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Epic Explorations: Teaching the ‘Odyssey’ With The New York Times

By Ryan R. Goble and Elizabeth Wiersum

March 21, 2019

Homer’s Muse still sings.

His epic tale follows the wily warrior Odysseus as he twists and turns his way back home to the shores of Ithaca after fighting a 10-year war at Troy. As readers everywhere know, the story’s themes of homecoming and hospitality, hubris and humility, suffering and survival continue to resonate across the centuries.

Three recent books show that much remains to be said and discovered about the epic and its relationship to our lives today. In 2017, the first English translation of the “Odyssey” by a woman, the British classicist Emily Wilson , was published to much acclaim , replacing older translations on some high school and college syllabuses. The same year, Daniel Mendelsohn’s memoir, “ An Odyssey: A Father, A Son, and an Epic, ” recounted what happened when his 81-year old father decided to sit in on the author’s seminar on the “Odyssey” at Bard College. And in the spring of 2018, Madeline Miller released “ Circe, ” a novel written from the enchantress’s perspective that expands her story both before and after her affair with Odysseus.

Below, five lesson ideas that draw on Times resources to help students navigate the wine-dark seas and discover how the “Odyssey” might speak to their own lives and the world around them.

Five Teaching Ideas

1. The Hero’s Journey

Daniel Mendelsohn explains in his memoir that the word “odyssey” has three meanings: “voyage,” “journey,” and “travel.” As an epic poem, the ”Odyssey” further prepares us for a long narrative told on a grand scale of time and place, featuring a larger-than-life protagonist who is also Western civilization’s oldest hero. Odysseus, whose very name echoes “odyssey,” is often translated to mean “son of pain.” Taken together the man and his journey seem fated for hardship.

At a time when more than 65 million people around the world are officially displaced from their homes by conflict, violence and persecution — the highest figure recorded by the United Nations since World War II — The Times has chronicled many real-life odysseys in reports of those journeys. Invite students to read articles like “ What Refugees Face on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route ” and “ Desperate Crossin g” to learn more, and to find links to themes and ideas in the “Odyssey.” (For more on teaching with this material, you might also consider some of the questions and activities suggested in this Learning Network lesson plan .)

But epic journeys have also been fodder for comedy. Examples include the cartoonist Roz Chast’s take on the hero’s journey , Brian Gordon’s modern take on the Sirens , Lapham’s Quarterly Odyssey Game (tagline: “lose years, gain strength, return to wife”) and the doughnut-fueled “ Lemon of Troy” episode of “The Simpsons” (Season 6, Episode 24), featuring America’s favorite cartoon dad.

The archetypal hero’s journey takes many forms and is particularly accessible for students through film. Have them read Times reviews of a favorite superhero film, like “ Black Panther ,” “ Wonder Woman ” or “ Iron Man ,” then write their own review explaining how the hero develops. They can do this either using the stages of Joseph Campbell’s hero cycle , or compare the journeys of their chosen protagonist to Odysseus’ journey.

While any Marvel or DC Comics hero should suffice, students can also look to animated films such as “ The Incredibles ” and “ Wall-E ,” dramas like “ The Natural ,” “ Glory ,” “ A Better Life ,” or classic comedies like “ Coming to America ,” “ Goonies ,” “ Back to the Future ” or even “ Some Like It Hot .”

2. On Xenia

Xenia is the Greek concept of hospitality. In the “Odyssey,” it is both a civic responsibility — serving the weary traveler who landed on the shores of one’s front door — and a spiritual duty, for it would always be entirely possible that the weary traveler could end up being a god in disguise.

The Learning Network runs an annual Connections Contest , in which students are invited to link anything they’re studying in school with something in the news. This year, one of the winners , Alex Iyer, a student from San Antonio, linked Homer’s “Odyssey” with the Times piece, “ As Rich Nations Close the Door on Refugees, Uganda Welcomes Them ” and talked about the role of xenia in both. Here is his essay:

