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Comparing The Hero's Journey In The Hero With A Thousand Faces By Joseph Campbell

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The Stages of the Hero’s Journey is a trend that Joseph Campbell saw in most hero stories. Christopher Vogler, in his work, “A Practical Guide to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” shares that “the theme of the hero myth is universal, occurring in every culture, in every time; it is as infinitely varied as the human race itself; and yet its basic form remains the same, an incredibly tenacious set of elements that spring in endless repetition from the deepest reaches of the mind of man.” Vogler also outlines Campbell’s work and shares the stages of a hero’s journey. The story of Katniss Everdeen, from the Hunger Games, qualifies in all the categories in Vogler’s guide to Campbell’s work.

Stage 1: The Ordinary World Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, probably the poorest district in all of Panem. Katniss lives with her mother, …show more content…

Campbell states that the hero crosses the threshold when “the hero fully enters the special world of the story for the first time (Vogler)”. Katniss leaves her ordinary world and learns how different and strange people are in the Capitol. Campbell explains how important threshold guardians are the the hero. Katniss’s threshold guardians were Effie Trinket and Cinna. Effie and Cinna are like no one Katniss has ever met. They represent the weirdness that is the Capitol. Cinna, the stylist, covertly coaches Katniss to just be herself when he says, “Why don't you just be yourself? … No one can help but admire your spirit (Collins 707).” Katniss needs to relate to the citizens of the Capitol. Fitting in and trying to get sponsors to like her was a challenge. This is the stage where the hero gets a taste of what the adventure is going to be like. Katniss gets a feel of the competition when she is training in that room with all of the other competitors. We feel very uncertain again when we see how unprepared she is compared to

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