The topic of this essay is to what extent the novel; The Hobbit complies with Joseph Campbell’s theory of the monomyth. The Hobbit is a story of a hobbit, which is Bilbo Baggins who is brought on an unexpected adventure. The Monomyth is a theory that some stories have all 17 stages of a hero’s journey to achieving their goal.
The first phase of the Monomyth is the Departure. The first stage of Departure is ‘The Call to Adventure’ when ‘the hero receives a call to leave his or her normal life and face adventure. This happens in The Hobbit as Bilbo is still in his home and Gandalf appears to send him on his adventure to become a burglar: “ In fact I will go so far to send you on this adventure said Gandalf” (19) and that’s how Bilbo got chosen to become the burglar.
The next stage would be ‘Refusal of the Call’ “a hero at the beginning will reject the call to adventure due to
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the changes it would cause in his life” (Marinello) Bilbo refuses that call to adventure “ Sorry I don’t want any adventures thank you.”(7) This proves that Bilbo isn’t the type of hobbit that would like going on adventures; he just want to stay in his convenient hobbit hole. The next stage would be ‘Supernatural Aid’ “A mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans that will aid them later in their quest.” Although this didn’t happen in The Hobbit because Gandalf is the mentor, he gives a key and a map to Thorin but didn’t give it to Bilbo, though it’s similar. The fourth stage that comes is ‘The Crossing of the First Threshold’ “The hero leaves the familiar behind and enters the unknown.”(Marinello) For Bilbo, his adventure is starting off very tough since they had to go through a lot of trouble especially with the trolls. “To the end of his days Bilbo could never remember how he found himself outside.” (36) Later on the next stage would be ‘Belly of the whale’ “The hero willingly crosses the no point of return” (Marinello) Bilbo need to finish. The second phase is The Initiation, the first part of that stage is “The road of trials” means is a series of tests, tasks that the person must undergo to begin the change.” (Marinello) In The Hobbit this happens “Bilbo began to feel there really was something of a bold adventurer about himself after all.” (192) The next stage would be ‘Meeting with the Goddess’ “The hero finds his true love companion” but Bilbo doesn’t have a true love, so that does not happen in The Hobbit.
‘Temptation’ is the next part of the phase; in this stage it means “The hero is tempted to wander from his quest by some offer of personal gain.” (Marinello) Bilbo wanted to go back home and he just started dreaming of his house. “But all night he dreamed of his own house and wandered in his sleep into all his different rooms” (130)
‘Atonement with the father’ is the next stage for the initiation. “The hero succeeds his master/father figure.”(Marinello) This happens because Bilbo succeeds his goal in the end. Which was to help the dwarves get the gold back. “And I think this time you better all come with me.”
(272) The last stage of ‘The initiation’ is ‘The Reward.’ “The hero reaches the final goal, gaining the final reward.” This happens in the book because this adventure was about to get the gold back. “In the end he would only take two small chests one filled with silver and the other with gold” (337) The third phase is ‘The Return’. The first part is ‘Rescue from without.’ “After the long the quest or refusal to return, the hero may need to be rescued” (Marinello) this happens because after they got their gold back Thorin became greedy, then tried to kill Bilbo. “if you don’t like my burglar then please don’t damage him”(318) ‘The Magic flight’ is the next part “escaping with the reward may not be simple or the reward may hinder the act of returning” (Marinello) Bilbo takes a small amount “That will be as much as I can manage” (337) ‘Master of two worlds’ is the next part “The hero accepts his new place in the world and the responsibility that comes with it. Often this is responsibility the hero initially feared”(Marinello) the hobbits back at home thought he was dead so people started buying his stuff. “He had lost his reputation” (348)
He left the hobbit, but not before he had scratched a sign on Bilbo’s door. The following day, Gandalf showed for tea, along with thirteen dwarves. This was the beginning of the adventures between the hobbit and the dwarves. The next day, Bilbo somehow found himself leaving his comfortable hobbit hole, and on what seemed to be an adventure. This was the beginning of not just one, but many adventures for Bilbo.
The first major step is a call to adventure. In this step, there’s something in the hero’s life that requires them to do something or go somewhere and take some type of action. Second, the hero must enter the unknown. This step sends the hero into a new world, entering something unfamiliar to the hero. By entering unfamiliar territory, whether it’s a place, an event never experiences, there are challenges and temptations the hero must face. With every new world comes new challenges. Dealing with new people or being alone.
The monomyth, or Hero’s Journey, is an outline or pattern of events that a hero may follow in a story or movie. This so called pattern takes place in two locations: the ordinary world and the supernatural world. Joseph Campbell was the first person to notice this outline and actually research it. Osmosis Jones is just one example of a movie which follows the monomyth. This movie also serves as a great lesson of perseverance because even throughout the trials and tribulations, Jones never gives up and in the end is rewarded.
During the course of this World Literature class, several stories have been covered that accurately describe Joseph Campbell's mono-myth, or basic pattern found in narratives from every corner of the world. The Hero's Journey in it's entirety has seventeen stages or steps, but if boiled down can be described in three; the departure, the initiation, and the return (Monomyth Cycle). Each stage has several steps, but the cycle describes the hero starting in his initial state, encountering something to change him, and this his return as a changed person. To further explain this concept, there are a few stories covered in this class that can be used.