In literature, we learned that in Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey,” Homer uses the tribulations of the hero Odysseus to illustrate the Ancient Grecian custom of xenia. This custom focused on extending hospitality to those who found themselves far from home. As Odysseus navigates the treacherous path back to his own home, he encounters both morally upstanding and malevolent individuals. They range from a charitable princess who offers food and clothing, to an evil Cyclops who attempts to murder the hero and his fellow men. In class, we agreed that Homer employs these contrasting characters to exemplify not only proper, but also poor forms of xenia. For the people of its time, the “Odyssey” cemented the idea that xenia was fundamental for good character; resulting in hospitality becoming engrained in the fabric of Ancient Grecian society. I saw a parallel to this in a New York Times article called “As Rich Nations Close the Door on Refugees, Uganda Welcomes Them” published on October 28, 2018. Similar to the prevalent custom of xenia in Ancient Greece, Uganda has made hosting refugees a national policy. The country is now occupied by up to 1.25 million refugees, many of whom are fleeing the violent unrest of South Sudan. The xenia of Homeric times implied a mutually beneficial relationship between host and guest. We see this in Uganda, where villagers share land with South Sudanese refugees. Grateful for this generosity, the refugees gladly help out with farming, carpentry, and even translation. Many Ugandans remember when they themselves had to look to Sudan for sanctuary. During the murderous rampages of Idi Amin and Joseph Kony, the Sudanese provided critical support to Ugandan refugees. These memories are motivating modern-day Ugandans to assist refugees, bringing the world a little closer to what xenia strived for over 2,000 years ago. Uganda and South Sudan are by no means wealthy utopias. However, xenia was never about the rich blindly giving to the poor. It aspired to foster symbiotic relationships of openness and inclusivity that would endure through time. It’s interesting that a quaint Greek ideal from thousands of years ago would find a practical application in Uganda. When Amos Chandiga was asked why he lent two acres of his own land to refugees, he simply responded “They asked me, and I gave it to them.” He then patted his chest and said “It comes from here, in my heart.” Perhaps this can serve as a lesson to Americans, as we grapple with modernizing our own asylum policies. Teaching us that, whether rich or poor, open borders give way to open hearts.

You might challenge students to find more articles in The Times that relate to xenia, the spirit behind welcoming the stranger — pieces like “ Refugees Encounter a Foreign Word: Welcome ,” “ Love Thy Stranger As Thyself, ” “ A Lesson on Immigration From Pablo Neruda ,” “ Texas Pulls Up the Welcome Mat ” and “ Where Companies Welcome Refugees .”

And since school functions as students’ September-through-June “home,” they might then work with their counselors and student government to develop a welcoming committee, mission statement, and a set of resources that would have them sharing their hospitality to all those who make their way to the shores of the school, whether incoming freshmen, transfer students, parents at an open house, or athletes visiting the school for a sporting event or competition. They may also work to propose programs and extracurricular activities to ensure that students from diverse backgrounds have a welcome place at the school.

3. Epic Music Playlists

The British author and screenwriter Nick Hornby explained the art of the mixtape his 1995 novel "High Fidelity,” which was later adapted into film . His protagonist, Rob Flemings, explains:

To me, making a tape is like writing a letter — there’s a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again. A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. You’ve got to kick off with a corker, to hold the attention … and then you’ve got to up it a notch, or cool it a notch … and you can’t have two tracks by the same artist side by side, unless you’ve done the whole thing in pairs and … oh, there are loads of rules.

In the digital age, we still use the analog concept of a “mixtape" to talk about digital playlists or a compilation of related songs. (For example, consider the “ Hamilton Mixtape .”) Many of the playlists streamed on Pandora, Spotify and Apple Music are curated by algorithms based on listener data . That said, these services and others like Mixcloud and SoundCloud also celebrate human curation.

The Times has covered many notable playlists. A Vows column explored how songs texted between a Hollywood couple became the Spotify “mixtape” for their Palm Springs wedding; the Food section wrote about a musician who curated a soundscape for a restaurant ; Politics covered a presidential playlist ; and the Arts section featured the playlist one nonfiction writer created to accompany his book on hip-hop. (Meanwhile, this piece in The Guardian covers the playlists that fiction writers like Stephen King create that are inspired by their books’ characters or themes.)

The New York Times Music section shares weekly playlists of notable new music and videos, and they maintain a Spotify profile with playlists related to their criticism and reporting. The Learning Network has even asked students to share their favorite playlists in the past.

