Hero Journey In The Novel 'Inhuman' By Kat Falls

“Safe and happy don’t always go together.” (Inhuman; Kat Falls). This quote was one that seemed to describe Delaney McEvoy’s, or Lane, life; who is the main character in Inhuman by Kat Falls. In the novel, Lane’s life follows along that of Joseph Campbell’s Hero Journey. Her story began with the separation or departure from her normal life, then led into the initiation or fulfillment, then the return.

The first stage of the hero journey, was the separation or departure. The first part of the separation is the Call to Adventure. That all started out when Delaney and a couple friends flew a remote control helicopter into the Feral Zone, which is illegal to go to, as they have been quarantined to the west of a wall that was built, keeping them

from catching the disease, Ferae. Ferae is a disease that was created by a government organization that took a turn for the worst once it contaminated the majority of the east coast, as well as the middle of North America, turning those infected into animal-like mutants.

Soon after, a mass amount of people from the biohazard group showed up to the apartment that they were flying the helicopter from and took Lane to the biohazard base where she met Director Spurling; who needed Lane to find her father, who was a fetch in the feral zone. The second part of the separation motif, is the refusal or answering of the call. Both of these occurred, first when Director Spurling threatened Lane that if she didn’t help find her father, then Spurling would turn him in for being a fetch; which could have him killed as it was illegal. “If Mack brings me what I want, I’ll destroy the recording and his file.” Director Spurling blackmailed Lane into agreeing to finding her father. Along the way, Lane meets many new people, including Rafe, who was a guide or a mentor for a vast portion of the novel, Everson who helps her make it safely to see Doctor Solis, who is the one who

sends her father on fetches to the Feral Zone. The final motif in the Separation or Departure stage of the hero journey is the crossing of the first threshold. All throughout her childhood, Lane’s dad, or Mack, had commonly told her odd stories about a world that she’s never met. As time continued on, Lane came to realize that those stories she thought were fiction, were actually true from the Feral Zone. “My knees locked as realization dropped on me like a cartoon anvil. It was not a coincidence. The exploding eggs in my father’s stories were land mines.” This quote from the novel begins to demonstrate the crossing of the first threshold motif, because she’s traveled into a new area that she didn’t know that it was any more different than a silly story her father would tell her for bedtime stories. Though she knew she needed to go to the Feral Zone, rather than just Arsenal Island where her father was thought to have been, multiple people tried to stop her. Those people are also known as Threshold Guardians, in the novel the characters more specifically were Everson and Doctor Solis. These character tried multiple times to prevent her from continuing into the second stage of the hero journey, which is the initiation or fulfillment.

The second stage of the hero journey was the initiation or fulfillment, The first part of the stage is the road of trials; which are challenges that the hero has to overcome. Lane’s first challenge was that she had to locate her father on Arsenal Island, though he was nowhere to be found. Further on in the second stage, the meeting with the goddess or influence of a woman; which is when the hero meets a character of the opposite sex that deeply influences her. For Lane, that character motif is both Rafe and Everson, who are of two completely different backgrounds. Everson is the more humane, military type guy in comparison to Rafe, who is more of someone who lives for the moment and doesn’t care about consequences. The next one is Abduction, which is where the character, or someone close to the hero is kidnapped. This occurred in the story when Rafe and Lane were kidnapped and almost killed by the queen in Moline, which is where her father was believed to be. The next motif is the Night or Sea Journey, which is when the hero has to travel to somewhere; in this story, it is to Moline, Illinois. The following motif from the Hero Journey is the Dragon Battle, which is when the hero has to face a monster or an inner demon. Lane had to kill the king, then after they had placed Rafe in the zoo, where if he moved even the slightest, he would be killed, at the least he would be poisoned with ferae, then in time he would end up mutating like the other mutants, never to be able to return to live in freedom with the rest of the living world. The next part of the initiation or fulfillment that is shown in the book is the ritual deal or dismemberment, which is when the hero (or someone close to him) is mistakenly dead. Rafe was thought to be dead for a small portion of time, which is when they found out that Rafe had already been bitten by Chorda, the king who was contaminated with ferae already. Then, the Lane had located her father, though he was close to death, which showed the Father Quest or Atonement. Prior to that, people had begun thinking of Lane as a god, since she was Mack’s daughter, even though she knew nothing about the Feral Zone, which represented the Apothesis. The Magic Elixir is the final motif in the hero journey second stage, which is when Lane found the blood samples of every strain of ferae, which they needed to begin creating the cure. This leads into the third and final stage of the hero journey, which is the return.

The Return is the third and final stage of the Hero Journey.

The first motif shown was the Refusal of the Return, which is when Lane didn’t want to leave Rafe, though Everson was against the idea since Rafe was contaminated. The next part of the return is the magic flight or pursuit, which is where the hero is being chased or trying to escape. In the case of this novel, they were trying to escape Chorda, who was tricking Lane multiple times during her attempt to take Rafe back with her. Following that is the rescue from without, which is when the hero is wounded or needs outside help to return to the ordinary world. Lane had needed Everson’s help, who previously abandoned her, then returned with a helicopter. The next is crossing the return threshold, which is returning to her normal world. There is no more difficult tasks that she has to complete, as the end of the story occurs as she travels back to the west. Following that, is the master of two worlds; which is where they seem to have conquered both lives, and travel freely. However, Lane cannot travel freely due to the law, although she knew people on both sides if she was to return. The final motif in the Return would be the Freedom to live, which is where the problem is fully resolved and they can live freely. This is apparent in the story, since Everson and Lane are close and Everson’s mom is in charge of the lineguards who defend the

wall.

That is how the hero journey is in the life of Delany McEvoy, in the novel Inhuman by Kat Falls.The three parts are the Separation, Initiation, and the Return, all of which were shown in Lane’s life throughout the novel. The hero journey is everywhere, in most works of literature and also in our own lives.