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The Hero With A Thousand Faces Sparknotes

1456 Words6 Pages

Ashley Greene
Professor Bailey
HUM 130
19 March 2023
Reflection on Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces and Other Theories Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was a famous mythologist who created many of the common theories mythology students learn today. One of his most famous contributions to this field was a book titled The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This book explains his most known theory, the Hero’s Journey (Thury and Devinney). This literature pattern, or monomyth (CornerTalker), as Campbell calls it, describes the journey heroes in myths, literature, and everyday life, experience grow from (Moyers & Company). The title of the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces gives clues to the meaning and importance of the Hero’s Journey. While …show more content…

People follow, or ignore, the calls of this Journey throughout the course of their life (Moyers & Company). While I am still young, and therefore have not experienced the later parts of my Journey, I can see how the Hero’s Journey is part of my life. One of the most prominent examples of the Hero’s Journey in my life is my search, and eventual transition, to a four-year college. As I look for and eventually move to a university, I am leaving the “Ordinary World,” or Act one of the Hero’s Journey, and entering the “Special World,” or Act two, that of college (Nuvotech Limited www.nuvotech.co.uk). Another example of the Hero’s Journey in my life can be found in the “Call to Adventure” section of the Journey. In this stage, the hero discovers what their reason for adventuring into the unknown or “Special World” is (Nuvotech Limited www.nuvotech.co.uk). I believe I have already experienced this stage of my life, thankfully, and have an idea of what I want to pursue during my Journey. After being a tutor and working at a children’s dance studio, I realized that what I wanted to do most with my life was teaching. I enjoy helping the students understand concepts and seeing them learn and grow over the months that I teach …show more content…

One of Joseph Campbell's main concepts he emphasized was how the Hero’s Journey applies to more than just fictional characters, but to ourselves (Moyers & Company). If you can look at your life and accomplishments through that lens, your life’s trajectory makes more sense. As a sixteen-year-old working my way through high school and two-year-college, I know that I will experience many challenges, both physical and mental before I reach the end of my Hero’s Journey. But I learned that I must not hesitate from a beneficial opportunity, even if it means I will face fear, because the only way to bring back the reward, is to answer the

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Joseph Campbell’s, The Hero’s Journey, appears in the foundation of modern hero tales, such as drama, storytelling, myth, and religious rituals. The first step in The Hero’s Journey is the Departure phase, it’s where the hero has an unusual birth or early childhood and is forced to leave their everyday life to face the challenges that await them. Next, is the initiation phase, it’s where the real challenges and trials occur. The hero has a mentor or guide who gives them a special weapon or advice so that when the hero faces the darkest part, the temptation to give up or quit, they will transform and achieve their goal. Lastly, the return phase is when the hero returns home and is able to recognize the experiences the hero had in the other world.

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Joseph Campbell was an American mythologist and philosopher. He wrote works such as “The Hero With a Thousand Faces”, “The Hero’s Journey”, and “The Power of the Myth”. Also, because this is interesting, he was one of the fastest half mile runners in the world at one point (The Hero's Journey Summary.). Campbell focused on comparative mythology which is when you compare mythology from different cultures and find common themes and ideas (Joseph Campbell Foundation). Joseph created a monomyth that summarized a hero’s journey, it contained seventeen stages (INTRODUCTIONS).

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The journey often consists of many different stages involving the ordinary world is the background of the heroes and describes the personal history of the character or the Life, Light, Conscious world symbolizing the stability of each character. The next step of the cycle is the call to Adventure which may begin when outside forces cause increased pressures it may rise up from deep within the character and the hero must begin facing the new changes to himself both mentally and spiritually. Next, the hero’s may refuse the call to be the hero feels the fear of the unknown and tries to turn away from the journey but for only a small amount of time, which may express the unexpected dangers and uncertainty lying ahead of him. Then, the meeting with the mentor/guide is someone with previous

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