Inspired by these, we created a playlist for the “Odyssey,” which focuses on allusions or retellings of Homer’s epic poem.

See what you think, then tell us: What playlist might you make? Your tracks can be informed by a character’s point of view: How would Telemachus’ playlist differ from Athena’s? Would Calypso’s playlist sound anything like Penelope’s? Students might also create a playlist that addresses a theme like courage or deception, or design one that mirrors the plot in some way, as does a movie soundtrack. Whatever songs you think will capture a unique musical point-of-view of Homer’s epic tale, we invite you to share them as a comment on this lesson, or by tagging us on Twitter @NYTimesLearning .

Finally, you might check out the Learning Network lesson plan “ Nine Teaching Ideas for Using Music to Inspire Student Writing ” to find even more ideas for creating playlists related to topics you are studying in class.

4. Here Be Monsters

Monsters are here, there and everywhere in film and literature. Many Times articles have explored monsters as metaphor. Film Critics have written about what movie monsters teach us about our cultures , childhoods or, most recently, how racism ise the monster in director Jordan Peele’s award-winning film “Get Out .”

Literary and historical monsters are also rich sources for discussion. During Odysseus’ journey he encounters a wide range of supernatural creatures, including the Sirens, Cyclops and the Lotus Eaters. He is caught between the famous Scylla and Charybdis and, at Circe’s behest, visits the Underworld. Many of these places and characters can be read as metaphors for large challenges we face in life.

The New York-based nonprofit organization Artolution recently asked students, “What would creatures in a world without violence look like?” Their short film shows elementary students imagining and creating peaceful creatures. We’d like to suggest a Homeric riff on this idea. Ask students, “What type of monsters would a school-aged Odysseus encounter if he were to spend three years in your middle school or four years in your high school?” Students can draw or use a free monster-making app like this one to create their creatures. You might also share Andrew Bell’s ‘Creatures in My Head ’ website for inspiration. Artwork should be accompanied by a creative narrative or poem about their monster and how it was inspired by “The Odyssey.”

5. Lasting Legacies

It is a minor character in the “Odyssey” who develops one of its most vital themes — the importance of one’s legacy.

Elpenor, one of Odysseus’ men, suffers an unremarkable death, meeting his demise when he falls from a rooftop in a drunken stupor. His story becomes poignant when he meets his leader in the Underworld, and begs to be properly buried and remembered. He pleads:

Don’t sail off and desert me, left behind unwept … No, burn me in full armor, all my harness, heap my mound by churning gray surf — a man whose luck ran out — so even men to come will learn my story (11.79 - 85).

Elpenor’s desire for his story to outlive him highlights the human desire to achieve some mark of the immortality reserved for the gods. At The Times, a team of obituary writers does the important work of summing up those legacies, both for the famous and for those less well-known whose lives nonetheless “ put a wrinkle in the social fabric .” The 2016 documentary “ Obit ” follows that team, as you can see in the film’s trailer , embedded above. In it, Margalit Fox, one of the team, suggests that “obits have next to nothing to do with death and in fact absolutely everything to do with the life.”

While Benjamin Franklin and others did write their own epitaphs, students need not imagine their own deaths in order to ponder the legacy they would like to leave behind. Students can read a selection of Times tributes that commemorate those who have made a lasting impression on the world. Recent tributes include reflections on Aretha Franklin , John McCain , Stan Mikita , and Mac Miller , as well as a collection of tributes The Times put together called “ Overlooked ” that celebrate remarkable people, mostly women, who did not receive a Times obituary when they died.

Students can jigsaw those we suggested or choose someone who interests them . In groups, students might then use these learning experience organizers to think about what makes a life well lived. (Organizers for “cartoonist,” “framer” or “lawyer” work nicely here.) After this process students can brainstorm their life goals for school using the WOOP (Wish-Outcome-Obstacle-Plan) goal-writing method . The “Hidden Brain” podcast and related book explain the science behind the method.

Have students imagine that, 25 years after their graduation, they have been chosen to receive the distinguished alumnus or alumna award for their class. What will the nominating committee say about them? How will they describe what they have achieved and the legacy it will leave for their chosen field? Or, if students would rather write about someone else, have them reflect on the legacy of someone they know personally, such as a friend, parent or mentor.

