Rahman 1

Rahman, Meahzabin
Honors Contemporary Composition
Period 3
2/17/17

Non-Fiction Independent Reading Project

The Hero with a Thousand Faces and the Journey

In The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell asserts that a hero is a true savior
when he or she goes through challenges and a long, tough journey, which can prove that they
have successfully helped their victim, or adventurer. Campbell demonstrates this idea by
providing the different stages of the monomyth, which are the call to adventure, supernatural aid,
crossing the threshold, the first challenge, temptation, revelation and final conflict,
transformation, and return to home, which are the only ways the savior can triumphantly save the
victim/adventurers life and bring prosperity. He discloses these phases in order to inform readers
that they can receive benefits from this type of heroism, and can also potentially be a hero by
experiencing these stages, so they can help others. Campbell addresses any type of person,
whether having a positive or negative personality in this book because he indirectly, yet
constantly addresses that anyone can be a hero, even animals, deities, or other spiritual figures,
and hopes to convince everyone to head towards a path of goodness and positivity.

The author provides multiple significant issues and ideas about how the heros journey
can lead to important changes in the adventurers life. In the first chapter, Departure, Joseph
Campbell lists the components that lead to the beginning of the journey of the hero, which are
the call to adventure, supernatural aid, and crossing the first threshold and happen due to conflict,
although beginning the adventure is the most important part because there wouldnt be the heros
experience without it. He states, A blunder reveals an unsuspected world, and the individual
is drawn into a relationship with forces that are not rightly understoodThe blunder may
amount to the opening of a destiny (51). He displays this statement because he wants to inform
readers that adventurer-hero meetings occur suddenly and can lead to great experiences that can
potentially have a great impact on ones life. In the next significant chapter, chapter two,
Initiation, the author discusses the importance of challenges, which occur once the hero has
passed the first threshold, and which the hero must overcome in order to move on to the next
phase of his journey. He explicates, Once having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a
dream landscape of ambiguous forms, where he must survive a succession of trialsThe hero
is covertly aided by the advice, amulets, and secret agents of the supernatural helpers whom he
met before his entrance into this region (97). He wants to demonstrate that in order to pass the
barriers, the hero must receive aid as well from people and figures, such as deities or charms,
so he/she can accomplish their goal of assisting people in their lives. In the third chapter,
Return, Mr. Campbell discusses that after the hero has done his job of saving the adventurer,
he must come back to the place he belongs, with gifts to distribute to everyone. He writes,
When the hero-quest has been accomplished, through penetration to the source, the
adventurer still must return with his life-transmuting trophy. The full round, the norm of the
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monomyth requires that the hero shall now begin the labor of bringing the runes of wisdom,
where the boon may redound to the renewing of the communityBut the responsibility has been
frequently refused (193). Joseph Campbell wants to inform readers that the hero should bring
the talent he received and share it with others in order to pass on the heroism he did to save
victims. However, he explains, the hero resists coming back due to the prominence and respect
he has received in the other world, which he shows by stating, Even the Buddha, after his
triumph, doubted whether the message of realization could be communicated (193). Also, in
chapter three, called Transformations of the Hero, of the second part of the book, The
Cosmogonic Cycle, the author examines the changes the hero experiences where he changes
many roles in order to help different types of people in various ways. He declares, But the
makers of the legend have seldom rested content to regard the worlds great heroes as mere
human beings On the contrary, the tendency has always been to endow the hero with
extraordinary powers from the moment of birthThe whole hero-life is shown to have been a
pageant of marvels with the great central adventure as its culmination (319). He wants to prove
that heroes do have different faces, and arent only limited to being human; they can be in the
form of a spirit, supernatural force, or warriors among others. Finally, in chapter four,
Dissolutions, of part two of the book, Joseph Campbell proclaims that everyone is a hero,
whether it is a person with a intelligent and positive-minded character or a rebel, because heroes
do at least one act to save other people in their lives. He states, The mighty hero of
extraordinary powers is each of us: not the physical self visible in the mirror, but the king
within (365). He wants to inspire and persuade each and every person to become an actual hero
and spread the message of morality and compassion around the world, so there can be peace and
happiness among everyone.

In the book, there were multiple issues the author commented about, but the issue that
struck the most was the idea that everyone has the potential to be a hero, and is a hero, which
was interesting, because not all people would agree that everyone is a hero since many people
have personalities that show anti-heroism. In the article, Slices of Life: Being a Hero, Jill
Pertler discusses that unpredicted deeds or actions can make a person a hero, and comments
about anti-heroism. Campbell writes, As Freud has shown, blunders are not the merest chance.
They are the result of suppressed desires and conflicts. They are the ripples on the surface of life,
produced by unsuspected springs (51). Similarly, Pertler states, Some of the most unexpected
actions might make you a heroWhen you fed your new born baby at midnight all within the
same, blurry night/morning you were a hero. When you cried while doing so because you were
so very tired, you were still a hero These statements explain that all the jobs done to serve
others needs made the person a hero since they were benefiting even though they possibly didnt
have the thought that they were considered as saviors. The text and the article also focus on anti-
heroism. In the book, it states, Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative
(59). In addition, in the article, she declares, A non-hero parks in a slightly different place when
picking up her son, so he doesnt know she is there at all and thinks maybe she forgot him. This
demonstrates that many people are also against the idea of helping others, possibly because they
are selfish and dont want to help others, or they feel intimated to help because they dont want
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others to discuss about how they want attention or are doing it to show people they are nice
people.

Joseph Campbell believes that America is one of the countries where heroism is the
greatest due to the patriotism most people have to create success. He also believes that the
Americans have a great amount of dedication towards serving the people. One example includes
firefighters who use all their bravery and strength to save peoples live when they are in danger.
However, firefighters arent the only saviors of the country, because teachers are also considered
as one of the best heroes due to them teaching students the material that could help them in life,
such as professions. Also, Campbell believes that parents are among one of the greatest heroes,
too because they have a huge impact on raising their children if they turn out to be respectable
people. Overall, heroes are the best figures and people who have rescued and saved people from
many situations, and have changed the adventurers lives for the better, which in turn will inspire
others to do heroic deeds as well.
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Works Cited

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: Pantheon Books, 1949. Print.

Pertler, Jill. "Slices of Life: Being a Hero." Enewscourier.com. N.p., 22 Jan. 2017. Web. 15 Feb.
2017.