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The Heros Journey: Symbolism In The Hero's Journey

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Abstract: Myths are symbolic representations of the innermost aspects of life and the spiritual underpinnings of the religions. Numerous mythological stories depict the journey of self, both inwardly and outwardly. Myths preserve that journey of ultimate destiny of every individual which reveals timeless truth. Mythologies of different cultures speak about the hero’s journey both inwardly and outwardly which lead to spiritual growth. The hero departs from this world and goes through the wilderness of unconscious and returns to the society of being strong and self-aware in spirit. This research paper describes the set of concepts known as “The Hero’s Journey” drawn from the depth of psychology of Carl G.Jung and mythic studies of Joseph Campbell. It tries to relate those ideas to contemporary story telling which evolve from our innermost selves and our most distant past. Joseph Campbell described the hero’s journey as monomyth in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949). Hero’s journey is a hand book of life which gives instructions in the art of being human. It is not an invention but an observation. It recognizes a set of …show more content…

The protagonist of every story is the hero of a journey, even if the path leads only into his own mind or into the realm of relationships. The way stations of the Hero's Journey emerge naturally even when the writer is unaware of them, but some knowledge of this most ancient guide to storytelling is useful in identifying problems and telling better stories. Christopher Volger condensed these seventeen stages into twelve stages in his book The Writer’s Journey. Here in observing the heroic journey Christopher Volger’s condensed model of 12 stages of heroic journey is followed illustrating each by utilizing the experiences of protagonist of the novel, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Mistressof

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