Let students have fun and focus on making meaning of a life well lived for whatever legacy they choose to write. If they would like to muse about their own lives, invite them to contribute comments to a recent Learning Network Student Opinion question, What Legacy Do You Want to Leave Behind? They could also consider making a mixed media collage about their own or someone else’s legacy, as suggested in this lesson plan by the artist and teacher Clara Lieu.

Selected Additional Resources

From Around the Web:

• To give your students a useful summary before reading scenes and excerpts from Homer’s poem, try this resource from The Conversation that describes the story and its themes, as well as its links to films like “ O Brother Where Art Thou? ” and, more loosely, “ 2001: A Space Odyssey ” and “ Paris, Texas .”

• Creative visual retellings include Gareth Hinds’s graphic novel “ The Odyssey ,” Marvel’s comic series from 2008-2009 and the Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Eric Shanower’s multivolume Trojan War series, “ Age of Bronze .” Readers of all ages will benefit from Marcia William’s beautiful and succinct picture book retelling of the “Iliad” and “Odyssey.” And here is a rubric designed by the instructional coach Nessa Slowinski and the English teacher Lauren Schewe, our colleagues at Glenbard West High School , to help students do comic annotations of the “Odyssey,” as modeled by Nick Sousanis ’s comics studies class at San Francisco State University.

• Brandon Bourgeois has been working on a hip-hop version of the “Odyssey” since he was a graduate student in classics, while students at the University of Michigan have made modern interpretations of Homer’s work the subject of “ The Translation Game .” An anthropomorphic take can be found in Gwen Cooper’s “ Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned about Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat .”

• If you are teaching the “Odyssey” as part of a humanities course you might explore the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Resource for Educators: Greek Art from Prehistoric to Classical and the Art Institute of Chicago’s resource packet that puts the African-American experience in dialogue with Homer through the Harlem Renaissance artist Romare Bearden’s collage “The Return of Odysseus (Homage to Pintoricchio and Benin).”

• Poems that consider the “Odyssey” from different angles abound. Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “ Ulysses ” imagines Odysseus years after his return to Ithaca, bored and longing again for adventure. Margaret Atwood’s much-anthologized “ Siren Song ” transfers attention to the half-female half-bird mythical creatures. And Louise Glück ’s 1996 collection, “Meadowlands,” is a poetic exploration of the relationship between Odysseus and Penelope. Teachers might also join a Twitter discussion about poems to teach with the “Odyssey.”

From The New York Times:

1997 Arts Article: All-Nighter With the ‘Odyssey’ Two Stamford High School English teachers gave their freshmen students a challenge: How about spending 17 hours overnight at the school to study nearly 500 pages of Homer’s “Odyssey,” hearing it aloud as the epic poet might have offered the adventures of Odysseus to his hungry listeners 2,700 years ago?

1998 Op-Ed: An Odyssey The children who sit before me saw in Homer’s hero that one person can be both powerful and foolish, equally full of influence and errors. When my students learn to see this in themselves, they will become — at last — good leaders.

2007 Op-Ed: The Odyssey Years There used to be four common life phases: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Now, there are at least six: childhood, adolescence, odyssey, adulthood, active retirement and old age. Of the new ones, the least understood is odyssey, the decade of wandering that frequently occurs between adolescence and adulthood.

2008 Science Article: Homecoming of Odysseus May Have Been in Eclipse Two scientists have concluded that the homecoming of Odysseus possibly coincided with a solar eclipse in 1178 B.C.

2008 Book Review: A Long, Strange Trip A British classics professor traces the lengthy shadow Homer’s “Odyssey” casts across Western culture.

2009 Op-Ed: Back From War, but Not Really Home A sense of dislocation has been shared by veterans returning from war since Homer conjured Odysseus’ inauspicious return some 2,800 years ago. ( Related Learning Network lesson plan )

2010 T Magazine Article: Speak Easy | Laura Marling An interview with a musician inspired by The “Odyssey.”

2011 Travel Article: Lost in the Odyssey Inspired by Odysseus, who took 10 years to get to Ithaca from the coast of Turkey, an 11-day journey of epic beauty, hospitality and frustrating ferry schedules.

