A Long Way Gone Hero's Journey Analysis

There are many differences between the archetypes of the hero’s journey. For instance The Hobbit is about a hobbit that is taken on a journey with dwarves to reclaim the Lonely Mountain. While A Long Way Gone is a story about a boy who is separated from his family and is drafted into the army to do unspeakable things.The hero’s journeys in The Hobbit and A long way gone were very different from each other.

In these books, the Call to Adventure step in the hero’s journey is very different. For instance, in The Hobbit Bilbo is called to adventure by the dwarves and Gandalf, and he willingly partakes in the adventure. In A Long Way Gone Ishmael is practically forced to be on the adventure, being separated from his family in an unforgiving time

and area. Furthermore, Bilbo enjoys his adventure and is content with being on the journey. (It was his choice after all.) On the other hand, Ishmael is anything but content with his new situation, which makes the readers have more feeling for his terrible situation. Both characters are displeased first, but eventually Bilbo becomes more happy, but Ishmael does not. The call to adventure had several differences in these books.

Both books are also different in the Assistance and Departure stages of the hero’s journey.

For example, in The Hobbit Bilbo received assistance from Gandalf. Gandalf wakes Bilbo and gathers a few things for his journey. Gandalf also repeatedly helps Bilbo and Co. throughout the book. This is apparent when in the text it states, “Then Biblo understood. It was the wizards voice that had kept the trolls bickering and quarrelling, until the light came and made an end of them.” (The Hobbit Chapter 2 page 41) However, in A Long Way Gone Ishmael arguably received no assistance. It was always Ishmael and his friends, whenever they found a new village, they were almost always not trusted and looked down upon. One reason they are different during the departure stage is, in A long way gone Ishmael leaves the ordinary world quite differently compared to Bilbo. For instance, Ishmael is forced out of the ordinary world, separated from his family and in a new world of violence and death. On the other hand, Bilbo leaves his ordinary world prepared, and with friends. These were just a few ways the assistance and departure stages in the hero’s journey was different between these books.

Another way these books were different was in the Trials stage of the hero’s journey. In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael's trials are to overcome the rebels and find his family. Ishmael and his brother are separated from their family and the biggest threat to them is the rebels. On the contrary, in The Hobbit, Bilbo

has multiple trials, each separate from the last, with one big trial, the Lonely Mountain. In particular, when Bilbo plays the rhyme game with Gollum. Bilbo had to be brave and overcome his fears to escape the goblin tunnels.
There were many differences in the trials stage of the hero’s journey between these books.

Even though these books have their differences, they still have some similarities between all of the stages of the hero’s journey. An example of this is in the Departure stage. Both of them go into the Departure stage the same way, but then they split, with Bilbo going a different way than how Ishmael went. Bilbo got used to the special world while Ishmael didn’t. The next similarity is in the Trials stage.In the trials stage, both Bilbo and Ishmael went about taking on the trials the same way. Both of them showed bravery while they faced their fears, even though they had different fears and different trials. This is clear when in A Long Way Gone it says, “ We dodged from bush to bush and made it to the other side. But this was just the beginning of many risky situations that were to come. Immediately after one explosion, we got up and ran together, with our heads down, jumping over fresh dead bodies and flames of burnt dried trees.” (A Long Way Gone) The fact that Ishmael did this shows the reader that he is very brave. These were the few similarities these texts had in common.

In conclusion, there are many differences between these hero’s journeys. For instance, there were different ways the characters were put in the hero’s journey. There were differences on how the characters left the ordinary world and entered the special world. And finally, there were differences on how the characters faced their trials. As the reader can see, there were many differences in the hero’s journey between The Hobbit and A Long Way Gone.