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*FROM March 26, 2008*

Seton Hill students (Saint Leo Students Ignore This Part),

If you are submitting to this blog post for your final exam, remember to add a few comments (after a line separator) at the END of your entry after the works cited (should be the FINAL, not first, revision of your term paper) explaining why this post was one of the most appropriate to your paper's topic/thesis. Don't forget that you need to do this for two blog entries and you need to submit a paragraph informing me of which two blog entries you submitted to and an explanation why to turnitin.com. All of these steps need to be completed to get credit for the final exam.

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Proceed as directed in class tonight. . .

Using the text you chose from the sign-up sheet in class tonight (do NOT make up one if you missed class--always consult me the day you miss class to find out what you needed to sign up for), please identify, outline, and explain the following concepts from Joseph Campbell's monomyth:

1. Identify the hero whose adventure YOU are addressing.

2. Identify the two "regions" applicable to the hero: the ordinary world and the special world. You should find both the literal and the symbolic "versions."

3. Identify the three "phases" of the monomyth your hero must go through: the departure phase, the initiation phase, and the return phase. What, how, when, why, where, how come, etc.?

4. Discuss one test or trial your hero must encounter along her or his road of trials.

Dr. Hobbs

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Amanda F.
Dr. Hobbs
28 March 2008

Story: A Worn Path
Author: Eudora Welty
Protagonist (Hero): Phoenix Jackson
Ordinary World: In the country traveling towards town
Special World: Her mind (example pg 2: “She did not date close her eyes, and when a little boy brought her a plate with a slice of marble cake on it she spoke to him. “That would be acceptable,” she said. But when she went to take it there was just her own hand in the air. 2nd example: pg 2: at the bottom page. When she sees a ghost and spoke to it. 3rd example: pg 3: dancing with the scarecrow)
Departure: Phoenix Jackson sets off on a journey through the woods.
Initiation: Does not stop to analyze what she’s imagining, she knows she must get into town for the medicine for her grandson. She must make her way through the rough forest, passed the “ghost” and hunter with his dog and seeing the scarecrow and dancing with it.
Return: She’s received the medicine for her grandson and will start back her journey home.
Transformation of the Protagonist: When she first entered the building she had forgotten why she was there, then after a few minutes she remembered and told the nurse why she had come and how her grandson was doing. At the end of the visit, she had ten cents and wanted to buy her grandson a windmill. The transformation was remembering why she was on the trip to forgetting then remembering again and being able to buy something since it was Christmas.

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Super!

~Lee

American Lit
Blog 5

The Hero’s Journey in “Everyday Use”

The hero in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is Mama. The ordinary world is her home and the society she’s accustomed to, while the special world is Dee’s city life and her knew outlook on life. While Mama doesn’t have to physically do anything to cross into the special world, she does allow Dee to visit, which is probably a lot like the “call to adventure.” Dee’s special world is full of glam and glitz, and a need to return to African ways that seems almost alien to Mama. The tests and trials come as Dee attempts to convince her mother that the life she’s living is right, and they should all return to their African heritage. Allies and enemies become those who are pushing Mama toward this strange world (Dee and Hakim), and those who tie her to her old life (Maggie). The Supreme or deal comes when Dee asks for the quilt that has been promised to Maggie. Dee says that she wants to put it up on the wall and that Maggie will just use it everyday, which makes it a contrast between the values of the special world (their life is a relic, their true life should be with the new culture) and the home world (their life is the only true life, and tradition should be respected and used). Mama is able to overcome her tendency to give in to Dee and “rescues” the quilt from Dee, who gets angry and leaves, which returns Mama to the original world. This seems to be the elixir that heals the land, because anxious like they are at the beginning, Maggie and Mama are able to enjoy the evening. The transformation Mama has undergone is going from wanting to be someone that Dee would be proud of or a mother like she sees on TV to being happy and satisfied with the life she lives.

Departure:

The Call to Adventure – In the lyrics “One” by James Hatfield, the journey has already begun for the figurative hero and it is unknown for sure if the hero had refused the call, or had any super natural aide. Also, crossing the first threshold is unknown as the hero doesn’t have a literal location to where they started the adventure.

The Belly of the Whale - This is where the lyrics really start to take place as the hero is talking about having reached their lowest point. The hero has left behind their old life and he has now been left with the consequences of taking the adventure. Considering the lyrics where written in regards to “Johnny Got His Gun”, it is the after affects of going through and being badly injured by a landmine.

Initiation:

The Road of Trials – The trials that the Hero has to endure through this writing is acceptance of everything that they have lost. He goes through each stanza with something that they have lost. The hero cannot see or speak or make any real contact with the outside world, and that is the main trial in itself.

The Meeting with the Goddess/Woman as the Temptress – This step does not really exist for the hero in this writing. All they have is their memories of their old life and the love they used to have. Essentially the only thing making up the heroes life at this point is memories. There is no specified figure that stands in the way of reaching the ultimate goal aside from the hero himself. He has no future as he cannot go anywhere or communicate with anyone. The goal the hero is aiming for is to die so that he can move on from his imprisonment. The only thing that stands in the way is the doctors keeping him alive and his own inability to end his own life.

Atonement with the Father – The hero’s old life has been killed in this sense as he can never return to that life and must accept what he has become.

Apotheosis – The hero is stuck in between living and dying. He cannot reach the deified state on their own with out someone ending their life for them. The hero tries to hold his own breath in order to end being imprisoned by his own body, but he is not able to do it.

The Ultimate Boon – There is no great triumph, item or goal reached. The only thing the hero takes away from this adventure is the true horrors of what can occur in war.

Return:

Refusal of return - In this case the hero wants nothing more than to be able to return to his old life and be whole again.

The Magic Flight/Rescue From Without/Crossing of the Return Threshold - In this writing there is no returning for the hero. He is stuck in a perpetual state of being wounded and stuck with “life in hell”. The hero is literally stuck, most presumably, in a hospital bed somewhere, with no real chance to return to his old life as a changed person.

Freedom to Live - The hero has no real freedom of living as they are a prisoner to their own body with no “sight, speech, hearing, arms, legs, or a soul”. The hero actually wishes for the freedom of death, and prays to God to end his/her life.