2011 Video and Article: Odysseus in Socrates Sculpture Park and Odysseus Is Parading Into Queens Using puppets and much imagination, two artists are bringing “The Odyssey” to a riverfront park in Long Island City.

2015 Theater Review: ‘The Odyssey’ Takes a Populist Turn as a Musical Professional actors like Brandon Victor Dixon and amateur entertainers combine to turn this adaptation of Homer’s poem into a vibrant tapestry.

2016 Book Review: ‘Why Homer Matters,’ by Adam Nicolson For the voyager Adam Nicolson, Homer is impossible to understand while sitting behind a desk.

2017 Magazine Article: The First Woman to Translate the ‘Odyssey’ Into English The classicist Emily Wilson has given Homer’s epic a radically contemporary voice.

2017 Science Article: A Grecian Artifact Evokes Tales From the ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’ An engraved stone with a finely detailed battle scene was found in the grave of a warrior buried about 1450 B.C.

2017: Book Review: A Version of Homer That Dares to Match Him Line for Line Emily Wilson’s landmark translation of the “Odyssey” matches the original’s line count while drawing on a spare, simple and direct idiom.

2018 Book Review: Turning Circe Into a Good Witch In Madeline Miller’s latest adaptation of Greek myth, “Circe,” we encounter a thoughtful and compassionate woman who learns to love unselfishly.

Ryan R. Goble is the Teaching & Learning Coordinator at Glenbard Township High School District 87 Public Schools in Glen Ellyn, IL. and the co-author of Making Curriculum Pop: Developing Literacies across Content Areas .

Elizabeth Wiersum teaches English at Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, IL.

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Joseph Campbell & The Hero’s Journey

In 1949, scholar joseph campbell published his 1st book, the hero with a thousand faces. in this book, campbell introduced us to his theory that myths from around the globe share a fundamental structure, the monomyth ..

C ampbell formulated this theory over 5 years, spending 9 hours a day reading mythology from around the world. The Monomyth structure is divided into 3 events with additional stages in between. The stories of Osiris, Prometheus, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, and many other tales from history use this structure. It has inspired many artists and storytellers, such as, Jim Morrison of The Doors, Bob Dylan, creator of Star Wars George Lucas, Bob Weir, and Jerry Garcia of the band, The Grateful Dead. While countless stories follow this Monomyth structure, we will use the original Star Wars Trilogy as an example for exploring this process.

The Seventeen Stages of the Monomyth

The Cycle of Mythology

Stage 1: Separation

I n the first stage of the hero’s journey, we find our protangonist living life in a typically mundane situation. The Star Wars , Luke Skywalker lives as a talented yet lowly and pretty damn whiny moisture farmer on Tatooine.

Until…

1. Call to Adventure – By some chance the hero will become aware of information or actions that call for them to go on a quest. The lovable and recently acquired droid R2-D2 plays a holographic message of Princess Leia pleading for Luke’s soon to be mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s assistance.

2. Refusal of the Call – Overwhelmed by the information, the hero refuses the call and makes excuses as to why they cannot answer it. Luke refuses Obi-Wan’s request to join him on his mission, stating that he has responsibilities at home.

Luke’s Supernatural Aid is in the form of a Lightsaber and newfound Knowledge of the Force

3. Supernatural Aid – Once a commitment to the quest is made by the hero, they are provided with a special weapon or power that will assist them along the way. Obi-Wan gifts Luke his fathers lightsaber and explains some Force 101.

4. Crossing the Threshold – The moment when the hero actually embarks upon the journey. After Luke discovers that his family has been murdered and that nothing is left for him at home, he decides to join Obi-Wan on the quest to save Princess Leia, cause that sounds way cooler than hanging at the farm where your entire family was just massacred.

5. Belly of the Whale – The final separation between the hero and their home. Luke and Kenobi bail out from Tatooine with their new bros Han Solo and Chewbacca.

Stage 2: Initiation

The Empire Strikes Back is nothing but a road of trials for our hero, Luke.

6. The Road of Trials – A series of usually 3 trials and tests, the hero often fails one or more of these test. In Luke’s journey the destruction of the Death Star is his first test and one that he passes. His second and third tests do not end so well. While training with Yoda on Dagobah, Luke fails in his truly mastering himself and the force. Thirdly, in the duel between himself and his newly revealed father, Darth Vader, he is defeated, injured, and almost killed.

