The hero’s journey is about the adventures of a valiant hero who faces off against a great evil, emerges victorious from the ordeal, and returns home reformed. Usually, the hero’s journey primarily focuses on ancient myths, but the elements of the hero’s journey are most often woven into modern stories. One of the modern stories that share elements of the hero’s journey with its protagonist is Wade Watts from Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Wade Watts displays heroic qualities in this dystopian setting as he leads the charge to rebel against the Sixers and fights for his life in order to obtain the easter egg of James Halliday that is hidden inside the OASIS g.
Wade’s selfish motivation to obtain the egg changes as he realizes that protecting
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his friends and valuing the bonds he made with them is much more important to him. When talking to Artemis for the first time and discussing what they would do if they found the easter egg, Wade says that he would have “a nuclear-powered interstellar spacecraft constructed in Earth's orbit” that is stocked “with a lifetime supply of food and water, a self-sustaining biosphere, and a supercomputer loaded with everything that human civilization has ever created” (Cline 120).
Compared to Artemis’ huminatrain wish of preserving the Earth and its inhabitants, Wade’s wish is selfish because he puts his needs in front of everyone else's. He wants to live in a safe place just in case Earth becomes an unbearable wasteland with barely any resources available to sustain a person’s survivable. While there is nothing wrong with valuing one’s own life as it is a basic survival instinct, this is far from the qualities that make up a hero. After Wade hacks into the IOI servers and learns that Sorrento plans to eliminate Artemis, Shoto, and Aech, he is shocked about the revelation and he makes huge changes to his plan in order to warn the three of his friends (302). The fact that Wade manages to make vast changes to his plan that puts him at an even greater risk of getting caught symbolizes his developing heroic traits. If he had not met his three friends and form irreplaceable bonds with them, then his character would most likely never develop. After the …show more content…
climactic battle between the gunters and the Sixers, Wade is the only gunter left alive and enters the third gate. With his friends in the real world by his side, he tells them that he needs their help if he wants to complete the third gate before the Sixers do. All three of his friends question whether or not they should help Wade, so he makes the bold attempt of declaring that he would split the prize money between Artemis, Aech, and Shoto to the whole world because his game is being broadcasted to the entire world (353). Wade forgos his original selfish wish of what he would do once he obtains the egg and insteads decides to share the winnings between all four of them. This vividly displays his unselfish nature, which is a defining trait of a hero. While Wade’s motivation gradually changes during the second half of the story, his development as a character also changes to portray himself as a hero. Wade’s heroic characteristics are able to shine in the second half of the story as he takes risks in order to give every gunter in the OASIS hope to fight against the Sixers.
After hearing how Daito has been murdered by the Sixers and seeing that they are covering the third gate to not allow any gunter from entering, Wade manages to come up with a bold and desperate plan to take down the shield that is covering the gate. However, “there was a good chance it was going to end up getting [him] killed” Nevertheless, Wade crosses the path of no return and “was going to reach the Third Gate, or die trying” (266). Typically, most people would want to avoid a plan that results in their ultimate demise, but Wade steels his resolve in order to obtain the easter egg and give the gunters hope. He feels like that letting the Sixers take control over the OASIS is a fate worse than death. Another instance of where Wade shines as a character is when he rallies all the gunters of the OASIS to help him take down the Sixers and reach the third gate. Some of the gunters who are with Wade start to lose hope after seeing the tremendous weapons, armory, and the Mechagodzilla that is on the Sixers side. However, Wade takes up a leadership role and gives them a pep talk of how they would end the Sixers Tyranny. After his great speech, the indestructible shield that is guarding the third gate is destroyed thanks to Wade’s efforts to hack inside IOI. Seeing his chance, he leads the charge with his
gunter army for the Battle of Castle Anorak (327-329). Wade’s charismatic trait manages to rile up and unite the the rest of the gunters for the final showdown against the Sixers. In the beginning, he was an everyday gunter who is no different from the others, but now he takes up the role of being a leader. He truly believes that the fight is not over until he is dead. Ernest Cline portrays Wade Watts as a dystopian hero in this story by standing up against the tyranny of IOI and emerging victorious by obtaining the easter egg. Despite his selfish motivations to obtain the easter egg in the beginning of the book, his motivation begins to change as he begins to form new relationships with other gunters and protect them from the conniving Sixers. He shines as a character in the later half of the story by taking death defying risks and leading the charge to take down the Sixers in order to stop them from stripping away the freedom of using the OASIS. By borrowing the elements of the hero’s journey, Wade fits the role of a dystopian hero,
Wade Watts is a geeky orphan who whose determination may shift depending on the situation. Wade started out living in his aunt's trailer at the Stacks, with very little money and his only access to OASIS was on a school-issued laptop. He then learned of the hunt for Halliday’s egg, a hunt which the winner would receive the late James Halliday’s fortune and unlimited power in OASIS. Wade becomes obsessed with the hunt and abandons school altogether trying to win. Yet, this is not the only sidetrack he faces. In Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, Wade’s main adversity and how he overcomes it shows that no matter how much you get distracted if you have the drive you can pull yourself back together.