In Langston Hughes’s “On the Road” the literal ordinary and special worlds are a little more difficult to find than are the symbolic worlds. The literal ordinary world could be seen as the place where Sargeant comes from; wherever he was before he got off of the freight train. The special world may be where we first see him searching for food and shelter (Reverand Dorset’s town). Sargeant is the hero. The symbolic ordinary world is the racist, unfair world that he lives in. The symbolic special world is a world free from inequality and judgment based upon skill color. It seems that when we first meet Sargeant he has already had his call to adventure and has embarked on his journey. He crosses the threshold of adventure when he first notices the church in front of him. It is after this that his road of trials begins. The Atonement with the Father takes place as Sargeant is struggling and fighting the policemen and white people who will not let him take shelter in the church. The white people are the “father” as they are the ultimate power in his life; they surround him and control his every action. This is what he is fighting to overcome. The stone Jesus could be seen as an ally for Sargeant, as He is the only character in the story that does not judge or discriminate against Sargeant. The supreme ordeal/final battle occurs when Sargeant realizes that he is not on a train, but rather, in jail being beaten. We do not physically see Sargeant return to the ordinary world, and it is highly unlikely that he does. Although he has begun to truly fight his battle with the attitude that no white person will hold him down, his imprisonment alone might be an indication that Sargeant has returned to the ordinary symbolic world—the world of racism and hopelessness. He has learned, however, to fight for what his rights in order to make a change.

Natasha Hill
Monomyth Model
4/1/08

“One” by James Hatfield and Lars Ulrich

Ordinary World: The ordinary world in “One” may be assumed as life before injury or war.

Birth/Home: In assuming that the hero is a soldier (possibly Trumbo’s Joe Bonham), then the hero is from a small town in the California. He leads a simple life in a quiet neighborhood.

Call to Adventure: The soldier/hero volunteers to fight in World War One in Europe.

Reluctant Hero: Possibly, yes but feels it is his duty (assuming this is Joe Bonham)

Supernatural Aid: There is no aid in the form of magic and wizards but I see God as his supernatural aid because the hero/soldier apparently did not die. But was this really an aid? The hero wishes for death due to his condition.

Special World: The special world is possibly life as a “cripple” or “slab of meat”. This is because the possibility of survival after such extensive injuries is like living in a supernatural world.

Road of Trials: Due to the physical condition of the hero, this is his trial. Learning to live with no arms, legs, eyes, nose, mouth, or hearing will be the test.

Allies/Enemies: In “One” there seem to be no helpers. The feeding tube can be a helper but also an enemy because it keeps the hero alive against his will. Enemies also include war, landmines, and even God for allowing him to live.

Supreme Ordeal/Climax/Final Battle: In the song, the supreme ordeal may be the fact that the hero cannot die or kill himself but must live in the supernatural world. It is unclear whether the hero accepts this or not so the song possibly ends at the supreme ordeal. The last line is “left me with life in hell” so maybe this is the hero accepting his fate. Nothing further happens to the hero.

*There is no marriage, baptism or blessing, no ultimate boon, there can be no flight or rescue due to the hero’s condition. There is no threshold out, no elixir, and no preparation for the next adventure. There is only a realized “life in hell”.

Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
Protagonist: Joe Bonham
Ordinary World: Reality
Special World: Mind

Joe’s departure occurs when he realizes the effects from the shell (loss of arms, legs, face). His mind tests him constantly, as he struggles to develop the concept of time. During his initiation, he slowly comes to the realization of many things such as the warmth on his skin, the entering of nurses, number of times his dressings are changed, and the number of nurse visits that occur before he is bathed. He counts all of the occurrences in his mind and eventually develops an understanding of day and night. After this initiation, he tries to communicate by tapping his head to perform Morse code in his nurse’s presence. She thinks he is having a convulsing and sedates him. He is persistent and continues to tap his head. One day, he realizes that he is blessed with a new nurse. She communicates with him by writing Merry Christmas on his stomach. He taps his head in hopes of being able to communicate with her. She knows he is trying to communicate, but cannot figure out what he needs. The nurse brings in a man who understands Morse code to communicate with Joe. The man asks Joe what he wants, and after careful consideration, he decides that he wants people to see him in his condition, so the world knows what war does to people. Joe returns to reality when the man communicates that it can never happen. The hospital staff wants nothing to do with him and they want to shut him up. He is sedated once again, leaving him stuck in his own mind. He is not transformed, and he failed his mission.

Amanda S.

Blog Entry 5
The Monomyth
Candice S

The hero in the short story “Everyday use” by Alice Walker is no doubt the mother, coined as “Mama” who is also the protagonist. In terms of the monomyth as related to this short story, the simple life of Maggie and her mother without the presence of Dee is considered the ordinary world. Throughout the departure phase, Maggie and her mother are awaiting the arrival of their daughter and sister, Dee who they have not seen in years. Maggie could be considered the helper in terms of the monomyth.
The ordinary world changes into the special world when Dee arrives to visit her sister and mother with her newfound boyfriend. There are many trials that Dee actually causes to sort of test her mother. The first trial is that Dee changed her name and wants to be referred to by her new name. Dee also asks her mother where her name came from, and is frustrated that she cannot trace her history back farther. Next, Dee introduces her foreign boyfriend to her confused mother. Then, Dee asks for the churn top and the dasher for artistic purposes. Her mother lets her take them, despite her knowing that their intended purpose will not matter. The last trial Dee puts her mother through is the trial over the quilts. Dee asks to have the quilts that were handmade by her grandmother, but her mother resists her and hands the quilts to Maggie. Her mother makes the point that Maggie will use the quilts and not just hang them on the wall.
After this last trial, Dee leaves and the return phase occur and the ordinary world is back. The transformation of the hero is more or less a realization. Basically Mama realizes that her oldest daughter is very fake, even if she has achieved so much she is not honest or true to her actual heritage.

“On The Road” by Langston Hughes:

The protagonist/hero in the story called “On the Road” by Langston Hughes, is the character named Sergeant. He is a homeless African American man that is tired, hungry and sleepy. Sergeant’s overall objective is to find shelter to sleep and find some food.
In the story “On the Road”, it exhibits an ordinary and also a special world throughout the theme of the story. The ordinary world is displayed in a sense that it takes place in a logical setting, in the snow, most likely during the depression, at night in a small town. The special world however isn’t as easy to catch onto as the ordinary world theme. The “special world” starts when Sergeant knocks down the church and thinks that he has not only met Jesus, but walked a substantial distance till they parted way at the train tracks. The “special world” is also exhibited in another part in the story where Sergeant was trying to jump into an oncoming train when he finds that the train car he is trying to get into is filled of police officers beating his hands, when in reality, he is actually in jail with a police officer beating his hands.
“On the Road” has three particular parts that I would like to touch on, referring to “The Hero’s Journey”, or the “Monomyth”, Departure, Initiation, and Return. In the story “On the Road” , the Departure phase starts when Sergeant walks down the street and knocks on the reverend’s house and is immediately turned away, and also everything else that leads up to the next phase, the Initiation phase. In the Initiation phase in the story “On the Road”, Sergeant tries to seek shelter in the church, but finds that the doors are locked. So Sergeant decides to try and bust through the church doors, starts a ruckus and the police come, who in turn try to apprehend Sergeant, but he is holding onto the big white pillar in front of the church for dear life. Eventually after the help of the towns’ people, the police pull Sergeant off of the pillar and then the church collapses, with Jesus and Sergeant rising from the rubble, not hurt. This is the climax of the story. The next phase is the Return phase. This is where Sergeant makes his transformation. After he realizes that he isn’t trying to jump into a train car, actually he is in jail, clenching the steel bars, wondering where he is, how he had gotten their, and also, “Where is Jesus, I wonder?” This is Sergeant’s rebirth back to reality basically.

