Prompt 1

I assume As I Lay Dying is a hero’s journey because Dr. E selected this book for the hero’s journey class, and he has a PhD. Additionally, while As I Lay Dying is indisputably a “weaker” hero’s journey than other stories we’ve read/watched, I do not believe that this weakness is due to Faulkner's “emphasis on mobile perspective, stream-of-consciousness interior monologue, fragmentation, and nonlinear plotting.” I think a similar narrative pattern to that in As I Lay Dying could be used to make an even more explicit hero’s journey. 

For example, a classic hero’s journey like Star Wars could be told this way. In fact, it pretty much is. We start from Leiahs perspective, then jump between C3PO and R2D2, Luke, Obi-Wan, and Darth Vader. The following is the screen time of each character in the film: Luke Skywalker, 37:30; Han Solo, 19:30; C-3PO, 19:15; R2-D2, 18; Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi, 17:30, Princess Leia Organa, 13:30; Chewbacca, 11; Darth Vader, 9:15. While Luke clearly dominates the screen time, other characters take up major chunks of the film. In fact, Luke’s percentage of total screen time is nearly identical to the percentage of chapters which Darl narrates in As I Lay Dying (31% for Luke, 32% for Darl). Star Wars has a much more obvious hero than As I Lay dying, but this difference is due to the plot and characters, not the narrative pattern.

Ultimately, the question of whether Faulkner’s style in As I Lay Dying can create a hero’s journey is a matter of semantics and opinion. First is the question of how narrowly we define “Faulkner’s style.” For example, if we consider rambling chapters that do not serve to advance the plot as a necessary part of his storytelling style, fitting it to the hero’s journey becomes more challenging. Second is the question of how closely a story must follow the hero’s journey template to be considered a hero’s journey. I discussed this in an earlier post (Zev's Hero's Journey Blog: Critically reflect on Joseph Campbell's 17-step template for the hero's journey. (zevsgoodblog.blogspot.com), but basically, the hero’s journey is so vague that it can be stretched to accommodate almost any story. Third, and most importantly, is the question of whether a story containing a hero’s journey is itself a hero’s journey. Is a hero’s journey strictly defined as a story told linearly, according to the steps of the template, and fully focused on the hero? For example, if a story is entirely told from the perspective of one character who does not themselves go through a hero’s journey, but instead describes a friend undergoing a hero’s journey, is the whole story a hero’s journey, or does a hero’s journey exist within the story?

As an additional note, I don’t recall many examples of nonlinear plotting in As I Lay Dying. Addie’s chapter is the only example that immediately comes to mind. There is also a lot of repetition, which is technically nonlinear. As stated above, the question of whether a hero’s journey can exist in a fragmented story is a matter of opinion. Obviously one can use fragmentation to describe a hero’s journey (going back to Star Wars, even if the scenes were scrambled, the viewers could probably put together the journey), but this comes back to the question of whether a story containing a hero’s journey is itself a hero’s journey.

Super Long Blog Post (Don't even bother clicking. It will take too long to load because there are so many words. It will probably crash your computer).

I was working on a different post, but I didn’t like it, and I don’t have enough time to come up with a good idea, so I will be writing about the call to adventure in The Lego Movie. 

In the hero’s journey, the hero begins from a “state of normality.” We see this to an extreme extent in The Lego Movie. Following his guide to “fit in, have everyone like you, and always be happy” Emmet’s life is the pinnacle of normalcy. Each day he follows the same routine; he watches the news, gets coffee, listens to “Everything is Awesome,” and goes to work, where his entire job is to follow instructions. Unlike Siddhartha or Helga Crane who are always aware that other lifestyles exist, Emmett doesn’t know there is a world beyond Bricksburg, or a way of life that doesn’t involve following instructions. 

The hero’s journey Wikipedia page describes the call to adventure as “some information that the hero receives that acts as a call to head off into the unknown.” In The Lego Movie, this occurs when Emmet falls into a hole that contains the piece of resistance, hears a voice saying “touch the piece,” and touches the piece. The piece and accompanying prophecy thrust Emmet into new “worlds” (wild west, cloud cuckoo land) and give him a clearer view of reality (first learning about master builders and lord business, later seeing the “man upstairs”). 