Assignment details: Analyze the components of the hero’s journey. Basically, support the argument that Jaws follows the epic hero cycle. Name specific examples from the movie and connect them to the hero’s journey. However, this is not a plot summary. You are not retelling the story, but selecting examples to support the analysis.
Watching a film, one can easily recognize plot, theme, characterization, etc., but not many realize what basic principle lies behind nearly every story conceived: the hero’s journey. This concept allows for a comprehensive, logical flow throughout a movie. Once the hero’s journey is thoroughly understood, anyone can pick out the elements in nearly every piece. The hero’s journey follows a simple outline. First the hero in question must have a disadvantaged childhood. Next the hero will find a mentor who wisely lays out his/her prophecy. Third the hero will go on a journey, either literal or figurative, to find him/herself. On this journey the hero will be discouraged and nearly quit his/her quest. Finally, the hero will fulfill the prophecy and find his/herself, realizing his/her full potential. This rubric may be easy to spot in epic action films, but if upon close inspection is found in a wide array of genres, some of which are fully surprising.
Joseph Campbell’s “hero’s journey” is a common myth in global mythology. The hero’s journey is exactly what its name implies; a tale of a hero’s deeds and adventures. The stages and sub-stages that Campbell outlines as part of the journey are simply guidelines and don’t appear in every story, but this is what makes each story unique. Jeff “the Dude” Lebowski is not much of a hero himself, but his story certainly falls in line with the hero’s journey.
The human need to be relatable is unquenchable. We love to be able to see parts of ourselves in others, and to be able to feel like our idols are not untouchable. The Hero’s Journey format is one that can be found in almost any story, even in real life. Overall, it is the perfect recipe for keeping readers engrossed. Another place the journey has shown up is in Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Odyssey by Homer. These two stories—one a biography, the other, an epic poem—are so effective in their storytelling, it is easy to see how authors today continue to use the same method to make stories that grab the readers’ attention. What makes them most alike, however, is the emotions and thoughts they have the power to provoke.
The Hero’s Journey describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization. After reading the epic poem The Odyssey, by Homer, and watching the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?, by the Coen brothers, they both show evidence of the Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey is based on Joseph Campbell’s A Practical Guide to The Hero With a Thousand Faces. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is projected as the “hero” while in O Brother, a man by the name of Ulysses Everett McGill can be seen as the “hero”. Elements of The Odyssey and O Brother are shown through the stages in the Hero’s Journey like the Approach to the Inmost Cave, The Supreme Ordeal, and Threshold Crossing.
Joseph Campbell made himself one of the chief authorities on how mythology works when he published his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In this book, Campbell describes what he believes to be the monomyth, known as “The Hero’s Journey.” Campbell wrote that this monomyth, the basic structure of all heroic myth, has three basic stages, which in turn have subcategories themselves. The heroic story of Katniss Everdeen, told in the movie Hunger Games, follows Campbell’s monomyth outline quite well.