Thomas A.

Ernest Hemingway’s hero, Jake, in The Sun Also Rises, was probably once a man of great strength and vigor; a man with much to offer until he loses his “manhood” in the military. From that point on, his humdrum existence has little value and even less direction.

Jake simply maintains his life; he floats through bars, mingles with friends, and moves his travel weary body from one mattress to another in hopes of finding an elusive happiness.

The single constant in Jake’s life that allots even a flickering of happiness is a lady. And this lady is not exactly a constant. Brett’s cool demeanor instantly calms Jake making him feel at home, no matter his location. This idea of love and happiness that he’s conjured in his head was a complete departure from his world of inability and self-loathing. The ridicule stops once Brett offers herself to him, which she does repeatedly, albeit not fully.

Jake simply cannot pull himself away from the idea that is his love with and for Brett. The opportunity to love and comfort her, in an attempt to offer himself solace, appears over and over, yet he sees it as a positive opportunity rather than a detrimental assault on his emotional and mental being.

Jake’s fishing trip brought about new insights and openness with a companion that rivals truthfulness. Teetering on the edge of this newfound emotionalism, Jake steps back from the reality of an honest world, stepping back instead into his comfortable world of certain gloom and doom. The fishing trip, which lasted several days, could have provided for emotional, physical, and spiritual insight yet resulted in only a basic physical workout.

Jake’s relentless torture of himself, his lack of self-esteem, and unwillingness to grow leaves him struggling to breathe in his physical world of unhappiness. His minimal growth through various travels such as to Barcelona, during trials including his consistent heartache, and in dealing with others, friends and foes, results in a man much worse for the wear.

His many opportunities go unwelcomed and his challenges unmatched, leaving him only to think about how pretty it could be.

The Monomyth of “A Jury of Her Peers”

In Susan Glaspell’s story, “A Jury of Her Peers” one could chose just about any character to be the “hero” in the story. An argument could be made that Mrs. Peters, Minnie Foster, or the sheriff and his helpers could all be broken down using Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth theory. However, the character that I feel fits the monomyth mold the best, is Martha Hale.
The story begins on page one with Martha Hale where she calls home; literally. The story begins at Mrs. Hale’s home located in Dickinson County, and starts with Mrs. Hale in her kitchen. Her home is her “ordinary world” and where her journey begins. This is also the place that the reader assumes Mrs. Hale will eventually return back to.
While Mrs. Hale is at home, she receives her “call to adventure” from the county sheriff whose wife, Mrs. Peters has requested that Mrs. Hale accompany them to the scene of a crime at the Foster household where Mr. Hale has turned up dead. The sheriff and his men suspect foul play, and Mrs. Peters did not want to be alone while the men were investigating. Mrs. Hale is at first reluctant to go along, first because of the extraordinary nature of the events occurring, and second because she does not like to leave her kitchen a mess. However, she eventually concedes so not to upset her husband and the sheriff.
It is also on page one where the reader meets Mrs. Hale’s helper on the adventure. Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife who has requested her presence, is also the character that will remain with her throughout the story. It is their team work that will eventually solve a mystery at the end of the story.
The threshold of adventure is crossed in the last paragraph on page one, when Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters literally cross the threshold of the door to the Foster’s home. This is accentuated with the line “Even after she had her foot on the door step, her hand on the knob, Martha Hale had a moment of feeling she could not cross the threshold.” The Foster home could be seen as taking on a kind of supernatural aura, after a dead body was found in the house. This sediment is echoed by Mrs., Peters when she nervously says to Mrs. Hale “I’m glad you came with me.” At the very least, the Foster home would be considered as a place very different from Mrs. Hale’s home.
The first enemy that Mrs. Hale encounters during her first trial is actually her own husband. Mr. Hale is the individual who found Mr. Fosters body. On page 3, Mr. Hale is recounting the story of the previous day’s events. In the second paragraph, he goes a bit far in adding his own take to the Foster’s relationship. In paragraph three, the author lets the reader know that Mrs. Hale thinks he has gone too far with the sentence “Now there he was! –saying things he didn’t need to say.” The story continues with Mr. Hales statement, and in the last paragraph, it is once again echoed that Mrs. Hale is not happy with her husband’s statement with the line “She kept her eye fixed on her husband, as if to keep him from saying unnecessary things that would go into that note-book and make trouble.”
The second enemy in the story is a group of men. The sheriff, the county attorney, Mr. Hale, and Mr. Peters. These men will interact in the story numerous times, and are crucial to the revelations that Mrs. Hale, with the help of Mrs. Peters will come to. The first time we see the men, is on pages five and six, when the sheriff and the other men are condescendingly talking to the women about their “trifles” such as kitchen things, the jars of fruit, and the poor housekeeping. Mrs. Hale defends Mrs. Foster by saying “There’s a great deal of work to be done on the farm.” The county attorney responds with “Ah, loyal to your sex I see.” This is a clear indication that the first battle to be fought will be the age old battle of the sexes, men against women. The battle lines are again drawn when the men leave the women alone downstairs to investigate the crime scene and leave the ladies with the parting line “But would the women know a clue if they did come upon it?”
The next battle that will occur in the story begins on page nine when Mrs. Peters asks Mrs. Hale if she thinks Minnie did it. Mrs. Hale responds that she does not believe that she did, that it was a crime of anger, and there were no signs of anger exhibited from Minnie in the house. This conversation sets into motion an internal struggle for Mrs. Hale. Her heart wants to believe that Minnie Foster is innocent but the evidence the women will soon find is going to make it hard to follow her heart. Perhaps the most difficult battle in Mrs. Hale following her heart is that she knows “the law is the law”. She must first get past this fact before she can begin to justify Minnie’s actions. This begins on page ten where Mrs. Hale sees the poor condition of the oven Minnie was forced to cook in. The line “the law is the law, and a bad stove is a bad stove-how’d you like to cook on this” is the first indication that Mrs. Hale is sympathizing with the plight of Minnie Foster.
On page eleven, the reader sees the next round of the male verses female storyline. The women find that Minnie was working on a quilt. They ask the question whether Minnie had planned on “quilting it or knotting it.” This statement is overheard by the sheriff and his men who promptly laugh at the trivial things the women are discussing. The attitudes of the men agitate Mrs. Hale, which Glaspell shows in the line where Mrs. Hale resentfully says “I don’t see as there’s anything so strange, our taking up our time with little things while we’re waiting for them to get the evidence. I don’t see as it’s anything to laugh about.”
Also on page eleven, Mrs. Hale sees the first indication that perhaps Minnie Foster was stressed or out of sorts. All of the quilting pieces that Minnie had been working on were neat and uniform. Mrs. Peters comes across a piece with odd stitching and states “All the rest of them have been so nice and even-but-this one. Why, it looks as though she didn’t know what she was about!” Mrs. Hale responds by pulling out the bad stitching and fixing it, much to the dismay of Mrs. Peters who feels “things ought not to be touched.”
Page twelve brings about a major part of the story. Although it is not the climax itself, the climax would not be as important if this battle did not occur. Mrs. Peters finds a bird cage and asks Mrs. Hale if Minnie had a bird. They assume that if there is a cage, there had to have been a bird. But where the bird has gone perplexes the women. After ruling out the thought that perhaps a cat had gotten it, the women notice that the door to the bird cage is broken, as though the cage was ripped open. It appears someone was “rough with it.” The women resume conversation in blaming themselves for never visiting Minnie Foster. They attribute it to the fact that Minnie was never the same after marrying John Foster. She became withdrawn and quiet, fragile even. They compare her before she married Mr. Foster, to the bird “real sweet and pretty-but kind of timid and fluttery.” As Mrs. Hale goes to look for Minnie’s scissors, she makes a horrifying discovery. Hidden in the sewing box is the dead bird. It appears that its neck has been broken, as it is twisted in an odd direction.
As the women come to the same conclusion as to what happened to the bird, they hear the men outside the door. This is where the climax of the story takes place. Instead of telling the men what they have found, evidence that would surely give Minnie Foster motive to kill her husband, Mrs. Hale instead hides the box with the dead bird. The men notice the empty bird cage and ask what has happened to the bird. Mrs. Hales lies to the sheriff and says “we think a cat got it.” Mrs. Peters backups her statement when asked if there was a cat by saying “they’re superstitious, you know; they leave.” The men once again leave the women after deeming that they have not found anything of significance.
On page sixteen, Glaspell shows the audience that the women feel the bird was important to Minnie because she was going to bury it in the “pretty box”, therefore meaning that she obviously did not kill it. Mrs. Hale states that Mr. Foster would not have liked the bird singing and that Minnie “used to sing, and that Mr. Foster killed that too.” The conversations that follow indicate that the women feel bad for the life that Minnie was forced to lead, and that any evidence they found did not make Minnie guilty, even though they both felt that she was.
The final battle that Mrs. Hale takes part is on page 19, when she decides that she is not turning over the bird to the men. She puts the box with the dead bird into her pocket before as she is getting ready to leave the Foster home and return to her own home. In a sense, she has rescued Minnie Foster from an almost certain guilty conviction by hiding the evidence of Minnie’s tortured state of mind. As Mrs. Hale returns to her home, she has been transformed. She has lied to authority and to her husband about a serious crime, and has come face to face with her own guilt about being neighbors with Minnie Foster and not ever visiting. In Mrs. Hale’s mind, she is vindicating this guilt, by hiding the damning evidence against Minnie.

