The Hero's Journey

A story is the most powerful way to communicate a message and people repeat the same stories over and over to relate to each other and be part of the same shared history. For example, many stories of American slavery have been repeated to inform different generations about the injustices that occurred and allow the different generations to share the same history and experiences. From Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the 1850’s to Alex Haley’s Roots in 1976 and to 12 Years a Slave in 2013, the repeated story of the atrocities of slavery still creates united empathy among its audiences. Stories that get repeated are typically entertaining, informative, have proven success with the audience and is based on what the writer knows.

People often write from their own experiences and authors repeat stories that they have been told or previously read.

Typically, a good story that people want to hear makes them feel better about themselves and gives them inspiration. People want the protagonist to be knocked down because no one likes a perfect character. They empathize with the protagonist when bad things happen to them, but then they want the protagonist to prevail so they can feel good and have hope that they may prevail in their own lives, too. This repeated story pattern has been described by Joseph Campbell in his monomyth theory called the Hero’s Journey. Author Christophe Booker also theorizes that there are only seven basic story plots that are repeated in books and movies over and over: overcoming the monster, rags to riches, the quest, voyage and return, rebirth, comedy, and tragedy, many of which fit the monomyth storyline. The monomyth is a timeless story structure that has been used for thousands of years, from Gilgamesh to the Odyssey to Star Wars. However, even though the repeated monomyth story creates predictability for stories, people still are entertained by the different ways that characters follow the Hero’s Journey. And maybe predictability is another reason why the same stories are repeated. Predictability of stories allows people to feel control over the world and see patterns

among the chaos.

Stories are told because they function to communicate, entertain, inform, tell history, give instructions, to inspire, and to create empathy and develop human relationships.

There have been discoveries of cave paintings from our ancestors that predate modern times by millions of years, these paintings tell the stories of the day to day events of their times and communicate, even when they didn’t have a language to write. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a very early work of writing, dating back over 4000 years. It is one of the earliest recovered works of literature that maintains a story with a consistent plot. We continue to publish and read it today to learn, as well as to make connections to our ancestors. Today we continue the tradition with writing and communication to relay our history. From generation to generation the stories have survived, and continue to teach us vital information. People remember entertaining stories much better than just hearing facts and figures and, therefore, people tell and repeat stories to pass on important information and lessons. For example, it’s much more likely for a person to remember and relate to the story plots in Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers than the timelines and death rates of the Invasion of Normandy in World War II learned in history class. We don’t continue to repeat just for amusement, though it may seem that way, we repeat them as stepping stones to continue our intellectual growth. As Winston Churchill once said,

"Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." Stories may function as an evolutionary mechanism for survival. Life of Pi is an instructional tale of how to use faith to get through life and hard times and how to physically survive if you are ever shipwrecked. By feeding instructions to your successors through stories you are giving them a leg up on chances of survival. It’s important that stories can also function to motivate and inspire. For example the story of David and Goliath inspires people to not be intimidated by those that are bigger and stronger then themselves, as there are other ways to conquer those that seem unbeatable. And lastly, stories allow people to see how others think and affirm or challenge one’s own beliefs and perceptions and create common ground among people to develop better relationships. The common relationship thread is shown in S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, when the opposing social groups of the Socs and the Greasers realize that they although they were raised very differently, they both just want the same thing, for their parents to love and care about them. Stories of human empathy, such as The Life of Pi, continue to remind people to tame the Richard Parker in their souls.

Joseph Campbell’s monomyth pattern of the Hero’s Journey is seen in many movies and books. Stories in which the protagonist goes through struggles that are often unfair, but through hard work and faith they prevail and come out on top. They get knocked down, but they get back up. Three stories that repeat this plot are Homer’s Odyssey, Rocky, and Star wars. In Odyssey, Odysseus is a leader of a tough war against the Trojans, where he comes out victorious. On his travels home he encounters countless obstacles that he uses wit and faith in his gods to overcome. He ends up happily reunited with his family and lives happily ever after. In Rocky, the main character is Rocky Balboa, who is a struggling boxer who is quickly growing too old for the sport. He gets a chance to fight the Undisputed Heavy Weight Champion of the World, Apollo Creed, in which he goes the distance to loose a close fight. The fight gives him world recognition and brings him out of his previously poor lifestyle. He goes on to win the rematch, become the world champion, win numerous more battles in the ring, and lives happily ever after. In Star Wars, the protagonist is young Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, who joins the revolution against the empire after his aunt and uncle are murder by Imperial Storm Troopers. He goes on to help lead the rebels to monumental victories in their quest to freedom and he becomes the top Jedi and Pilot in the rebel fleet, and he lives happily ever after… or so we think, the seventh episode is yet to come out.