Joseph Campbell writes, “And each who has dared to harken to and follow the secret call has known the perils of the dangerous, solitary transit: A sharpened edge of a razor, hard to traverse, A difficult path is this—poets declare!”. (Campbell 20). A double-edged sword is something that can exhibit both favorable and unfavorable aspects. In terms of a story, it is the force that works to help, but at the same time inhibit the hero. In the hero 's journey, this comes in the form of a rival. A rival can start out in the form of a helper but slowly develop into an antagonist that may lead the hero to never fulfill their hero status. This character is often unpredictable, and may not understand themselves, causing them to project their anger on …show more content…
Everett’s rival is Kenny, a once joyful husband and father who suffers through the end of the world and turns to Lee for guidance but slowly becomes an unpredictable force that threatens Everett’s wellbeing. Both heroes follow several steps of the monomyth journey in the same way, but it is the way in which they interact with their rival that proves to be the defining form of personal transformation throughout the hero’s journey. Before they truly start their journey, Alexander Hamilton and Lee Everett undergo a very similar crossing of the first threshold that leads them toward meeting their rival. Hamilton begins his story as a young man in the Caribbean. At a very young age, his mother passes away and his father abandons him, leaving Hamilton to fend for himself. Instead of facing defeat, Hamilton begins studying and reading every book he can get his hands on. He also begins writing, a tool that later becomes very useful in several situations. Hamilton continues surviving until a hurricane devastates his town. Hamilton survives, and despite the town being in ruins, total strangers, who are moved to kindness after hearing his story, decide to collect money for Hamilton to gain passage on a ship to New York to finally get the