Chris King
Chronicles of Narnia is a story that holds a religious background belief. In the story, there could be many possibilities of heroes. I feel that the ring leader hero is Peter, the eldest sibling of four. Peter’s family ends up moving away from the war, for obvious reasons, and is now located with a professor with in his castle. The world they are currently in is the ordinary world; what most would consider our world today. The youngest child, Lucy, discovers a wardrobe in a spare room of the castle. For whatever reason, she decides this is an excellent place to hide for there game, hide and seek. She stumbles upon a new world which most would consider the special world. She spends some time there meeting new people/creatures before returning the same way she arrived. Eventually, all of the siblings make it to the special world and are amazed with it, but not without first skeptical and not believing. There was a creature who helped Lucy when she arrived the first time, but something has happened to him compelling the family to stay and help. They fight the cold snowy weather in hopes of helping the creature. Upon this they run into beavers which lead/guide them through this adventure. One sibling, Edward, gets under the power of evil and is subjected to some bad things. Now the family is committed to finding their brother and saving him. They meet up with the “good guys” and they eventually find there brother. Now they are struck with the task of staying to help fight the war to free Narnia, the special world. They fight and win the war freeing Narnia using the tools given to them. Now they retreat to the kingdom in Narnia where they stayed until there adulthood as kings and queens. Until, one day stumbling upon the “spare” room. Now is when they return to the ordinary world. They are put back to the age they were upon leaving the ordinary room and time has not passed but only a few moments. The family wonders if they will ever return, but feel probably not. The professors take is that they could, but probably when they aren’t looking for it.

In reference to Plato’s “Into the Cave” theory, the mono-myth theory can also be applied. First to identify the hero, it is the person who has been freed or freed himself to explore the cave and hopefully come out. The ordinary world in this case would be the cave itself. Where all people are sitting and watching the shadows dance upon the walls, unable to turn their heads, do not actually know where the voices are coming from. The special world is out of the cave and going outside where not only the light source is but true knowledge is as well. Obviously the departure of this story is the person being released from the chair where he or she was chained and unable to move his or her head. The initiation in this story would be the trials of finding them-self out of the cave; constantly keeping their eyes towards the light, even though Plato describes the light as painful because it is not something easily adjusted to the eyes, the brightest it would be is just coming out of the cave and stepping on ground outside. The return in this case is back into the cave, as according to Plato, to rescue the rest of the people still blinded by an alternate world and not the true knowledge that they are capable of. The transformation that takes place is the individual obtaining a true knowledge by fighting the pain of the bright light until that person reaches outside the cave where the gods bestow that true knowledge upon that person. Now the responsibility of that person is to go back into the cave and rescue the rest of the people still chained up to the chairs watching the shadows on the wall.

Heather Stull
Mr. Lee Hobbs
EL 267.01
Reader response 4-2-08

I have chosen to examine the monomyth in Dalton Trumbo’s “Johnny Got His Gun”. Joe Bonham, the protagonist, is the hero. In the novel, the literal ordinary world is Joe’s world before he is injured in the war. The special world is the world in which he exists, his mind, after he is injured. Symbolically, the ordinary world is the world that America knew before they entered into the war. The symbolic special world is the world that is altered from the war-Americans (and others) living with the death, confusion, and transformation of post-war society.
Quite amusingly, Joe’s “departure” into the special world, happens shortly after his departure from his friends and family at the station. He leaves from his home town because he has been drafted. He is taken out of his comfort zone, surround by family, friends, and the girl he loves, and thrown into the world of war with death, destruction and violence. This world serves almost as a portal into his “special world” which he enters through being severely injured.
Joe encounters several tests. First, he must identify what is happening to him… is he dreaming or remembering? He undertakes one limb and sense at a time to uncover the gruesome reality of his condition. He also faces the challenge of regaining time. His biggest challenge comes in trying to figure out how to communicate with the outside world. By accomplishing this he feels that he has bridged the gap between the two worlds but unfortunately he can never truly return home. One reason for this is that the doctors refuse his wish to be an exhibition of the realities of war. He is denied having a purpose. Obviously another reason is his severe physical limitations. Joe will never be able to exist as he once did. But most importantly, Joe is not able to return to the ordinary world because no one can. The world has been forever altered from the war. Lives have been wasted, families destroyed, the economy and social structure altered. War has always served as a division and probably always will. Even this class is influenced by a war… literature studied before the war and literature studied after the war. Even without his physical problems, Joe would never have been able to truly return to his “original” world.