I don’t think looking at this moment in the film as a call to adventure changes our understanding of the film, because there’s no other reasonable way to interpret these events. The Lego Movie is such an archetypal hero’s journey (at least in the beginning) that acknowledging it as such provides little meaning. Perhaps looking at this step as a call to adventure primes us to think of the ultimate boon as stopping lord business, whereas without the hero’s journey, the story may be more one of Emmet’s personal journey to become a master builder and think for himself, but I don’t think this is really true. 

Further evidence of touching the piece as the call to adventure comes in the subsequent scene where Emmet is being interrogated by Bad Cop/Good Cop. Emmet and his friends' insistence that he is a normal guy, with zero distinct qualities, emphasize that, before touching the piece, he was a completely normal nobody. As the prophecy states, touching the piece means that Emmet is now destined to become the most special, most interesting, most extraordinary person in the world, and take down lord business – a stark contrast from his previous life. 

Lebron James’ Hero’s Journey

Here is my attempt at analyzing Lebron James’ career in the context of the Hero’s Journey

Call to adventure: LeBron James was born in Akron Ohio. From a young age, he excelled at basketball and was destined to bring Athletic glory to the state of Ohio. This role was cemented when sports illustrated put a teenage LeBron on the cover with the title “The Chosen One.” The call to adventure is the step in the journey where the hero, beginning from normality, receives a call to head off into the unknown. For LeBron, this magazine is symbolic of the call. 

Refusal of the Call: Comes out of order

Supernatural aid: LeBron James is a 6’ 9” insane athlete, and he probably took steroids (In around 2014, the NBA made their drug tests more stringent, and LeBron lost 30lbs and stopped balding). The supernatural aid provides the hero with power that will help them in their journey. LeBron could not have succeeded in his quest were it not for his exceptional genetics. 

Crossing of the first threshold: LeBron went straight to the NBA from high school. Winning rookie of the year for the Cavs, LeBron accepted his role as the chosen one. The crossing of the first threshold is the point in the journey where the hero enters the unknown, where there is no turning back. The NBA is the unknown to LeBron. Skipping the opportunity to get a free college education meant that LeBron had little opportunity for going back, especially with the added expectations after his successful rookie season. 

Belly of the whale: The belly of the whale is the final separation from the known world. For LeBron, this is represented by going from his dominant high school team to the awful Cavaliers team. Though LeBron had a lot of personal success, he was surrounded by terrible players and felt like he had no chance of winning a championship. 

Refusal of the Call: This step comes out of order, but LeBron James refuses his task of bringing a championship to Cleveland by going to the Miami Heat. LeBron wins two championships with the Heat, but eventually, he returns to Cleveland. Campbell says that the refusal can happen for “any range of reasons.” For LeBron, it was the feeling that his task, winning with Cleveland, was impossible. 

Road of trials: The 2014-2015 season. LeBron started the season with an injury and played a career low 69 games. In the time when LeBron was healthy, the team played great. Clearly, they had potential. Unfortunately, injuries to Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving lead to the Cavs losing in the finals. The road of trials is a series of tests, and certainly an NBA season, with 82 games, matches this description. 

Meeting with the goddesses: Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are healthy giving LeBron the support he needed to win a championship. They are the “goddess.” An important part of meeting with the goddess is amor fati, or love of fate. At this point in the journey, LeBron is likely beginning to feel that everything that happens in his life is necessary. For example, the Cavs would not have been able to acquire Irving and Love were it not for LeBron’s brief departure. 

Women as temptress:  Woman as temptress broadly describes events that distract the hero from their journey. LeBron James had a lot of distractions during the 2015-2016 season, including the midseason firing of the Cavaliers’ coach. 

Atonement with father/abyss: LeBron James turned to philanthropy. He funded thousands of scholarships for the University of Akron, and donated millions to the Smithsonian. He was awarded the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award from the NBA. This dedication to service represents atonement with the father because he realizes that he can help Ohio and improve his image through methods other than basketball. 

Apotheosis: Apotheosis is the stage where the hero is glorified to divine levels. This certainly happens in 2016 when LeBron James goes God mode in the finals. He leads both teams in points, steals, blocks, rebounds, and assists. His chasedown block at the end of game 7 marks the absolute height of his powers. 

The Ultimate Boon: LeBron James wins the 2016 NBA championship for Cleveland. This is the achievement of the goal of the quest. 