7. The Meeting with the Goddess – Our hero experiences a love that has the power and significance to that of a mother. Luke begins to have strong feelings for Leia, his unbeknownst sister.

8. Woman as Temptress – The temptation to abandon the journey for material or other gain. Luke is close to being seduced to the dark side as the Emperor feeds his rage against his father and especially with the prospect that if he will not turn, perhaps his sister will.

9. Atonement with the Father – In this stage, the hero must confront and be initiated by whoever holds the ultimate power in their life. Luke battles Darth Vader and once again is on the losing side of the fight. Nearing death from the Emperor’s attacks, Luke begs his father to help save him from certain death.

Star-Wars-Trivia-Original-Ending-Luke-Dark-Side

Anakin & Luke Meet for the 1st Time

10. Apotheosis – The spiritual death and rebirth of the hero. Darth Vader hears his son’s cries for help and returns to the light, deciding to destroy the Emperor in a self sacrificial action. By bringing his father back to the light, Luke has finally become a true jedi.

11. The Ultimate Boon – The stage of achievement of the goal. Luke is a jedi, has defeated the Empire, the dark side, saved his father, and all his friends and family are safe.

12. Refusal of the Return – The hero basking in their newly found bliss, may not want to return to their previous life and share this bliss with his fellow man. Luke does the opposite of this, upon his reunification with his friends, he shares with Leia that they are siblings. He then goes on to train her and new jedi in the ways of the force.

Stage 3: Return

13. The Magic Flight – The daring escape made after obtaining the boon. Luke carries his fathers body onto a transport and flees the Death Star before its complete destruction.

The Millennium Falcon in Magical Flight

14. Rescue from Without – When powerful guides or mentors help bring the hero back to normal life. When Anniken, Obi-Wan, and Yoda appear from the ether to acknowledge Luke and his newfound jedi knighthood.

15. Crossing the Return Threshold – Retaining, integrating, and sharing wisdom learned on the quest. Luke shares his knowledge of the force with future jedi.

16. Master of Two Worlds – The hero has achieved a balance between the material and spiritual world. Luke has sorted all of his family issues, become a man and a jedi.

17. Freedom to Live – By becoming a master of the two worlds, the hero is free from regrets of the past and worries of the future, this leaves them to live in the moment. Luke has resolved all the conflicts in his life, he is free to live at one with the force.

Each of Us are the Heroes in Our own Journey

The Monomyth is a method of story telling that is innate to humans. Cultures from around the world share it’s structure in their stories. Every human, whether they are aware of it or not, is on their own hero’s journey. By studying Joseph Campbell’s work we can better our own understanding of the tests, trials, and progress along our journey.

About Author

Tamlorn Chase

Tamlorn Chase hails from the coastal town of Santa Barbara, where he works as a wilderness guide, wildlife filmmaker, and environmental activist. Protecting the natural world is his profession and passion.

Father Figures

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The Ordinary World: The First Step in the Hero’s Journey

by David Safford | 0 comments

From The Odyssey to Star Wars to Toy Story , the Hero's Journey is the foundation of millennia of storytelling. But before any hero can embark on their journey, they must start in the ordinary world.

How can you leverage this world and the hero's journey in your own writing?

In storytelling, the hero's journey has to do with the stages of the hero as researched by Joseph Campbell and Christopher Vogler. Decades ago, these two storytelling experts identified several common trends that appear in great works from every generation and every culture.

One of those trends is structure.

Thankfully this structure has a proven track record of success. This successful record is so long, in fact, that we don't know when it started.

And it all begins with a person living an ordinary life.

What Is the Hero's Journey?

The Hero's Journey is a timeless combination of characters, events, and symbols frequently structured as a sequence of twelve steps. It is a storytelling structure that anyone can study and utilize to tell a story that readers will love.

You can learn all about the twelve steps that make up the universal structure of great stories in this article . Today, I'd like to take you even further into the first of those steps.

Let's take a look at the beginning: The Ordinary World.

Hero's Journey Step #1: Start Ordinary

We have Hollywood screenwriter and executive Christopher Vogler to thank for our condensed version of the Hero's Journey. If you're curious, his most notable credit is a film that makes explicit use of the Hero's Journey: The Lion King.