T. Wineland
Prof. Hobbs
Monomyth
April 2, 2008

In Dalton Trumbo’s “Johnny Got His Gun” the hero would be Joe Bonham who is also the protagonist and narrator of the story. Joe begins the narrative in the ordinary world which is the world of the living and the world of communication and being one with society. However, the people of this world, including Joe are hidden from the realities of wartime and the darkness of the real world. Regardless of his own beliefs about war, Joe is forced to enlist in the army for WWI and crosses the threshold, leaving his home town of Shale City, Colorado, for the horrors in the land of warfare. During the time which Joe is on duty he sees, hears and experiences the brutality and inhumanity of war while forced to fight for his survival. This change brings Joe into the special world, where things are quite different than they had been at home. He is cut off from family and friends, forced to be in a position that he loathes yet has no choice but to endure the cruelty surrounding him.

The initiation phase begins when Joe wakes up from a deep sleep realizing that something is wrong. Through efforts of trial and error he comes to realize that he cannot hear, he cannot see, he does not have a mouth to speak or a nose to smell. He also comes to the realization that he has no arms or legs. He is cut off from society, has no clear accounting of the time he has been out of commission or of his present surroundings. He has lost his sense of time, day and orientation. Initially he panics and struggles with his ability to grasp the severity and loneliness of his condition.

However, during his stay in the hospital, representing his trials in the special world, he utilizes his time by finding ways to communicate with the outside world. He not only determines the difference between his day and night nurses by their entrances and exits, but he also is able to feel the warmth of the sun on his skin, indicating that it was sunrise. This gives him a concrete sense of time and brings him ever closer to the world he once new. He also practices Morse code using his head and the pillow to send messages. Unfortunately, these initially go by unnoticed. Finally a nurse uses her fingers to spell Merry Christmas on Joe’s chest, giving him a date to go with the time of day he has already discovered.

Crossing the threshold back over to the ordinary world would probably be best represented by Joe’s ability to use Morse code and successfully communicate with someone in the hospital. Joe realizes that he is finally being understood and tells the doctor that he would like to leave the hospital and possibly be used as an educational exhibit to pay his way in the world. Unfortunately, Joe’s request does not fall within the regulations and it is denied, leaving him to wonder why now there are sudden regulations over his existence.

Despite his rejected request, Joe is reborn because he knows now that he has gone from losing the world almost entirely to recapturing a place for himself there. He understands that cruelty and inhumanity reside within both worlds even though they are concealed in the ordinary world and exploited in the special world. In a sense Joe’s journey led him from ignorance to the truth of real humanity, he being a representation of war’s true brutality.

This novel is a great example for a monomyth because it can also be broken down between Book I which is titled “The Dead”, and Book II which is titled “The Living.” Each book can clearly represent an ordinary world and a special world with noticeable thresholds.

The hero that I have chosen to discuss exists in the novel “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemmingway. The character that is the hero or protagonist in the story is Jake Barnes. Jake Barnes starts his “hero’s journey” when he is in his ordinary world of Paris working as a journalist. Jakes departure begins with his call to adventure from Cohn. Cohn writes Jake a letter holding him to a trip that they talked about in a previous winter. Cohn wants to go on a fishing trip in Spain. Jake has been bothering Jake about this trip for a while and Jake finally decides to go.
Initiation begins when Jake and his friend Bill start on their trip to Spain. Spain is the special world in this journey. More of Jake’s friends are also going to be on the trip. Lady Brett, Mike, Cohn, Bill and Jake all end up in Spain together in the special world. The special world is a kind of vacation to fish, drink, and party. Jake and his friends attend a couple bull fights and a final parade at the end of the trip. These events are the climax of the stage of initiation. Jake and his friends get drunk and admire the bull fighters. The flight that happens in the stage of initiation would be when Jake and his friends have to go back home to the ordinary world to work and live life like normal. When Jake returns to Paris, there isn’t really a transformation. Jake is the same type of person that he began his journey on. He is still in love with Brett and knows that he can’t have her, he is still impotent, and he is still “lost” in his life and looking for happiness.

Heather Stull
Mr. Lee Hobbs
EL 267.01
Reader response 4-2-08

I have chosen to examine the monomyth in Dalton Trumbo’s “Johnny Got His Gun”. Joe Bonham, the protagonist, is the hero. In the novel, the literal ordinary world is Joe’s world before he is injured in the war. The special world is the world in which he exists, his mind, after he is injured. Symbolically, the ordinary world is the world that America knew before they entered into the war. The symbolic special world is the world that is altered from the war-Americans (and others) living with the death, confusion, and transformation of post-war society.
Quite amusingly, Joe’s “departure” into the special world, happens shortly after his departure from his friends and family at the station. He leaves from his home town because he has been drafted. He is taken out of his comfort zone, surround by family, friends, and the girl he loves, and thrown into the world of war with death, destruction and violence. This world serves almost as a portal into his “special world” which he enters through being severely injured.
Joe encounters several tests. First, he must identify what is happening to him… is he dreaming or remembering? He undertakes one limb and sense at a time to uncover the gruesome reality of his condition. He also faces the challenge of regaining time. His biggest challenge comes in trying to figure out how to communicate with the outside world. By accomplishing this he feels that he has bridged the gap between the two worlds but unfortunately he can never truly return home. One reason for this is that the doctors refuse his wish to be an exhibition of the realities of war. He is denied having a purpose. Obviously another reason is his severe physical limitations. Joe will never be able to exist as he once did. But most importantly, Joe is not able to return to the ordinary world because no one can. The world has been forever altered from the war. Lives have been wasted, families destroyed, the economy and social structure altered. War has always served as a division and probably always will. Even this class is influenced by a war… literature studied before the war and literature studied after the war. Even without his physical problems, Joe would never have been able to truly return to his “original” world.

In the short story, “The Worn Path”, by Eudora Welty, the hero is an old, African American lady named Phoenix. Her literal world is walking the path through the woods to get her grandson medicine in town. Her symbolic journey is going through the obstacles of old age. Her departure is when she is traveling through the path and she begins to hallucinate various things are happening to her. Phoenix’s call to adventure is every time she has to go get medicine and walk this path. Her hallucinations are when she crosses the threshold. The supernatural aid that causes this, I believe to be the sun. She begins imagining things right after she makes a comment about how bright the sun is. The initiation in this story is when Phoenix goes through different obstacles while walking through the woods. She yells at animals, climbs up and down steep hills, crawls over different logs and branches, falls in a ditch, its hot outside and the length of the path is very long. The “father” in this story is the nurse at the clinic that held her grandson’s medicine. The “father” has to give Phoenix the medicine, which is the purpose for her journey. I don’t believe that there is a return to this story because the author never tells us about her venture back home to her grandson. Symbolically, I do not believe there is a return. I think she stays on her journey through age.

