In Rick Riordan’s The Lost Hero, the protagonists Jason, Piper, and Leo embark on a challenging quest to rescue Hera from the clutches of the awakening Gaea. Their quest is filled with life-threatening obstacles that can be seen from different points in the novel such as in the beginning, at the climax, and at the end. Jason, son of Jupiter, waking up on a bus holding hands with Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, apparently his girlfriend and Leo, son of Hephaestus, while having no memory is part of Hera’s plan to unite the Roman and Greek demigods. As the prophecy states, the camps must unite and a team of seven of the most powerful demigods shall be tasked with a mission of defeating Gaea’s forces. To others, this plan is a suicide mission, but the team shall prevail as long hope remains. At the beginning of The Lost Hero, a series of events attract the reader’s attention and keep him or her hooked on the story. In Chapter 1, it describes how Jason reacts to waking up on a bus with no memory sitting next to Piper, who apparently is his girlfriend and Leo, who is his best friend in the m...
The first part of the Hero’s journey begins in the ordinary world. In the book, Star Girl, the protagonist Leo’s ordinary world is his high school where there are no leaders and all students act the same. Although Leo is different than the others, he keeps to himself. The next part of the hero’s journey is the call to adventure. After seeing Star Girl in school everyday for some time, Leo begins to have a crush on Star Girl and thinks about her often. Leo refuses this call by telling his school show co-host, Kevin, that they shouldn’t have Star Girl on the show, although Kevin wants her on it. Leo refuses the call again when Star Girl calls him “cute,” and he blushes and says nothing.
This paper examines the argument and theory proposed by Richard H. Tyre of the six basic movements of a plot in a hero story. Although Tyre’s theory does seem too narrow focused, fixed and direct to fit with the plot structure of all hero stories, he makes a great point and provides adequate evidence to support his statement.
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 overarching stages of these steps defines the important trilogy of the departure, the initiation, and the return of the hero in the spiritual, physical, and emotional changes that are experienced in this mythic cycle. Campbell’s insightful evaluation of the ten stages of the hero’s journey define the initial reluctance of the hero to follow his destiny, yet he or she slowly walks through the various obstacles and the awakening of consciousness through the death and rebirth of their identity. Finally, the return of hero to “home” reveals the liberation from previous prejudices and limitations of the mind, soul, and body that were present before they partook in the adventure. Surely, Campbell’s’ heroic cycle defines the overarching challenges of selfhood that the hero must endure to raise his or her consciousness to a higher level of understanding and realization. These are the important aspects of the ten stages of Campbell’s heroic journey that define the transformative nature of the journey and the hero’s initiation into the mysteries of life in this mythic theory of the heroic
A brave hero often risks his/her lives to save someone else. In Zeitoun, Dave Eggers tells us a story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun, the hard working Syrian American owner of a contracting company in New Orleans. Zeitoun and his wife Kathy ran the company together. They have three children named Nademah, Safiyah, Aisha. Kathy has a child from her first marriage. Zeitoun is very closed with his family and he takes his family like nobody else. When hurricane Katrina landed in 2005, endless number of people were affected. Mayor Nagin ordered a first time ever mandatory evacuation. Kathy moved with the children to her sister’s house in Baton Rouge. Zeitoun refused to leave with his family because he didn’t want lose his properties, but at the same time, his customers trusted him and gave him their house keys to check on their houses, which caused his separation with his family. This illustrates that Zeitoun is a responsible, powerful, trustworthy, and unselfish person. During the hurricane, Zeitoun was using a canoe rescuing people. Due to the lack of rescue work, many people didn’t get enough supports at that time. Zeitoun had the courage to sacrifice his family, safety, and selfish needs for saving the people.
“The Hero’s Journey.” Ariane Publications, 1997. Course handout. AS English I. Dept. of English, Woodside High School. 26 October 2013.
For many years the American Hero has filled the silver screen and wide screened television sets, along with shelves of countless bookstores. Audiences love to see the protagonist overcome great odds, defeat the forces of evil, and save the beautiful girl at the last second. The character of the American Hero however, is not a new idea. James Cooper, in the 1800’s, created the archetype of the American Hero. Natty Bumpo, also called Deerslayer, embodied many qualities of the great American Hero. Modern day heroes are simply following the example set by Cooper’s creation.
A tragic hero is defined as a person of high social rank, who has a tragic flaw or flaws that lead to their downfall. These heroes’ downfalls are usually either complete ruin or death. Tragic heroes face their downfall with courage and dignity. While many characters in Julius Caesar could fit these conditions, the person who fits the role of a tragic hero the best is Marcus Brutus. Brutus develops into a tragic hero throughout the play, and this is shown though his qualifications of a tragic hero, his high status, his tragic flaws, and his courage in the face of his death.
The fictional life and death of a twelve year old little boy named Robert is vividly articulated in this moving tale by Thomas Wolfe. The reader learns of the boy’s life through four well developed points of view. The reader’s first glimpse into Robert’s character is expressed through a third person narrative. This section takes place on a particularly important afternoon in the boy’s life. The second and third views are memories of the child, through the eyes of his mother and sister. His mother paints the picture of an extraordinary child whom she loved dearly and his sister illustrates the love that the boy had for others. Finally, an account from the narrator is given in the ending. It is in the last section of this work that the narrator attempts to regain his own memories of his lost brother.
In ‘To Build a Fire”, the author, Jack London creates a tale that reflects his voyage in the Klondike gold rush as a miner in the glacial and cold terrain of Alaska and Canada during 1897 to 1898. The short story is about an unnamed man who takes his own journey through the Yukon in Alaska, where the temperature is 75 degrees below zero. The man and his dog, a husky, set out for their journey on an exceeding cold and gray day. Although he never reaches his destination, the unnamed man faces many obstacles throughout his journey that portray the characteristics of a hero; this can be shown through his persistence, independence and knowledge.
Moving forward, the literary device, flashback, is a great way to create an engrossing story. Flashback allows a reader to look back on past events or even find out secrets about a character that were previously unknown. Flashback is used in The Lost Hero in a way that a reader never forgets the past of a character. Pages 426-427 consist of Piper recollecting the time with Jason on the roof. This flashback showed when Piper had her first kiss with Jason. This event was important to understand because it showed how strongly she still felt for him despite all she was hearing on her memories being fake.
A Heroless Story You can’t have a good story without a good hero, Fitzgerald did the exact opposite of that in “The Great Gatsby”. The Oxford dictionary defines a hero as “a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities” (Oxford). There are no heroes in “The Great Gatsby”. When you think of heroes in the story, the first person you would claim to be the hero would be Nick Carraway, but he is not a hero. Nick Carraway is a liar, but he only lies a certain way, through omission.
Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi” shows all three of the main elements of a hero’s journey: the departure, initiation and the return, helping the story to greatly resemble Joseph Campbell’s structure of a hero’s journey. Through the trials Pi has to face, he proves himself to be a true hero. He proves himself, not just while trapped on the lifeboat with Richard Parker, but also before the sinking of the Tsimtsum. His achievement to fulfill the heroic characteristics of Campbell’s model are evident as he goes though the three stages.