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. . . founded on its own structure, according to Campbell’s monomyth, every narrative’s composition has the same premises. The monomyth extends itself to science fiction as well. Ulysse Mérou, the protagonist within the novel Planet of the Apes written by Pierre Boulle, evolves through the cycles of the hero’s journey.

The hero’s journey began with the Departure. Once Jinn and Phyllis found the message in the bottle floating around in outer space the story began; it was the birth of it all. Ulysse’s call to adventure began when he embarked on the journey into space with famed Earth scientist Professor Antelle and Levain a young physicist to the star Betelgeuse. When the trio landed after two years in space on the planet Soror where they encountered the “human savages” Ulysse crossed the first threshold into his journey when the primitives detained him and his two friends. He not only faced his first of many trials, but Ulysse also came across his supernatural aid, a female savage incapable of communication he named Nova; and, after the group is captured by the primitive humans Nova helplessly tried to assist them in assimilation with the primitive way. The final component of the departure stage is the belly of the whale and at this point while Ulysse is amongst the primitive human’s he is captured by the humanlike hunting party of gorillas and chimpanzees. This stage is the final separation between the hero and their known world, Ulysse found himself “traveling at high speed toward an unknown destination, terrified by the thought of the fresh horrors that awaited me on the planet Soror” (Boulle 75). He was brought to a laboratory in the apes’ city, which was an exact replica of 20th-century Earth.

The second component of the hero’s cycle is the Initiation phase. The first two stages of the second component took place once Ulysse is placed into the laboratory. The road of trials began once Ulysse was placed in the cage like the rest of the primitives. The main problem is Ulysse’s inability to communicate his higher intelligence with the simian beings; and, the experiments similar to Pavlov’s in which the apes place him under are minor in comparison. The meeting with the Goddess occurs at this time too. Ulysse was taken in by a female chimpanzee lab researcher named Zira when he fails to be conditioned by the experiments and began communication using geometrical figures and equations. Ulysse and Zira teach each other their languages’ and form a very tight intellectual based bond. Ulysse said of Zira, “it is her soul that communes with mine” (Boulle 260). Ulysse learned everything about the apes’ planet and even began a friendship with Zira’s fiancée Cornelius. With Zira and Cornelius’ help, Ulysse addressed a speech to the ape President and he is eventually freed from his cage and accepted by the ape society and thus completing the ultimate boon component of the Initiation phase. During this last stage the protagonist reached his ultimate goal; freedom.

The final component of the hero’s journey is the Return. At first the hero goes through the stage of refusal. Ulysse believed he was supposed to be the savior of the primitive human race and he had no immediate desire to return to Earth. Ulysse said, “Nothing happens by mere chance in the cosmos. My voyage to the world of Betelgeuse was decreed by superior consciousness. It is up to me to show myself worthy of the choice and to be the new savior of this human race in decline” (Boulle 219-220). At some point during the time Ulysse spent in captivity at the laboratory he impregnated Nova. During the anticipation of the child’s birth the apes’ were worried about Ulysse’s power and the possibility of the child possessing intelligence. The apes’ became nervous and concerned with Ulysse’s higher intelligence. The protagonist quickly passed through the stage of the master of the two worlds and into danger. Due to the apes’ fear, Ulysse and his new family were in danger of the apes’ and because of this the trio had to quickly escape before any harm could be done to them. It took two years to return to Earth. Throughout that time Ulysse acted as Nova’s tutor and she slowly evolved from her primitive state and their son grew and proved to be an intelligent being. However, Ulysse could not complete his journey because once he returned to Earth, to his surprise the planet was inhabited by intelligent simian beings. The group quickly boarded their ship and left the planet. With only an uncertain future left, Ulysse completed the hero’s journey and entered into the freedom to live stage.

References

Boulle, Pierre. Planet Of The Apes. New York: Ballantine Books, 1963.

Hobbs, Lee. “The Hero’s Journey (or the Monomyth)”. Illustration and definitions of terms based on Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth. Partly adapted from: 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.