The hero that I am going to discuss from “On the Road” by Langston Hughes is Sargeant. He goes on a journey throughout the story. He starts off in his ordinary where racism exists. He wants to put a stop to racism so he begins his journey. Along the way, he is turned down by many people that he asked for help. They are the ones that show that racism in fact does exist. He is turned down for a place to stay by the Reverend. One would think that a Reverend would be willing to help anyone, but that is not the case for Sargeant. Sargeant becomes fed up with the way that he is getting treated. He tries to break into the church for a warm place to stay. The police come to arrest him, but he does not give up. He grabs onto one of the pillars of the church and tears it down, crushing the police. This is when he crosses into his special world where racism does not exist. He meets Jesus Christ here who walks along with him for a while. Christ is made of stone and so was the pillar that Sargeant was carrying down the street during the time they walked together. Sargeant still needs to find a warm place to spend the night. He and Jesus keep walking until they come to the hobo jungle. This is where there journey together ends. At this time, Sargeant crosses back into his ordinary world, the world where racism exists. He wakes up and finds himself in prison. He is getting his knuckles beat because he was holding onto the door and would not let go. Throughout this short story, I think that Sargeant made a transformation because he was sick of the racism in the world. He no longer wanted to deal with it so he was trying to do something about it. He was trying to make things right and he was put in jail for it.

“Heroine” Lady Brett Ashley

“Real World” – Paris France “Special World” – Pamplona, Spain

“Call to adventure” – Brett’s fiancé was out of town so Brett was living life large and seeking Jake, or teasing, in the process.

“Cross into the threshold” – Brett has a fling with Robert Cohn

“Tests and trials” – Michael and Robert fighting over her and making idiots of themselves

“Supreme Ordeal” – Brett breaks up with Michael to pursue Pedro Remero, whom is a significant amount younger than Brett.

“Cross the Threshold” – Brett breaks up with Pedro and goes back to Michael…she feels that she is a threat to Pedro’s career

“Rebirth or transformation” – I think that Brett doesn’t go through a real transformation she still is dependent on the other sex but she does realize that someone so young and career oriented wasn’t good for her and she realized her needs.

I choose “On the Road” by Langston Hughes as my source

I think the “Hero” in “On the Road” is absolutely Sargeant. He has to fight with the bad weather, the snow, hungry and find himself a place to stay.

His “Ordinary World” is the real world which is not very kind to the Sargeant including the church and the jail Those place actually give him a place to stay and live without the bad weather. He got arrested and falls into a false reality.

The “Special World” for Sargeant is his spirit world, whatever the ordinary world do to him, he is not going to surrender. In his mind, the God is always stay with him. He pleased the God to give him the strength when he is judged.
The departure is from the church to the jail.

