Theories Of The Monomyth

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Coincidentally, when thought about, all mythological stories seem to be written with the same communal ideas in mind. Back in ancient times, all of the authors were oblivious to the fact that they were all writing stories that were hypothetically the same. Authors nowadays are much more familiar with the theory of the Monomyth. Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, describes the theory that all archetypical heroes follow a single supernatural journey throughout their story. The Monomyth consists of three main stages: The Departure, Initiation, and the Return. Joseph Campbell theorized that all mythological stories follow this outline one way or another. The Odyssey, an epic poem written by Homer, demonstrates this theory very …show more content…

In Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim endures many trials such as witnessing the fire storm at Dresden, sniper fire, and a few unwieldily allies that ultimately turn into Billy’s worst enemies. On Tralfamadore (The alien planet Billy temporarily lives on from time to time) Montana Wildhack poses as worthy temptress for Billy Pilgrim. Montana Wildhack is a blue movie star. The apotheosis in Billy’s never ending journey, is when his Enemy, Paul Lazzaro, kills him. Billy actually receives his ultimate reward when he all-knowingly has sexual intercourse with his wife Valencia and creates a Green Beret. “Billy made a noise like a small, rusty hinge. He had just emptied his seminal vesicles into Valencia…” (Vonnegut 118). In the Odyssey, Odysseus is put threw many more trials than Billy that thwarted his journey home, such as encountering a vicious cyclopes, plundering a village, losing men to lotus eaters, escaping a ban of unfriendly giants, hearing the seductive sirens, living with Circe (a sexy goddess), almost dying from the feared monsters, Charybdis and Scylla, and finally eating immortal cows. After all of these trials, every single crew member died but Odysseus. Odysseus’ temptation was a woman named Circe that offered Odysseus immortality if he stayed with her. He and his crew ended up staying with circe for seven years. The apotheosis of Odysseus’ journey comes when he is given safe passage home from the king of Phaeacia who pities him. Odysseus makes it all the way back to Ithaca thanks to the king. Meanwhile on Ithaca, Odysseus’ wife Penelope is being bothered by suitors that assume he is dead. Odysseus naturally hates these men. While Odysseus is dividing a plan to kill the

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