EDU31ACL – Australian Children’s Literature
FANTASY
STORIES
Lecture 3
Heroes in Fantasy
Literature
© La Trobe University, David Beagley 2005
Recommended Reading
• Natalie Babbitt (1987) Fantasy and the Classic Hero,
in Innocence and experience: essays and conversations
on children’s literature, ed. Barbara Harrison & Gregory
Maguire. Boston: Lothrop, Lea and Shepard
(copy in lecture notes on Short Loan)
Definitions
What is a hero?
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Inherent values?
Gender?
Defined by circumstances?
Therefore, defined by story
Universal patterns in hero fantasy
• What is a hero fantasy?
• Forms and structures typical and repeated
• Most common are Quest stories
• Indicates traditional origins in myths, legends and
epics – e.g. Iliad, Odyssey, Beowulf, Arthurian
cycle
• Despite grand scope, focus is on the individual
Universal patterns in hero fantasy
•Provides common structure in which
authorial individuality or particular details
can be explored
•Danger of cliché and formulaic
story/characters
Universal patterns in hero fantasy
From Robert Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces the fantasy hero follows an ancient path, universal to
all cultures, and that journey describes truths about
life and living.
See also Carl Jung – archetypes
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The key stages of the journey are:
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SEPARATION
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INITIATION
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RETURN
Universal patterns in hero fantasy
• The Call to Adventure
• The Herald
• Threshold
• Succession of Trials
• Protective Figure
• Victory/quest fulfilled
• Recrossing the Threshold
Universal patterns in hero fantasy
The Call to Adventure
• destiny has called the hero
• hero’s spiritual centre transferred from within
his/her known world to a place unknown.
• the place holds treasure/danger for the hero
• place may be a distant land, forest, mountain top,
dream etc.
• usually called by a character, though could also be
an artefact, prophecy etc.
Universal patterns in hero fantasy
The Herald
• can be ugly/ beautiful, frightening/curious, but is
usually distinctive
• summons the hero to cross a threshold
• can take a human or nonhuman form
Universal patterns in hero fantasy
Threshold
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can be from the real world into mystery
life into death
waking state into dream
or simply setting off on a physical journey
Universal patterns in hero fantasy
Succession of Trials
• represents coming face-to-face with our confusions,
terrors and pain that stop us from achieving spiritual
perfection
• exposure/danger symbolise growth for hero
• Learning process, initiation into knowledge
• often symbolic cutting the apron strings, capacity for
independence
Universal patterns in hero fantasy
Protective Figure
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hero does not have to cross the threshold alone.
gives assistance
sometimes in the form of charms
hero cannot survive without this protection
represents benign protecting power of destiny
Usually not parent: parents can be symbols of
overprotection which may retard development of
character
Universal patterns in hero fantasy
Victory/quest fulfilled
• the hero must learn a symbolic lesson before reaching
adulthood/maturity/fulfilment
• often the lesson is what we strive for has been ours
all the time – the strength is within, not an external
aid.
Universal patterns in hero fantasy
Recrossing the Threshold
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hero survives trials and learned the lesson
free to return to the real or waking world.
brings new knowledge with him/her
new knowledge may enlighten the existing world
hero must return home
Universal patterns in hero fantasy
Recrossing the Threshold
• final reward, happily ever after often takes place
after the symbolic story has finished, left up to the
readers’ imagination; symbolic of heaven after death
• heavy price to pay for refusing to return home;
choosing immaturity, not growing up, withdrawing
from humanity
• refusing to return suggests reality is not worth
returning to
• completes the circle, brings satisfaction
General criteria for evaluation:
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2.
3.
4.
Is the story well structured? How well does the
story teller present the elements of the narrative
so that there is both predictability (in relation to
the type of literature and its patterns) and
surprises (authorial inventiveness within those
standard patterns)?
Does the story offer worthwhile themes?
(Worthwhile does not necessarily mean solemn.)
Is there a clear sense of a particular age for the
readership of the book?
What scope is there for active participation by the
reader?