Do you feel tired? That stack of paper on the table results this feeling? Everyone has such related thing. A bravery boxer must be able to defeat his opponent. A climber endavors to be stable on various surfaces of the mountain he is encountering. Our parents, we meet everyday after working hard and come for us in the evening, have struggled much on the day. Those efforts make people exhausted, but stronger as well. They are the challenges on the real world.
In the same way, those potentials are experienced too by heroes, even in movies and stories. Harry Potter or Hunger Games, for example, struggle with related matters they face on their “worlds”. What is the correlation from this comparison?
My eyes suddenly open when Matthew Winkler in his “What makes a hero?” explains clearly about hero, and it’s so deep. He quotes a theory issued by Joseph Campbell. Campbell studied myths in the world. All heroes show us different challenges but they are all same. His book “The Hero with Thousand Faces” shows that a hero encounters a circle. Imagine the circle as a clock. Divide it horizontally. Campbell classifies the top as “Ordinary world” and the battles exist on “Special world” for the bottom part. The circle is called “Hero’s Journey” to prove that all heroes have same pattern.
Remember, imagine that you are watching every number of the clock. Winkler is smart and creative in representing it.
Status Quo
1. Call to Adventure
2. Assistance
3. Departure
--[Entering Special World]--
4. Trials
5. Approach
6. Crisis
7. Treasure
8. Result
9. Return
--[Coming Back to Ordinary World]--
10. New Life
11. Resolution
Back to Status Quo
A Hero is always characterized as a common person in the beginning. Then, there is a calling to have journey. This calling is like when you have met your mission in life or job. The assistance is various. It can be supported from your beloved or inner strength. Or, it is a tool which you use for studying, cropping, competing, or so on. Then, you are ready to face challenges or battles.
In the special world, a hero encounters trial. Commonly, matters are like staging. You face the beginning until you approach the hardest. In the top sequence, a hero experiences the biggest matter. Here, you may feel fear or fall for a while. However, you remember of your goal. You then think, what do I want along with these ‘battles’ ?” How do I pass until this current path? What motivates me?
After that, you’re reborn!
When you have what you want, you catch your goal as treasure (i.e mission objective). Finally, you return to the ordinary world. Beginning a new life, you have taken your treasure. You realize all things you have done and be grateful. There, you are in resolution.
You have accomplished level 1.
In the next status quo, you have been in the next level.
This circle runs all the time you live. The level can be your age, school grade, college semester, job promotion, and many more. Campbell might want to give us philosophy. He tried to touch our psychological sense and motivate us :
WE ARE ALL HEROES
This statement comes from the sequences of all hero stories showing that they are humans. Like us! How they transform or attack with special power, it doesn’t matter. It helps them. Assistance!