christmas carol hero's journey

Nicole Bianchi

Writing, Copywriting, & Marketing Strategies

The Powerful Ingredient in ‘A Christmas Carol’ That Will Make Your Writing and Marketing Compelling

Published December 15, 2020 | Last Updated November 13, 2023 By Nicole Bianchi 15 Comments

Illustration of Scrooge and Marley's Ghost from the first edition of A Christmas Carol

Every Christmas Eve, my whole family gathers around the TV to watch the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol . It’s one of our favorite traditions.

(If you haven’t seen this version, you can watch it on YouTube here — I believe it’s the best film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s classic story.)

No matter how many times I watch it, my heart is always touched by each scene. I feel the happiness of the crowd at Fezziwig’s party. Tears come to my eyes when Bob Cratchit cries over his poor Tiny Tim.

But, most of all, I love Alastair Sim’s wonderful performance as Scrooge — how he convincingly portrays Scrooge’s change from heartless and tightfisted to kind and joyous.

You watch with delight as the once grim man can’t stop laughing and smiling and stunning all with his kindness, even while muttering to himself, “I don’t deserve to be so happy.”

What makes stories like A Christmas Carol so enthralling? Why do we love watching movies like these year after year?

In today’s post, let’s look at one ingredient that makes stories like A Christmas Carol so powerful and emotionally compelling. It’s an ingredient you can use to make any type of writing captivate your readers, whether you’re working on a short story, a blog post, or even a sales page.

Why We Love Stories Like A Christmas Carol

At its heart, A Christmas Carol is a story of transformation.

Scrooge is a bitter miser at the start of the story. Though he is wealthy, he lives in a drafty, sparsely furnished house.

He makes his clerk, Bob Cratchit, work for long hours at little pay and won’t even let him put a little more coal on the fire. He refuses to donate to help the poor, exclaiming that they should either go to the prisons or workhouses or die “to decrease the surplus population.” And you thought your boss was bad. 😉

But Scrooge is given a chance to reverse his life. Three spirits visit him on Christmas Eve and take him on a journey. They show him the past, present, and a possible future if he does not repent of his actions and become a new man.

Over the course of the journey, Scrooge gradually realizes the desperateness of his position and how he has destroyed the lives of others and his own life through his actions.

When the last spirit shows him a gravestone with Scrooge’s name written across it, Scrooge begs the spirit to help him sponge out the name. He says again and again that he’s repented, and he’s not the man he was.

He isn’t lying either. The final scenes of the movie show us just how much Scrooge has changed as he attempts to make up for all of the hurt he has caused.

In fiction writing, what happens to Scrooge is called a character arc . A character begins as one sort of person and transforms into a different sort of person by the end of the story.

Perhaps they are bitter at the start of the story, but, at the end of the story, they learn how to let go of the anger they have caged inside.

In some stories, a character might transform from good to bad. They are innocent and naive at the beginning of the story and gradually become worldly-wise and cruel.

Of course, those stories are usually bleak and depressing, so if you want your readers to feel positive at the end of the story, then you’ll want your character to transform from negative to positive.

How a Character Arc Makes Stories Compelling

Editor Shawn Coyne writes in The Story Grid (Amazon affiliate link),

You’ve probably heard a million times that a character must ‘arc.’ What that means…is that the lead character in a story cannot remain the same person he/she was at the end of the novel/movie as they are at the beginning…What the character arc is crucial for is to achieve a cathartic global story climax. When I say catharsis, I mean an overwhelming emotional reaction from the audience…tears, indescribable joy…the kind of experience that keeps us coming back to the movies, to books, to plays. If you’re a writer and you tell me you have no interest in bringing the audience to catharsis, you’re lying.

Essentially, the transformation of a character has an emotional effect upon the reader. If the story has a positive ending, it fills the reader with hope, encouragement, and a sense of inspiration.

It reassures us that there is the possibility that we too can change our own lives. Life might be dark now, but the clouds will eventually part.

There are stories where characters don’t experience an inner transformation. In many action movies (like James Bond films, for example), the characters remain the same at the beginning and end of the film, except for a few bruises and broken bones.

We watch those movies for the exciting action shots, but they don’t have the same lasting emotional effect on us as they would if the protagonist experienced a deep inner change.

Samwise Gamgee sums this up beautifully in his speech in the film adaptation of The Two Towers ,

It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.

This is why the story of A Christmas Carol resonates with us. When Scrooge journeys with the “Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come”, we see a dark and dreadful world. But this darkness is but a fleeting shadow by the end of the story.

Of course, Dickens’s story of Scrooge was not revolutionary. The theme of transformation is timeless, weaving its way through countless stories down through the ages.