Andy goes through three steps all heroes experience the departure, initiation, and the return. The first step that will be discusses is departure. Andy experiences the call to adventure first which occurs when a person first notices that everything is going to change. This step happens when Andy first enters into the prison system. Refusal of the call is when a call is given but the hero refuses to need it.
(20). Amir first refuses the call of action due to being afraid of the adventure ahead of him. Call to action is the very first step of the hero's journey, where the hero is disrupted and the At the beginning he did not posses any heroic qualities, but by taking and accepting the first step of the passage he was able to rediscover his true potential. I believe that Amir came looking to redeem his past mistakes belated, however, he found an alternative way to put himself to peace with his past. I learned that we should stand up for who we are and what we believe to be true.
In J.R.R. Tolkien 's novel, The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins goes through a classic representation of the Hero’s Journey. Throughout the story, Bilbo transitions from being a complacent, sheltered hobbit, to a more adventurous hobbit. The Hobbit has all three parts of the hero’s journey; The Departure, Initiation and The Return, all of which is interpreted throughout the quest.
Every hero goes through certain stages in their valorous journey. Some stages are more important in a hero’s journey compared to others. In The Hobbit, the most important stage of the hero’s journey is stage 6, tests/challenges. This is because the hero, Bilbo (a friendly hobbit), learns how to make decisions based on his mistakes and work individually, he learns new tactics and strategies and he earns possessions and answers after accomplishing them. Bilbo learns to make his own decisions when he sees trolls ahead in their way and he must decide whether to warn the dwarves or steal from the trolls. We see Bilbo learn new tactics and strategies when he must win a riddle-contest against Gollum. Bilbo earns an answer when he plans and outsmarts
The first of the Monomyth is the call to adventure when the story starts separating three parts; the ordinary world, the hero’s call
The hero must share their boon with the world but, like the call to adventure, the call to return canbe refused. One such example is in the story of the Hindu warrior-king Muchukunda. When he won a battle against demons, he asked that the gods grant him unending sleep. He went to a cave in the mountains that separated him from the normal world. Muchukunda later returned to the land only to find that he was an giant compared to the man that inhabited it (Campbell 167-169).
The Hobbit begins with introducing our hero, Bilbo Baggins, who is a respectable hobbit that lives in the Shire. His ordinary life is a middle-aged hobbit that does not go on adventures, even though he longs to do something exciting like his deceased mother. His call to adventure starts with Gandalf the Gray, a wizard, who was also a friend of his mother. Gandalf shows up to try and convince Bilbo that he is needed for an adventure, though he does not go into detail about what the adventure would entail. Gandalf leaves after Bilbo refuses the call to adventure and wishes him a good day. He is later surprised by a company of dwarves that show up during dinner time, this moment is in which I believe to be a second call to adventure for Bilbo. They explain to Bilbo about their journey and how it is meant to help take back their mountain from Smaug the dragon. This conversation really begins to ignite Bilbo’s desire to leave the Shire and travel with them, though he again refuses the call to adventure that night. The morning after dinner he suddenly decides to accept the call and races out his door to meet up with the dwarves. He then spends the rest of the movie working through the rest of the hero’s
In the book Heroism in the Harry Potter series, the author discusses how Harry Potter “reintroduced the literary hero to public recognition” (2). Harry Potter brought an analysis on the modern hero and how it still applies to Campbell’s theory. Tom Shippey’s book, J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, compares how Tolkien’s main characters followed Joseph Campbell’s model of a hero. Tolkien and Rowling successfully create hero’s that appeal to the masses.
Bilbo begins his long journey with the dwarves, who at the time were still skeptical of Bilbo’s abilities. The dwarves didn’t see why they needed such a small incompetent hobbit with them along their journey. Gandalf tells them to stop complaining and to trust that there is more to Bilbo than meets the eye (Tolkien 6). Bilbo soon shows his courage and heroism for the first time in the story when they run into their first obstacle, three large trolls huddled around a campfire. Bilbo, who was once a shy, non-adventurous type, begins to develop into a hero as he tries to steal one of the trolls’ money purses. This is a dramatic scene in the novel because it was Bilbo’s very first act outside his comfort zone. It was this...
The Hero’s journey or monomyth is a 12 step cycle that begins and ends in the hero’s ordinary world. The hero goes forward into a world of mystical wonder where they encounter challenges and many small obstacles along the way. The journey ends when the hero returns from their adventure with a strong victory and transformed - nothing is quite the same when you’re a hero. The hero’s journey is predominantly a story of growth and development. This requires the hero to become estranged from their comfortable normal life as they go through a journey of self awareness, responsibility and skill to mature into a new found person. In the early 1950’s Joseph Campbell first noticed this common template amongst many movies and books. Campbell realised this was a
Joseph Campbell calls the initial phase of a hero’s development the “Call to Adventure.” The call is the in...