Candice Shaughnessy
Dr. Hobbs
American Literature 1915- Present
30 April 2008
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse and Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo:
The Journey to Enlightenment
Journey is a term loosely associated with a path. A journey can be literal or symbolic, and a journey can also be metaphorical. However, the greatest “journey” that can be traced in both western and eastern culture is undoubtably the path to enlightenment. Enlightenment can have different definitions for different cultures, and enlightenment brings about different results for all those who attempt it. Consequently, they all have the same basic journey and their journeys can be traced through Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth. The universal idea of journey brings many different types of protagonists from both eastern and western literature to their personal enlightenment, and most of these journeys can be traced through Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth. Two characters that found enlightenment in this manner were the protagonists in two very different novels, Joe in Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun and Siddhartha in Herman Hess’s Siddhartha. Both of these protagonists try to find enlightenment through their family, their friends, their infatuations with women, and their final peace within themselves.
The first part of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth is referred to as the departure phase. In this phase the protagonist goes from his ordinary life to the life that will lead him to adventure (Hobbs). Both of the protagonists try to use friendship as a catalyst to enlightenment through the departure phase. This idea fails for both of them, but the experiences help them grow as a person and they learn from them. Siddhartha lives with his father, who is the Brahmin in an Indian village, which can be considered his ordinary world (Hesse 1). Johnny Got His Gun is set in Colorado, and later Los Angeles. Joe quotes in the beginning of the novel, “He remembered when he was a kid...thinking that the top of one of his Colorado mountains had blown off...” (Trumbo 9). At this point Siddhartha is searching for enlightenment, while Joe, unknowingly, will be thrown into it. The call to adventure is a change in the protagonists’ life (Hobbs). One of the biggest misconceptions both characters have about enlightenment is that they need other people in their lives that will guide them to enlightenment. While this may remain true for social skills and sanity, as written about in Johnny Got His Gun, it does not necessarily hold true for true enlightenment or any level of self-actualization. Siddhartha’s journey is heavily influenced by his good friend Govinda who comes with him to join the Samanas (Hesse 6-7). In a difference of opinion, Govinda stays with them, and even says to Siddhartha,”Siddhartha it is not for me to reproach you. We have both listened to the Illustrious One, we have both heard his teachings. Govinda has listened to the teachings and has accepted them, but you, my dear friend, will you not also tread the path to salvation?” (Hesse 24). Siddhartha knows this is not his future and leaves the Samanas. Joe has a very similar relationship with his friend Bill Harper, as is exemplified in the story of how Bill looses Joe’s father’s fishing rod in chapter nine (Trumbo 101-108). It is also true that Bill breaks the bond of friendship between him and Joe when he goes out with Diane and, Joe knows their relationship will never be the same again (Trumbo 53). Both of these protagonists, having left their good friends, took their first steps into the world of enlightenment by not relying on peers to help them. This would be their first realization that they are crossing into a different kind of lifestyle.
Campbell refers to the next step as the “threshold of adventure” which is when the protagonist crosses into a different or unknown realm of understanding (Hobbs). This is exactly what happened when Siddhartha and Joe left behind their childhood friends. They began to take the path to enlightenment on their own. In the initiation phase both of the protagonists turn to the temptation of women and peace with the father. This idea, again helps the protagonists grow as people, but it does not aid them in their path to enlightenment. Not unlike the western myths Americans are familiar with, eastern myths usually contain a series of trials. This part of the journey is referred to as the “road of trials” in Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth (Hobbs). A fair argument would be that all of the events of the living are a road of trials leading to enlightenment in some manifestation. This is the obvious truth for Siddhartha since he is actually actively seeking enlightenment, and admits it to the reading audience. “...And where was Atman to be found, where did He dwell, where did his eternal heart beat, if not within the Self, in the innermost, in the internal which each person carried within him?” (Hesse 3-4). However, the way that these two protagonists are similar is the fact that they both internally find enlightenment. However, as Siddhartha has a choice in his path to enlightenment, Joe is somewhat forced into finding his enlightenment. “I can’t breathe, but I am breathing. I’m so scared I can’t think but I’m thinking” (Trumbo 64). Once Joe realizes the state he has been placed in he also realizes that he is alone and, that he has to find his own way through things, much like Siddhartha’s wanderings after his stay with the Samanas.
Another part of the initiation phase is referred to as “the woman as the temptress’ (Hobbs). There are many different women referred to in each of the books, however the women that are most affective in the story are all physically associated with the protagonist in some way. For example, in Siddhartha the protagonist’s lover in the second part of the book, Kamala, is what he believes will help him find enlightenment. He even asks her when he meets her, ... “if it does not displease you, Kamala, I would like to ask you to be my friend and teacher, for I do not know anything of the art of which you are mistress” (Hesse 44). Joe, on the other hand, had many different experiences with women in his life. The first woman the reader finds out about in Joe’s life is the love of his life Kareen (Trumbo 38-39). The other women Joe speaks of are the nurse, Ruby, and other experiences of physical love in his life (Trumbo 167-175). The discovery that both Joe and Siddhartha make is that physical love, and the joys of the senses will also not bring them enlightenment. In Joe’s case this is obvious as he has lost all of this ability to communicate through the outside world. “He had no legs and no arms and no eyes and no ears and no nose and no mouth and no tongue” (Trumbo 62). With all of these physical things gone, Joe had no senses, and his only aesthetic pleasure was through touch. This was a huge difference in Joe’s journey, and since he had to cope with not having his senses, it forced him to look in another direction. Overcoming not having his senses was one of Joe’s initiations. Siddhartha, on the other hand, experienced the aesthetics of life as an attempt to help his search, and then finds that it was all for not. “ He rose, said farewell to the mango tree and the pleasure garden...He smiled wearily, shook his head and said goodbye to these things” (Hesse 68).
One of the initiations is considered the “atonement with the father” (Hobbs). In both of these novels, the father is the first thing that is focused on. The opening to the first chapter in Siddhartha is titled “The Brahmin’s Son”, which is used to refer to Siddhartha himself (Hesse 1). He seeks advice and permission from his father to join the Samanas in the beginning of the book, and his father is not very happy about the prospect, but Siddhartha leaves with them anyway (Hesse 7). Consequently, in the beginning of Johnny Got His Gun, Joe laments over his dead father stating, “ I won’t forget you and I’m not as sorry for today as I was yesterday. I loved you dad goodnight” (Trumbo 7). Both Siddhartha and Joe had to make their journey without their father. Even though there is not necessarily a textbook version of “atonement with the father”, they are still affected by their father in some way.
After all of the trials and initiations, both of these characters reach a point of enlightenment. Although the definition of “enlightenment” is very different for both of them, it still holds true that they reach a breaking or ending point.
From that hour Siddhartha ceased to fight against his destiny. There shone in his face the serenity of knowledge, of one who is no longer confronted with the conflict of desires, who has found salvation, who is in harmony with the stream of events, with the stream of life, full of sympathy and compassion, surrendering himself to the stream, belonging to the unity of all things. (Hesse 111)
Siddhartha had reached the level of enlightenment that he had been seeking all along at the end of the novel. Joe, who had been seeking for such a long time to communicate had to be silenced to realize that he would reach a point of enlightenment. “And then suddenly he saw. He had a vision of himself as a new kind of Christ as a man who carries within himself all the seeds of a new order of things. He was the new messiah of the battlefields saying to people, as I am so shall you be” (Trumbo 240). In this way, Joe achieves his own level of enlightenment. As Siddhartha is at peace with his soul and is enlightened, Joe is at peace with his soul and is enlightened.
The path to enlightenment is one of the oldest stories and myths of the world, and it is presented with very different characters with different definitions of enlightenment. However, there is always one common idea and that is to be at peace with oneself. Both of these protagonists, in their own ways, and in a very similar journey, found the peace within. The idea of enlightenment is an idea that spans all the world and joins the ideologies of eastern culture and western culture and is a goal that all humans will forever strive towards.

Works Cited
Hesse, Herman. Siddhartha. Trans. Hilda Rosner. New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 1951.
Hobbs, Lee. “The Hero’s Journey (or the Monomyth)”. Illustration and definitions of terms based on Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth. Adapted from The Hero With a Thousand Faces (1949). Princeton, NJ: Bollingen, 1987. and Warren, Liz and Alan Levine. “The Hero’s Journey: Summary of Steps.” Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI): Maricopa Community Colleges. 19 Nov. 1999. 10 Oct 2007 .
Trumbo, Dalton. Johnny Got His Gun. New York: Bantam Books, 1939.
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I chose to post my paper here because I used and cited Joseph Campbells Monomyth in my paper. I did this to exemplify the theme of journey to enlightenment for both Joe and Siddhartha.

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*NOTE* The deadline for the assignment above has now passed. Any comments listed below are for a different assignment for a different class.

Image Source: www.herosjourneystarwars.com/starwars.jpg

10 September 2008

ENG 225 Students only,

Please enter your responses for the activity you were assigned for the Wednesday Class meeting on September 10th. You were to list one of the stories we have read as a class, identify a hero in that narrative, identify that hero's departure, initiation, and departure phases, and identify the two special worlds of that hero. Finally, you were asked to discuss ONE of the trials that hero had to face (not all of them, just one). The length of the response is/was up to you--however long it takes. I would expect that it would take a few paragraphs (at least) to get in all of this information into one response.

For those of you who AREN'T keeping up with these weekly out-of-class writing assignments, understand that I AM keeping track of those who are doing them and those who aren't. This all counts for your class participation grade, a significant part of your final score for the course.

I look forward to reading your responses.

