Adventure Hero Journey
1. Departure
a. the Call to adventure
i. When the “hero” is “drawn into a relationship with forces that are not rightly understood”
(51). This could result from anything such as loosing a ball and trying to find it to being
around people in a situation that doesn’t sit right
b. Supernatural Aid
i. “The first encounter of the hero-journey is the protective figure (usually the little old
crone or old man) who provides the adventurer with amulets against the dragon forces he
is about to pass” (69). This is typically a supernatural being or a being with some sort of
powers of wisdom beyond the adventure hero’s ability.
c. The crossing of the first threshold
i. “Beyond [the guardians at the threshold] is darkness, the unknown, and danger.” This is
akin to the idea of anything beyond the parents’ eyes is danger to their infant, and beyond
the bounds of one’s own society is danger to the adventurer (77). This is venturing out
into the relatively unknown. Typically, this is symbolized by the adventurer journeying
into a setting of nature (a dark wood, the open sea, etc.)
2. The Adventure
a. the road of trials
i. Upon crossing the threshold “the hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid,
ambiguous forms, where he must survive a succession of trials.” During his trials, the
hero “is covertly aided by the advice, amulets, and secret agents of the supernatural
helper” whom he met at the threshold. Or he may come to discover that there is some
“benign power everywhere” supporting his journey (97). Within these trials, all sorts of
different events and characters occur: the trickster, visions, obstacles, etc.
b. Atonement with the father (one type of hero-adventure)
i. In this type of hero-adventure, the hero comes to some at-one-ment with his father (or his
past) by the end of his journey. The hero is usually aided by a female/mother figure who
gives reassurance (magical or otherwise) helping protect the hero (131).
(atonement – to fix a wrong you committed; when you commit a wrong, you have
separated yourself from the right, so you must do something to become at-one with the
right)
Miss Feins
English 9 Honors
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973. All references are from this third edition.
Adventure Hero Journey
3. The return
When the hero has succeeded over his trials, he must return with his “life-transmuting trophy” to his human
society (193).
a. The magic flight
i. If the hero attains his trophy against the wishes of the gods (or powers that be), or if his
return is resented by the gods (or powers that be), then the hero’s return is fraught with
action. His flight from his achievements to home “may be complicated by marvels of
magical obstruction and evasion” (197).
b. Rescue from Without
i. “The hero may have to be brought back from his supernatural adventure by assistance
from without. That is to say, the world may have to come in and get him” (207).
c. the crossing of the return threshold
i. This is a great key to understanding myth and symbol: the two worlds, the divine and the
human (which are only seen as distinct from each other) are in fact one. “The realm of
the gods is a forgotten dimension of the world we know.” The journey of the hero is the
exploration of this realm and its reconciliation into the one world (217). This is crossing
that threshold—realizing the journey out there was in fact the solving of the
conflict/problem right at home. The myth is the story of that inner/outer conflict and the
characters and actions of that story are the symbols representing what the hero faced in
order to solve his conflict.
ii. The hero’s ultimate task, upon crossing the return threshold, is what he does with his
attained knowledge, gifts, etc. How does he teach his lessons to those who have not even
conceived of such a journey (218). Think about the hero’s journey and the end—think
of Odysseus, Telemachus, and/or Huck Finn. Think about the author (be it Homer or
Twain or…). What about us? Have you been on a journey? Are you on a journey right
now? A true essence of a hero is to give his attainments to his society. How can we do
this?
d. freedom to live
i. The hero realizes that we, any creature for that matter, “lives on the death of another,”
and, in completing the journey, realizes the natural order of life has, in fact, taken place
and he/she has been transformed into a new being (238). This is to say two things: one,
that an old self dies at the conclusion of the journey so that the hero is a completely new
being with a new life; second, that others may and will die along the journey as a natural
course, and while it is human to mourn, it is heroic (and human) to move on and take
your place in the natural cycle.
Miss Feins
English 9 Honors
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973. All references are from this third edition.
Adventure Hero Journey
Assignment:
Chart major and minor characters on their journeys. Only characters actually alive and acting in the book
should be charted. Those characters who are only mentioned in stories or who are dead should not be charted.
Not all characters will be charted—only those on a journey (no matter how small).
Suggestion: Go book by book. Jot down ideas for the major characters first, at the top of the page, then jot
down the ideas for the minor characters under that. Try to keep major characters in order.
Miss Feins
English 9 Honors
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973. All references are from this third edition.