Myth and the Hero’s Journey

Fall, 2012

What good are stories? “Myths, legends and fairy tales explore universal

human truths through the art of the story. They restore order to a chaotic world, create a sense of wonder in the reader, return us to the enchanted (often dark) woods of literature when reading itself was an adventure, and perhaps most important, turn us into detectives of humanity and life (i.e. children) searching for answers to eternal questions.” –Ruth K. Setton

Themes: Unit 1 MYTHS

Governing Question:

How did we get here? Creation of Earth Creation of Man Creation Correction

Themes: Unit 2 FAIRY TALES

Governing Question:

How should we behave? Social Codes

Fairytales Modern Initiation

Themes: Unit 3 HERO’S JOURNEY

Governing Question:

How can I make a meaningful life? The Hero’s Journey

From Robin Hood to Dorothy to Daniel-san to Luke…

The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell

“ . . . At the next table there was a father, a mother, and a scrawny boy about twelve years old. The father said to the boy, ‘Drink your tomato juice.’ And the boy said, ‘I don’t want to.’ Then the father, with a louder voice, said, ‘Drink your tomato juice.’

And the mother said, ‘Don’t make him do what he doesn’t want to do.’ The father looked at her and said, ‘He can’t go through life doing what he wants to do. . . I’ve never done a thing I wanted to in all my life. . . ‘

Joseph Campbell (cont.)

That’s the man who never followed his bliss. . . I always tell my students, go where your body and soul want to go. When you have the feeling, then stay with it, and don’t let anyone throw you off.”

Joseph Campbell (cont.)

Myths formulate things for you. They say, for example, that you have to become an adult at a particular age. The age might be a good average age for that to happen-but actually, in the individual life, it differs greatly.

More from Joseph Campbell

Some people are late bloomers, and come to particular stages at a relatively late age. You have to have a feeling for where you are. You’ve got only one life to live, and you don’t have to live it for six people. Pay attention to it.

More from Joseph Campbell (cont.)

5 Common Traits of Mythology Stories are unreal or imaginary They often illustrate a moral point Tales depict events that bend or break

current natural laws (a.k.a. supernatural) They were considered to be true at one

time (or still are believed today) Stories held a similar function to religion, theology, science, or history

Themes: Unit 1—Creation Myths Creation of Earth Creation of Man 3 Common Creation Myth Traits

They often invoke primal gods and animals They may contain titanic struggles of opposing

forces They can include stories that depict death

and/or dismemberment

Themes: Unit 1—Creation Myths Seeks to answer the questions:

“Why am I here?” “Why are we here?” “How did these things come to be?” “Why is the _____ ______?” (e.g. “How did the rivers

come to be? And why are they crooked?”)

Ask yourself: What is this story trying to explain?

Themes: Unit 1—Creation Myths Creation Correction Stories

Draft 1 wasn’t perfect. Erase! Try draft 2! Destruction: by decay, by flood or other natural

phenomenon, by animal, etc. Creation out of the destruction Seeks to answer the questions: Why do bad things

and imperfections exist? Why is life so hard? Ask yourself: What problem is this story addressing?

What problem is being corrected? What is this story trying to explain?

Themes: Unit 2—Fairy Tales Fairytales

Modern Initiation in·i·ti·a·tion: noun 1. formal admission or acceptance

into an organization or club, adult status in one's community or society, etc. 2. the ceremonies or rites of admission. Compare rite of passage.

Social Codes Seeks to answer the question: Now that I know how I

got here, how am I supposed to behave with other people?

From Grimm to Disney

Themes: Unit 3 The Hero’s Journey

Seeks to answer the question: Now that I know how I got here and how I’m supposed to behave with other people, how do I make a meaningful life?

Monomyth From Robin Hood to Dorothy to Daniel-san to

Luke…

Monomyth—The Hero’s Journey

The art on the next slide is entitled"Gods Dreamed of Man and Danced in Wonderment"

From the Indian Genesis Series of Paintings

© David Chethlahe Paladin

Eve, Mother of All Living

Courtesy of SandraStanton

Mayan Myth 1

Brahma statue (Thailand)

Brahma the creator; not worshipped as a god

Legends say he was cursed by other deities

Gaia, the Earth Mother

An offspring of Gaea, goddess of the earth, and Uranus, god of the sky

Painting of humanized form of Pele, hanging in Hawai'i Volcano National Park Visitor's Center.

(wikipedia)

According to legend, Pele lives in the Halema'uma'u crater of Kilauea. (wikipedia)

To this day, tales of Pele's power and peculiarities continue. Whispered encounters with Pele include those of drivers who pick up an old woman dressed all in white accompanied by a little dog on roads in Kilauea National Park, only to look in the mirror to find the back seat empty. Pele's face has mysteriously appeared in photographs of fiery eruptions, and most people who live in the islands—whether Christian, Buddhist, Shinto, or other—speak respectfully of the ancient goddess. After all, she has destroyed more than 100 structures on the Big Island since 1983, and perhaps even more awesome than that, she has added more than 70 acres of land to the island's southeastern coastline.

Betty Fullard-Leo, Coffe Times.com., Winter 1999

Herb Kawainui Kane

What is Myth? Karen Armstrong Neanderthal graves tell us these things

about myth: Myth is rooted in the experience of death and

the fear of extinction Mythology is usually inseparable from ritual. The most powerful myths are about extremity;

they force us to go beyond our experience. Mythology tells us of another plane that exists

beside the one we see, a realm of the divine

A Hindu Creation Story

Chinese creation story – version 1 (kids’ version) Pan-gu or P’an-Ku A cult of P’an-Ku still persists in parts of

Southern China

Chinese creation story – version 2 (grownups’ version)

Some Themes in Creation Myths, Bernard Doyle, Encyclopedia Mythica Theme 1: Primitive chaos, a formless,

featureless universe Pan-ku’s formless chaotic egg Greeks’ formless state of the universe; called it

“chaos” Variation: Great featureless body of water

Vishnu on the cobra Japanese gods Izanagi and Izanami stirring the

waters of the earth to make the island of Okonoro

Some Themes in Creation Myths, Bernard Doyle, Encyclopedia Mythica Theme 2: The earth and the sky formed by the

separation of the original matter of the universe Pan-ku Usually the earth is female and the sky is male

Rangi and Papa, Maori and Polynesian myth, separation by their offspring creates the universe

Nut and Geb, Egyptian; Nut, the sky god is female, but their separation creates the universe like the story of Papa and Rangi

Greek myth of Gaea and Uranus

Some Themes in Creation Myths, Bernard Doyle, Encyclopedia Mythica Theme 3: The world or even the universe is

created by the bodily remains of a being or deity P’an-ku myth Norse myth: Giant Ymir is killed by Odin, Vili, and Ve,

and his flesh becomes land, his blood the sea, his bones the mountains, his hair the trees, and his skull the “vault of the heavens”

Many include struggles and battles between beings

Some Themes in Creation Myths, Bernard Doyle, Encyclopedia Mythica

Theme 4: The creation of humans Provides a connection between the human

world and the supernatural one Establishes the place of human beings in the

hierarchy of life in the universe