The Hero's Journey (was Re: OotP - feeling just a bit resentful...)

[Diana Williams]

No: HPFGUIDX 63005

> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "kiricat2001" <Zarleycat at a...>
> wrote:
>
> > But,  I don't understand why the hero, the young initiate, the
> > person  on whom the burden is laid, has to have his support or
> > parent or mentor die.

As a couple other people have poined out, this is a common pattern referred
to as "The Hero's Journey", and has been used all the way back to Classical
Mythology.  Joseph Campbell wrote a book about it (as someone else
mentioned) and also did a series on PBS that explored this ("Joseph Campbell
and the Power of Myth" and "Joseph Campbell: The Hero's Journey" are both
available on DVD and are wonderful, especially for anyone interested in
writing fiction along these lines.)  If you look back at classics of
literature (including "Lord of the Rings" and even film classics like "Star
Wars", you'll see that this is a very powerful theme.  The idea is that the
Hero has to leave Childhood behind and often hovers on the cusp of making a
decision (wanting to be an adult and yet wanting to remain safe with his
parents and home) until the decision is made for him.  Once he leaves home,
he takes on a mentor, an older and wiser teacher who guides him part of the
way on his path before being lost to him as well.  At that point, he must
take the final step into adulthood on his own, completing his quest on his
own (or with a Faithful Companion).  After triumphing in his quest, the
patterns branch off into a couple possibilities - he dies in the successful
completion of his mission, he lives but remains apart having been
dramatically altered by his ordeal, he is rewarded with financial and
emotional treasures such as half the kingdom and the king's daughter - being
a couple of the more "usual" conclusions.

<Stepping down from the lectern, amazed at what I remembered from four years
of College Literature classes...)

Diana Williams
----------------------------------
website at http://diana.slashcity.com
List-Mom to Slash-Writers - www.yahoogroups.com/groups/slash-writers
Webmaster for Ink Stained Fingers, a Harry Potter Slash archive
http://inkstain.slashcity.net