Freshmen 2020
6/8/20 Sean Zhao, period 1, Blogger #29 Aim: How can our examination of Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” expose Odysseus as an archetypal hero?
The lesson today was based around the idea of a “Hero’s Journey,” and how it can be applied to The Odyssey. We were introduced to the idea of a hero’s journey through a quote by Joseph Campbell, “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder. Fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won.” The class was quick to see the connection between this quote and The Odyssey, due to the fact that Odysseus encountered numerous monsters and gods on his journey home. The Hero’s journey, or more formally, the monomyth, is a collection of different stages that are common to myths and stories around the world. The hero’s journey begins and ends with the hero in the ordinary world. They have a call to adventure, which sets them off on a journey. They will normally refuse the call at first blush, but eventually, they will accept it. After this, they enter an unfamiliar world, filled with supernatural beings and the like. They will normally also have aid, in the form of gods or other beings. They will undergo a revelation, or be reborn, and begin to transform into a better person. They will atone and then make their way home, to the ordinary world. This basic structure can be applied to many different stories, and can even be seen in modern literature, such as Percy Jackson. To further our understanding of this concept, we watched a clip of Myths & Monsters, Episode 1, “Heroes and Villains,” which illustrated the journey and how it connects to stories such as Harry Potter.
Below: The Hero’s Journey, shown as a circle, in Netflix’s Myths & Monsters, Episode 1, “Heroes and Villains.”
Another topic of today’s class is the idea of an archetype. An archetype is the “template” of a character, such as “the hero,” or “the evil genius.” These archetypes have common traits that are shown across multiple different works, such as the hero being brave and courageous. The theory of archetypes and reoccurring themes and ideas across multiple different sources comes from Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist. We can see the idea of archetypes be applied to The Odyssey, with characters falling neatly into these archetypes. Using this idea, we can answer the aim; Odysseus exemplifies the archetype of the hero, as he displays the characteristics of strength, courage, and stamina.
A chart displaying the common archetypes found in literature from today’s lesson.
There was no specific chapter of The Odyssey for today, but there was a chart that explained each stage of the Hero’s Journey in more detail. In particular, it clarified the “supernatural aid” stage. It states that this can be anything above the laws of nature, such as a magical item or the more conventional deity. This chart also helped greatly with the homework for today, which was to apply the Hero’s Journey to the Odyssey, by categorizing the textual evidence into the different stages. For example, Odysseus receives supernatural aid through the god Hermes, who gives him an herb to counteract Circe’s poison. We learned the idea of monomyths and archetypes in order to better understand the structure of stories. We’ve learned that stories and characters can be reduced down to the basic forms of monomyths and archetypes. We can use this idea in order to better understand characters in stories to come, such as Julius Caesar. These ideas can also be used to analyze the plots of stories, and see how major events in the story coincide with the stages of the Hero’s journey.
Since my last blog, I have gained some new perspectives on working at home. I hold the perspective of remote learning being far more relaxing and less stressful compared to regular school life, but I have come to miss school life and the feeling of being in a classroom. My concentration while attending lessons virtually pales in comparison to my concentration and mental dexterity when attending class in-person. Somehow, this chaotic time has become even more chaotic with protests and riots over police brutality, which has made the current pandemic play second fiddle in terms of media coverage. I feel that this is bound to have disastrous results, as these protests and riots require being in close proximity to others, which provides an easy way for the pandemic to make a resurgence. Also, the incubation period is ~2 weeks, so people may be spreading the disease before they know they have it. Overall, these current events have made my attitude from “holding out” to “worried.”
No comments:
Post a Comment