12 Stages Of The Hero's Journey

The Twelve Stages of the Hero’s Journey is the idea that characters from various novels and films share a common background; the ancient myth of the Hero’s Journey. Joseph Campbell believes that the Hero’s Journey describes the classic adventure of the protagonist known as the hero and how he/she must venture out and prove himself/herself. They can achieve this by completing great deeds on behalf of himself/herself or for mankind. In regards to the Hero’s Journey, Danny Torrance from the renowned novel The Shining portrays each step of the Hero’s Journey.

The first stage of a hero is the ordinary world. The hero is traditionally introduced living in his/her day by day life. From there he/she is unexpectedly summoned into an undisclosed environment

which establishes a major difference among the hero’s everyday routine and his/her new life (Vogler). As a hero in The Shining, Danny, a five-year-old boy, who seems to be every parent’s dream. He is shown to be kind, forgiving and highly intelligent. Later on, Danny is introduced as a Clairvoyant, yet his parents are unaware of his psychic abilities (Shining). Although Danny is shown to have high admiration for his alcoholic father Jack Torrance, two years ago, Jack broke Danny’s arm due to an outburst induced by alcohol. Since Danny puts his father on a pedestal, his mother Wendy, shows envy towards Jack. She does everything she can do to be the perfect parental figure, but Danny is still not persuaded by her vicarious actions.