Hero's Journey

In unit 3 of my Stories class, we focused on the steps of a Hero’s Journey and what it means to be a true hero. A Hero’s Journey is the universal template for writing stories, and it was studied and popularized by Joseph Campbell, an American Professor of Literature who studied comparative mythology and religion. It includes a hero who goes on an adventure, wins a victory, and then comes back changed or transformed. These steps are broken down into, Ordinary World, Call to Adventure, Supernatural aid/Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Trials, Abyss/Death, Rebirth, Atonement, and The Return. A Hero’s Journey is very important because it shows that regardless of the story, the heroes’ paths can be different, but the journey is the same.

For this AP, we chose a fictional character to analyze and a real-life person to interview about their Hero’s Journey. We created a visual representation of our fictional character’s journey and a transcript of the real-life character’s interview. For this project, it was easier finding my real-life character than it was finding my fictional character. In the end, I just went with my favorite character from The Office, which is my favorite tv show. The Office has many seasons, so it was a little difficult to pinpoint certain parts of Dwight Schrute’s Hero’s Journey. Though it was hard, I eventually put together certain moments from season three, season seven, and season nine for his journey. This unit was very interesting to me because I had never considered that there are, sort of, universal steps to each story within a Hero’s Journey. I am glad that I can now watch a movie or read a story and be able to more accurately, pinpoint each step in a Hero’s Journey.

Hero’s Journey

The two characters I chose were my mom (real-life character) and Dwight Shrute from The Office (fictional character). I chose Dwight because he is my favorite character and he is also very funny and smart, when he wants to be. Throughout the show, he strives to become the regional manager of his branch but doesn’t succeed until the last season. I chose my mom because of how much she inspires me and how much I look up to her. She’s always working her hardest and never gives up because she knows that she’s doing it for my siblings and I. Though they are very different, my heroes relate to each other because they both had to work very hard to achieve what they wanted and undergo numerous challenges.

Below is my visual representation of Dwight going through his journey and the transcript for the real-life interview. This includes scenes of him in the show for each category, The Call, Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Trials, Abyss, Rebirth, Atonement, and the Return.

Real-life interview:

Q: “What made you want to pursue real estate?”
A: “I’ve always liked building things and helping other entrepreneurs succeed. When I was little, my dad bought a building for his company and he let my siblings and I help renovate it. That, along with a few other events, inspired me to go into real estate in my 20’s.”

Q: “Did you have a mentor that you looked up to throughout your career?”
A: “My main mentor was my friend, Bill. He always encouraged and believed in me, which helped me to be confident enough to pursue my goals.”

Q: “Were there times where you doubted things?”
A: “As I was striving to become a real estate developer, I had to leave an already secure job so, I was almost always afraid that things wouldn’t work out.”

Q: “What trials or challenges did you face?”
A: “As I was working, there would be developers, banks, and cities that didn’t want to work with me because I was so young and inexperienced.”

Q: “What was your lowest point in your journey?” 
A: “After working for so many years, the market crashed and I lost all of the money and developments that I had worked for, up until that point.”

Q: “How were you able to rebuild after the market crash.”
A: “I was able to rebuild by redesigning my business to include more partners, so not everything was fully dependent on me. This proved to be more successful than what was done before.”

Q: “What truths did you have to face when you were in the process of rebuilding?”
A: “When I was first starting out, I thought it was all money and that, that’s what brought power, but I later learned, that wasn’t true. I learned to rebuild in a better way while using my own talents and strengths. This proved to have a stronger effect than my will for money and it helped me forgive myself for my mistakes.”

Q: “How did you return from everything that happened?”
A: “My whole life I’ve wanted to make a difference for other people and I learned to realize that you make a difference in a lot of small areas that build in a long period of time, as opposed to them happening all at once. I continue to keep this vision in mind so I don’t get off course and I always push myself to do more.”

Citations:

Todd, Karen. Personal Interview. 12 November 2019.