Dr. Hobbs
(edited Wednesday, September 10, 2008)

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Alex Slavin

Mr. Hobbs

English 225

September 11-08

For this assignment, I have chosen to write on the story of Gilgamesh. The hero in this tale of course Gilgamesh himself. Gilgamesh lives in an ordinary world and a special world. In the world that Gilgamesh is used to, he is the greatest of his kind. He is part human and part god. His power and brute strength has taken control over his emotions and sensitivity towards others. The power he has received has given him something that he cannot even control.
The special world that Gilgamesh became apart of is when Enkidu entered into his life. Enkidu was created entirely of clay and was part god like Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was at first threatened by Enkidu because his power was equal to the power of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are sent into the forest that lurks with evil. They have created a bond, a friendship, and look at each other almost as brothers.
On the hero’s journey chart, the departure phase Gilgamesh fits into is the call to adventure. Gilgamesh is called to fight the evil that lives in the dark woods. He also fits into the category of the helpers and supernatural aid. Enkidu is created to fight by his side and also change him for the better. The initiation phase occurs when Gilgamesh and Enkidu enter the woods. In the special world, Enkidu is killed and Gilgamesh is devastated. Gilgamesh cries by Enkidu’s body and begins to realize that wealth and power does not compare to the friendship that he has lost with Enkidu. Gilgamesh is becoming mortal like the men that live in his kingdom. He continues his fight and his struggle to reach the gods to retain his immortal status. The return phase that Gilgamesh fits into is back to the beginning of the ordinary world. He comes back to his kingdom calmer and with peace. A type of king that his people have long wanted. Enkidu has taught him what friendship really was and it is more valuable then all the wealth anyone could dream for.
The hero Gilgamesh must encounter on his journey is to reach the gods to remain immortal. This part of the story fits into the special world climax/final battle. When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh shows human characteristics. He must reach the gods to keep his status as king and powers. It is almost as if that when he reaches the gods he is given a second chance to use his powers as king. This time he must not abuse them and realize what is really important.

The work that I choose to use was the story The Monkey’s Heroic Self-Sacrifice from the Jataka readings. In this story the main character and hero was Bodhisatta. He was born a monkey. Bodisatta was originally from Benares were he was one of the strongest and wisest monkeys. The ordinary world would have been his birthday place Benares and the special world is the banks near the Ganges were his journey takes place. Bodhisatta’s separation from the Himalayan’s is when he went over to the special mango tree near the Ganges bank with a crew of eighty thousand monkeys to eat all the mango’s before the king got to them. The initiation of the story was when he first lets all of his monkeys cross over his back to get back over to the other side away from all the danger and the kings arch men. The only way to get the other monkeys to the other side was over a bridge that Bodhisatta made with his back and tree branches. The return in my mind is after he died the king returned his golden skull back to Benares to be worshipped so all the city could see and worship their fellow hero.
One of the trials that Bodhisatta went through was when he actually formed a bridge with his back and rescued all the monkeys. This really showed what type of hero he was. He was the type of hero that did not care how much pain it took to get everyone across to safety he would do it. He even helped his evil cousin Devadatta over to the other side in spite of him breaking his back. This trail falls into the fight/rescue section right before crossing back out of the threshold.

Anna R.
Engl 225
Dr. Hobbs
9-10-08

Noah

In the biblical story about the ark of Noah, Noah himself clearly is the hero. Even though god gives him the advice of saving his family and two of each living things, Noah knew how hard it was to overcome the task and overcame it to save the world. The two regions Noah enters are the world we all live in, which is the ordinary world and the ark he built, which is the special world. Noah and his family live on our planet which god created for us including plants and animals. However, god gets mad at humans saying that we are all evil and bad and puts us to a test. He tells Noah to take his family and two of every kind of animal and take them up into an ark which he was supposed to build by himself out of gopher wood, while god would flood the world and destroy every living thing. Noah left a perfect world in which he lived in peace with his family surrounded by nature and animals. However, god is mad and wants to punish us for being and creating evil. He sends Noah on a journey to build an ark with god’s own set measurements and to take care of and help every living creature survive.
The three phases Noah goes through in his task are departure, in which he builds the ark and takes two of every living things including his family; then there is initiation, in which he actually has to get every living thing to survive in order to reproduce and be able to live a life after the ark. Concluding, there is the return phase, in which everyone and every living thing could return to the face of the earth which was dry again in order to resume a normal life “And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry” (62). Noah had passed god’s test and can resume life again like it was before. One trial Noah had to pass was to build the ark and wait for god to start the flood which didn’t happen for another six hundred years. In my opinion that was his biggest trial. He knew that the flood was coming and that he was the chosen one to save his family and every living creature, however, he had to wait six hundred years for the day to come for him to do as he was told by god.

When choosing a epic to evaluate using the idea of the "Monomyth", i realized Gilgamesh would be the best choice. The one thing I had problems connecting with was the idea of ordinary world. Gilgamesh's world might be ordinary to him but to the reader is very mystical. In Gilgamesh's ordinary world, it symbolizes how great and mighty Gilgamesh really is. This is evident when the reader is told about the intricately constructed walls in and around the great city of Uruk. When Gilgamesh does travel to this special world, his struggle symbolizes that Gilgamesh is NOT 100% divine. It shows that in his own world Gilgamesh is king but outside of it, he is not the strongest.

After fighting Enkidu, Enkidu describes a fearsome creature called Humbama who protects the distant Cedar Forest. Humbaba's roar is a Flood, his mouth is Fire, and his breath is Death! (Gilgamesh 162). The one interesting thing is that Gilgamesh is not reluctant. It turns out that Enkidu is. This is a good example for the reader to truly understand the heroism and strength is Gilgamesh. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu visit the blacksmith to get armor and weapons for their journey, the departure stage has begun.

One of the first tests Gilgamesh faces is the battle with Enkidu against Humbama. In this battle, Gilgamesh prevails and builds a wall out of the tallest tree to symbolize his success. Gilgamesh truly reaches his "belly of the whale" when Enkidu dies. He shows his characteristic of "hitting rock bottom" when he refuses to heat, drink, or clean himself. I feel that this is his biggest trial in his journey to immortality. He has to overcome the feeling of being depressed and alone to truly overcome his journey and continue on. After he truly finds out that he is not meant to be 100% divine, he returns back to his original world and accepts his fate.

Text used:

http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab2.htm

Eng 225 MWF 12:30-1:20

1. Chosen work: The Epic of Gilgamesh

2. Hero whose adventure I am addressing: Gilgamesh

3. Two regions applicable to hero:
Normal world: Uruk
Special world: The cedar forest

4. Three phases of the monomyth that hero goes through beginning to end:

Departure phase: Gilgamesh departure is from his city of Uruk into the Cedar forest.

Initiation phase: Gilgamesh’s initiation phase begins when he is at the entrance of the woods and begins to quake with fear. He starts to pray to the God Shamash who tells Gilgamesh to be reminded that he promised Ninsun that he would be safe. The god calls down from heaven and orders Gilgamesh to enter the forest because Humbaba is not wearing most of his armor. Gilgamesh then proceeds to enter the forest to battle Humbaba.

Return phase: Gilgamesh’s return phase is when he is standing at the gates of the city of Uruk and inviting Urshanabi to come and see the city.

5. One test or trial along the “road of trial” and where it fits in on chart:
A test that Gilgamesh encountered along his journey is when he was offered the chance of immorality only if he could stay awake for six days. He fails this test and is offered another. He had to go to the bottom of the ocean to pluck a magic plant that will make him young again. However, Gilgamesh did not trust the plant so it tried to take it back to Uruk to test it on an old man first and while stopping to take a rest a snake ate the plant. Gilgamesh is distraught and so heads back to Uruk with nothing. Not immortality nor his friend Enkidu.