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According to the words of a once popular song, “a hero lies in you.” But how can that be when there are so many definitions of a hero? Ask any group of students to define the term, and you will get definitions and examples ranging from the traditional “man of great strength favored by the god(s),” to stars of sport, screen and music, to siblings, parents and grandparents. But there is another definition, one that goes beyond the ordinary definitions. This definition, derived from the work of Joseph Campbell, is as broad and as old as the world itself because it springs from the innate humanity of the world’s mythology. According to Campbell, a hero is any male or female who leaves the world of his or her everyday life to undergo a journey to a special world where challenges and fears are overcome in order to secure a reward (special knowledge, healing potion, etc.) which is then shared with other members of the hero’s community. Perhaps a hero is in each of us because all of us participate in a life journey that is a quest for self-awareness and self-development. From cradle to tomb, we are all searching to discover who we are and why we are here. Spiritually and psychologically, the journey is a metaphor for growth. The psychological basis for the journey is largely credited to Carl Jung, who once studied under Sigmund Freud. Jung believed that people from around the world shared in what he termed a “collective unconscious.” Here lay dormant all of the knowledge we, as humans, needed in order to know who we are and what is valuable and worthwhile in life. Although we vary greatly in our conscious attitudes and goals, our unconscious minds, revealed through dream studies and psychological research, are quite similar the world over. Jung suggested that these similarities, or archetypes, reflected different aspects of the human mind and that our personalities divide themselves into these archetypal characters to serve various roles in our lives. Joseph Campbell built upon Carl Jung’s work by studying world mythology. In The Hero With a Thousand Faces (Princeton University Press, 1949), Campbell shows how these archetypes reveal themselves in myth after myth in the universal theme of the Hero’s Journey. All heroes follow a path that takes them from their known world, initiates them into a new world order, and returns them, forever changed, into the old world with new talents and gifts to share with the community. More recently, Christopher Vogler, a movie script and story analyst, has written an easy to understand and use manual for screenwriters using Campbell’s ideas to write scripts for movies, plays, and television productions. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters (1992) is a wonderful text to use as a guide for beginning writers. It describes each of the archetypes and shows how they are used in writing successful works (remember George Lucas’ Star Wars Trilogy?). At this point, you may be wondering why you should study and teach the Hero’sJourney. What is the relevance to our own lives? Vogler would tell you that the archetypes are facets of the hero’s personality. As such, if applied to oneself, you can see how these aspects combine to create a rounded character, or a complete, whole, fully functioning human being. The journey, seen as a process of self-discovery and self-integration and as a way of maintaining balance and harmony in our lives, can be confusing and painful, but, as with any process of growth and change, it brings opportunities to develop confidence, perspective and understanding. Vogler contends that by knowing the components of the journey, students can “construct a story to meet almost any situation, a story that will be dramatic, entertaining, and psychologically true” (The Writer’s Journey, p13). Understanding the stages of the hero’s journey gives students a powerful method of analyzing literature, movies, and drama by going straight to the heart of the story. It can also help us to understand the experiences that shape our lives. By recognizing the stages of the journey and how they function, we begin to recognize the points of separation and return in our own lives and respect the significance they have for us. If you decide you wish to incorporate the study of the Hero’s Journey in your own classroom, there are several good web sites. I have listed a few of them for you and they are a good place to begin. I have also used a teacher’s manual called The Hero’s Journey: A Guide to Literature and Life. Written by Reg Harris and Susan Thompson, it is easy to use, and a great introduction to using the journey in the classroom setting. I have used his materials for both freshman and sophomore levels in English for the past two years and have been very pleased with the results. You can order the manual directly from the publisher online or through Amazon.com. As an added bonus, you can email the author, Reg Harris about any problems or questions you may have about the material. He has years of experience in the classroom, and is a great source of ideas and inspiration. I am indebted to him for his assistance in preparing lesson plans to get me through LAATAP! |
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Suggested Hero’s Journey Web Sites http://www.napanet.net/~aripub/
Teacher’s manual by Reg Harris and Susan Thompson . It includes a list
of
http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/~iborchar/Arcane/heroes.html Hero Archetypes http://www.wire.net.au/~melinda/archtype.htm Archetypes in the Hero’s Journey http://www.interink.com/~jpm/myth.html Mythic Structure in Role-playing Games (based on Vogler) http://www.wire.net.au/~melinda/hj-2.htm The Hero’sJourney – A path to Plotting (based on Vogler) http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/med/class/teamedia/heroic.htm Movie Heroes and the Heroic Journey http://www.wire.net.au/~melinda/biaw/biawhero.htm Prewriting exercise using the Hero’s Journey http://www.holisticnurse.com/books/archetypes/
Books available on Mythology/Archetypes
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go to MidAges Homepage
http://www.loyno.edu/~MidAges/
copyright June 21, 2000
email me at sdemers496@aol.com