinity falling in love with neo, and becoming full powered
• The ultimate boon
• Refusal to the return
• Part THREE: the return
• The magic flight
• Rescue from without
• Crossing the return threshold
• Master of the two worlds: Neo saving humans in the matrix
• Freedom to live

                           

Reflection Section - Minimum of 350 words:

As a whole, Joseph Campbell’s analysis of, “The Hero’s Journey” is intriguing the way he designed the monomyth, by reflecting on the creators of these stories themselves. Joseph looked at theorists like Carl Jung and Sigman Freud to analyze the pattern of a “hero story”. That makes this concept very applicable to reflect human lives. We as people view our life to be that of a quest, a journey. It’s as though we look up to a story where the person would be able to complete mundane quests at high risk levels; for example, The Lord Of The Rings— bring a ring to a volcano. These myths are parallel to more realistic issues, painting our problems in a romanticized, fable-like view.  

A theory similar to, “the Hero’s Journey”, would be, “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”. With this, we can look at these concepts and see at what point in our life would we be placed on, “The Hero’s Journey”. 

In my own life, I recently moved here which was a big change for me.  Initially, I wasn’t able to socialize properly because my classes were online, and so, I felt a lack of challenge, of aspiration to better myself. Looking at Maslow’s Hierarchy, we can see that my areas of  safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization are lacking. In that sense, I would have just accepted the invitation to the new world, and now I am facing my trials and tests. From this, I am able to think of the future, and what it may look like for me. My next step in life would be meeting a goddess/facing a temptress or atonement to father/apotheosis. With specific emphasis on Sigman Freud’s theories, I would be seeking parental acceptance. As I am becoming an adult, I am making choices and experiences to further my maturation. With that, I hope to become an acceptable adult by my parents, that they approve of what their lessons and views have made me. Those tests and trials are there to show my parents my choices, in hopes that they agree to the pathway I am choosing. 

 

Creative Expression Section

During the period of my trials, this is a water color painting I did to reflect what I was feeling. I felt like I was facing so many things at once, that each new trial just kept weighing down on me. I feel like it would be interesting to continue to view my art like an insight in to my unconscious, and to determine the emotions I am experiencing during each stage of the Hero's Journey.