The Thing

Jeremy Hapenney

Professor Enke

English 68

Essay 2

Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth

Joseph Campbell is a man who has delved deep into stories and myths, and has successfully unraveled what it truly takes to be a “hero”. In Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, Campbell has taught me that the hero of one story may or may not be extremely different from the hero of an another story. Although every hero is unique, they all share a common factor which allows them to fill the role of a hero. Campbell states, “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself”. A hero can be someone who is born as a lowlife, but unlocks special powers and uses them to triumph over the villain. Campbell uses the tale of a dragon as an example. The dragon represents greed and evil, while the dragon slayer represents the hero who can overcome and slay the dragon. This same template can relate to other situations, too. For example, in an internal conflict your ego can represent the greedy dragon, and your moral conscience represents the dragon slayer. Therefore, the journey would be an internal tug a war between your two consciences. On the same topic, I believe the journey of a hero is actually the most important discussion in this interview. There are three main stages of a journey that Campbell discusses; the departure, the fulfillment, and the return of the hero. I believe that these three stages are what truly defines and ties together the hero’s journey.

The departure is the first of three stages in a hero’s journey. Campbell refers to the first part this stage as the hero’s “Call to Adventure” because at this time the hero, unbeknownst of his future adventure, receives a piece of information which motivates him or her and sets the steps for the departure. Next, the hero is often confronted with the difficult decision of what to do upon learning this information. Some heroes choose to, at first, refuse the call because of fear, or other...