In Vogler's simplification of Campbell's theory, there are twelve steps to the Hero's Journey (I cover each one in-depth in a detailed Hero's Journey blog series, this article being one of those special articles).

The first step of the Hero's Journey involves establishing your hero's day-to-day ordinary life, all so it can be disrupted by the impending Inciting Incident. This is the Ordinary World.

This is when you establish the hero's day-to-day life, all so it can be disrupted by the impending Inciting Incident. Tweet this

5. A False Sense of Security

Just as the Ordinary World is a place where your story's core value is either supported or established, it also comes with a false sense of security . Everything should seem, at least on the surface, peaceful and well. But in the underbelly of this world—or lingering outside its boundaries—conflict and injustice rages.

The writer's journey is all about building suspense and paying it off. In your book's opening pages, the origins of conflict must be laid down in the form of expectations and hope.

In George Lucas's 1977 classic Star Wars, the film quickly identifies that the galaxy is being terrorized by the Evil Empire. However, it briefly departs this epic conflict and introduces the viewer to Luke Skywalker, a moisture farmer who longs to join the rebellion against the empire.

On his home planet, Tattoine, little is wrong. Farmers have to work hard and bargain with greedy jawas to buy droids that help with the harvest. Luke's greatest complaint is that his uncle won't let him “waste time with his friends.” For a brief time, there is a false sense of security and that Luke's world will remain small.

This false sense of security is shattered when Luke returns home to find his aunt and uncle murdered by agents of the Empire. His core values, Life and Good, has been devastated by the arrival of Death and Evil.

What follows is a Refusal of the Call, in which the hero tries to avoid their fateful high stakes, and the mentor steps in to help the hero rise to the challenge.

None of these moments are possible with that quiet before the storm, the false sense of security at the story's outset.

Learn them in this article! Tweet this

David Safford

You deserve a great book. That's why David Safford writes adventure stories that you won't be able to put down. Read his latest story at his website. David is a Language Arts teacher, novelist, blogger, hiker, Legend of Zelda fanatic, puzzle-doer, husband, and father of two awesome children.

Join over 450,000 readers who are saying YES to practice. You’ll also get a free copy of our eBook 14 Prompts :

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IMAGES

The Odyssey and the Hero's Journey
The Odyssey by Homer and The Hero's Journey/Monomyth Teacher Guide
Odyssey: The Hero's Journey of Odysseus. by Kyle F on Prezi Next
The Odyssey
Follow Odysseus on his Journey with this Epic Teacher Guide!
The Odyssey Hero's Journey Chart

VIDEO

The Hero's Journey
MY HEROES: DUNGEON RAID
Todd Edwards
BTD6 Odyssey || Hard Mode Guide || No Monkey Knowledge + No Hero (Obyns Gardening Tour)
Andreas M. Resch
BTD6

COMMENTS

Epic Explorations: Teaching the ‘Odyssey’ With The New York Times
Examples include the cartoonist Roz Chast’s take on the hero’s journey, Brian Gordon’s modern take on the Sirens, Lapham’s Quarterly Odyssey Game (tagline: “lose years, gain strength, return...
Joseph Campbell & The Hero’s Journey
Stage 1: Separation. I n the first stage of the hero’s journey, we find our protangonist living life in a typically mundane situation. The Star Wars, Luke Skywalker lives as a talented yet lowly and pretty damn whiny moisture farmer on Tatooine.
The Hero's Journey: How to Leverage the Most Powerful Story
From The Odyssey to Star Wars to Toy Story, the Hero's Journey is the foundation of millennia of storytelling. But before any hero can embark on their journey, they must start in the ordinary world. How can you leverage this world and the hero's journey in your own writing?
The Hero's Journey Examples
The hero's journey definition is not the typical linear narrative but rather a cyclical pattern that encompasses the hero's transformation, trials, and ultimate return, reflecting the profound and timeless aspects of human experience.
The Odyssey Heroic Journey
The Odyssey by Homer is the story of Odysseus, the crafty king of Ithaca, whose Trojan Horse idea helped win the war with Troy. Following his victory in Troy, he encounters many trials that delay him from reaching his home, Ithaca, and his queen, Penelope.