Refusal of the Return: Although he accomplished his mission of bringing a championship to Cleveland, LeBron stays with the Cavs for another season. They get destroyed in the finals by the Warriors with their new addition of Kevin Durant. 

The Magic Flight: LeBron James goes to the Lakers, but he faces many challenges, including injury and making problematic comments about Hong Kong Independence. Also, the team was terrible. These challenges, or dangers, that he faces are typical of this stage. 

Rescue from Without: In this stage, the hero gets powerful guides to aid in their return to normal life. For LeBron, after a horrible season with the Lakers, this help comes in the form of all-star forward Anthony Davis and coach Frank Vogel. The ending of this season coincided with COVID, leading the NBA playoffs to be held at Disney World. Other teams were impacted by unvaccinated players being unable to play, giving LeBron and the Lakers an advantage.

The Crossing of the Return Threshold: The Lakers win the championship. LeBron no longer has anything to prove. He can return to the “known world” without the intense scrutiny and high expectations that he faced earlier in his career. 

Master of the Two Worlds: LeBron starts the I Promise School to help the city of Akron. LeBron also breaks all-time NBA records. For LeBron, the two worlds are basketball and philanthropy, specifically for his hometown. At this stage in his career, LeBron cements his legacy as a great basketball player, and a great influence on the state of Ohio. 

Freedom to Live: LeBron is nearing Kareem's all-time points record. He has two sons looking primed for the NBA. He is loved by Cleveland and LA, and no one blames him for the Lakers current lack of success. He also starred in Space Jam 2. Through the lens of freedom to live, we can guess that LeBron is now free of many of the fears he faced earlier in life. Certainly, he no longer has the fear of failure, and he likely has little fear of aging/the end of his career (he’s got 4-5 years left max) given that he is a consensus top 5 player of all time. 

Critically reflect on Joseph Campbell's 17-step template for the hero's journey.

I would like to preface this post by saying that I do find the hero’s journey interesting, and trying to connect plot points to steps in the journey is a stimulating exercise. Although I tried to be critical in the sense of analysis I ended up mostly being critical in the sense of insults and complaints.

The hero’s journey matches up pretty well with the beginning of Star Wars and Siddhartha, but with how vague the steps are, it would be difficult to write a story which doesn’t. The only way a story could avoid a call to adventure would be diving straight into the middle or having a hero spontaneously decide to go on an adventure. For refusal of the call, any reasonable character would have some reservations about jumping into an adventure (though apparently not Siddhartha, but even though his story fails step two, we still call it a hero’s journey). The supernatural aid is so broadly defined that, again, it is difficult to write a story that doesn’t match up (e.g Siddhartha doesn’t really have a mentor, but since the supernatural aid can be anything that provides guidance, people in class said Gotama, Govinda, and the Samanas all fit the description). 

What is the value in analyzing a story through the lens of the monomyth? With these beginning steps, it seems as if you can put literally any story on a timeline and slap these labels on each event. As an example, take Jack and the Beanstalk. The first few events are: Jack is asked to sell the cow, the magic beans get thrown away, the magic beans sprout into a beanstalk, and Jack climbs the beanstalk. This matches up with the hero’s journey just as well as Star Wars or Siddhartha. I understand that the point of the hero’s journey is that it is a common pattern, but once a pattern becomes so all encompassing it loses its significance. Trying to cram full novels and short fairy tales into the same pattern leads to oversimplifications and ignores key details. 

Beyond these first 6 steps, there seems to be the opposite problem. Rather than the steps being so wide-reaching that they are impossible to avoid, the steps become so specific that, at least for the stories we’ve looked at, any connections are forced. Taking an honest look at Star Wars, the connection to the hero’s journey after the road of trials is questionable, and after the ultimate boon, it completely falls apart. In Siddhartha, the story completely ends at the ultimate boon. While the hero’s journey can help us understand the roles that individual events play in an overall narrative, it provides only one view, and that view is often limiting. 

This is not to say that the hero’s journey is useless. One big value of the hero’s journey is in seeing how stories differ from it. Noticing and acknowledging where stories diverge from this generic framework can help to identify elements worth analyzing. Another value of the hero’s journey is that it facilitates making connections between stories. By dividing different stories into the same 17 steps we can focus on comparing two segments which have some baseline level of similarity. A final value of the hero’s journey is that it gives me something to complain about; I love to complain.