The Hero’s Journey is an ancient archetype that we find throughout our modern life and also, in the world of literature.Whether metaphorical or real, the journey that a character goes on shows not only the incredible transformation of the hero but it also gives them their life meaning. It is the ultimate human experience and it reflects on every aspect of life. Take Logan, also known as Wolverine, from the X-Men movie as an example. His adventure starts with “The Call,” which is the first step of the Hero’s Journey. This step happens due to the realization of imbalance and injustice that the character has in their life. Logan steps into the first stage of the pattern but is hesitant to start his adventure because he does not know what and
“The journey of the hero is about the courage to seek the depths; the image of creative rebirth; the eternal cycle of change within us; the uncanny discovery that the seeker is the mystery which the seeker seeks to know. The hero journey is a symbol that binds, in the original sense of the word, two distant ideas, and the spiritual quest of the ancients with the modern search for identity always the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find.” (Phil Cousineau) The Hero's Journey has been engaged in stories for an immemorial amount of time. These stories target typical connections that help us relate to ourselves as well as the “real world”.
Joseph Campbell defines a hero as “someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself ” (Moyers 1). The Hero’s Journey consists of three major parts: the separation, the initiation and the return. Throughout a character’s journey, they must complete a physical or spiritual deed. A physical deed involves performing a daunting and courageous act that preserves the well-being of another person. A spiritual deed calls for action that improves another individual’s state of mind. While fulfilling their journey, a hero must undergo a psychological change that involves experiencing a transformation from immaturity into independence and sophistication.Campbell states that these events are what ultimately guides a hero into completing
The Hero’s Journey is a pattern of narrative that appears in novels, storytelling, myth, and religious ritual. It was first identified by the American scholar Joseph Campbell in his book A Hero with Thousand Faces. Campbell also discussed this pattern in his interview to Bill Moyers which was later published as a book The Power of Myths. This pattern describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds. Campbell detailed many stages in the Hero’s Journey, but he also summarized the pattern in three fundamental phases: Separation, Ordeal, and Return that all heroes, in spite of their sex, age, culture, or religion, have to overcome in order to reach the goal. Alice in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll, provides a good example of the Hero's Journey. This story describes the adventures of Alice, a young English girl, in Wonderland. Although she lacks some of the stages identified by Campbell, she still possesses many of them that are necessary for a Hero to be considered a Hero.
Ernest Cline uses the literary element of characterization in order to develop his advanced and complex characters in his novel, Ready Player One. The story is centered around Wade Watts, an adolescent in the year 2044, and his passion for playing the virtual reality video game known as the OASIS. This complex gaming system allows players to escape their dull, mundane lives and start a brand new one filled with both excitement and adventure. And that is exactly why Wade Watts plays it.
How far would you go to complete your life's goal. In the novel, Ready Player One Wade Watts also known as Parzival is one of many on the hunt for an easter egg that contains a fortune of money and a company named oasis. Wade has to go through many ups and downs to complete is goal. In order to complete the easter egg he must find the three keys that are scattered throughout the oasis which is a large virtual reality game. In order for wade to complete the easter egg he must complete many complex puzzles that the owner named James Halliday has scattered throughout the large game.
One well-known example of “The Hero’s Journey” from popular culture is the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling. In the novel, Harry Potter, the main character, is the chosen one and “The Hero’s Journey” applies to his life from the moment he is attacked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a baby. Joseph Campbell calls the initial phase of a hero’s development the “Call to Adventure.” The call is the in... ...
It is the year 2045, and everyone logs in to OASIS daily to escape their overpopulated, unemployed lives. OASIS is a three dimensional, realistic, video game paradise. Wade Watts is an eighteen year old boy. Wade is the protagonist and narrator. He is a poor orphan from Oklahoma and was born to a teenage, refugee couple. His father was shot and killed while looting a grocery store a few months after Wade was born. His mother, Loretta was a telemarketer and worked for OASIS. She virtually babysat him through OASIS. When Wade was eleven he found his mother dead, she shot a bad batch of drugs into her arm so wade is forced to live with his aunt. Wade is one of those people who log in to OASIS daily except he is different. He named his OASIS character after the Arthurian knight famous for his quest and dedication for the Holy Grail, and devotes his life to finding the creator, James Halliday's secret.