The Christmas story itself is about transformation. God became a child, the baby Jesus in the manger, who would grow up and die to take away the sins of all those who believe in him. Christians believe that in Jesus we can experience the same kind of radical transformation that Scrooge experienced.

How to Include the Theme of Transformation in Your Writing

How can we effectively include the theme of transformation in our own writing?

One of my favorite ways is to follow the outline of the hero’s journey. This is a term coined by American scholar Joseph Campbell to describe one of the most common storylines in literature. A Christmas Carol follows this outline to a T.

Here’s the basic outline:

A hero is called to go on an adventure to solve some kind of problem. (Every good story has some kind of conflict driving the plot forward.)
He may be reluctant to accept the call but eventually realizes that if he doesn’t solve the problem, his life will spiral out of control.
A mentor helps him prepare for the adventure.
After facing a series of challenges, the story reaches its climax. Will the hero overcome the problem or not?
The hero emerges victorious and returns home transformed.

If you’d like a deeper analysis of the hero’s journey, I recommend reading The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler or watching my YouTube video .

Let’s look at how A Christmas Carol follows this outline.

At the beginning of the story, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley is the mentor figure who brings Scrooge the call to adventure: Scrooge will be visited by three spirits who will give him a chance to repent and change his life.

Of course, Scrooge is reluctant. He insists that he’s too old for all of this, but he’s whisked away by each of the spirits nonetheless. Eventually, the climax of the story is reached — will Scrooge turn from his ways? He’s already seen what will happen if he does not.

The hero’s journey can be used for any type of writing.

For example, if you’re writing a blog post, you can use the body of your post to take your readers on a journey. Your hero is your blog reader. You are the mentor. Share the steps you took to overcome a problem that the reader is facing. Show what will happen if they don’t solve the problem, the consequences of not taking action. Then show how they will be transformed once they implement those steps.

Or maybe you’re writing the homepage of your website. Let’s say you’re a graphic designer so you explain on your homepage how businesses need to have a professionally designed logo. You paint a picture of the costs of not having a logo. And then you explain how the logo will transform the business and help them stand out from the competition.

That story of transformation will speak far more powerfully to your potential customers than just a list of the services you offer.

The Takeaway

In The Memoir Project (Amazon affiliate link), Marion Roach observes about our writing, “You have to give readers a reason for this thing to live on in their hearts and minds.”

The theme of transformation allows us to do just that. It elevates our writing to connect on an emotional level with our readers and make a lasting impression on them.

How will you incorporate the theme of transformation in your writing? Is there a movie or book that you love that has the theme of transformation? Let me know in the comments.

And if you are celebrating Christmas (or even if you are not!), I hope you are a having a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas!

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Phil Cobb says

February 4, 2020 at 9:47 pm

Nicole, after seeing a number of filmic versions of “A Christmas Carol” via movies and television, still I was never as emotionally transfixed by the tale as when I read the actual text. Absolutely stunning in its impact.

Christopher Watts says

December 19, 2019 at 7:43 pm

Thank you for bringing this excellent, timeless movie to readers’ attention. It is my favourite version, one that I’ve now seen more times than I can count. Alistair Sim brings so much to the role and captures the essence of Dickens’ message. This season my wife and I have also been listening to the audiobook version on our commutes into town, read by Jim Dale (the voice of all the Harry Potter books) . I’d recommend this to all your readers. Enjoy your posts immensely. Wishing you a terrific Christmas.

Nicole Bianchi says

January 3, 2020 at 1:28 pm

Thank you for your comment, Christopher! It’s nice to meet another fan of the 1951 version of ‘A Christmas Carol’. 🙂 I will have to look up at that audiobook. Thanks for the recommendation.

Anoop Abraham says

December 15, 2019 at 10:16 am

I just want to say I really enjoy reading your blog posts. There’s a flow to your writing that I am yet to find on any of the other blogs that I’ve visited. It also contains some great actionable insights. Thank you and Merry Christmas ! 🙂

December 19, 2019 at 4:04 pm

Thank you so much for your kind words, Anoop! 🙂 I’m so glad to hear you enjoy my posts and find them helpful. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas too.

Kate Findley says

December 23, 2018 at 11:03 pm

I love the specific examples and how you relate it both to fiction writing and blogging. Since I write in personal development, my posts usually follow that arc where I begin with a challenge and end with a resolution. In the novel I’m currently working on, I’m incorporating both the hero’s journey and trying to weave in archetypes as well. It seems like all the “Great American” novels as well as popular series like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings as well have strong archetypal characters.

December 26, 2018 at 1:09 pm

Thank you, Kate! 🙂 Have you read The Writer’s Journey ? I’ve found it really helpful while plotting the novel I’m currently working on. I love how Vogler explains all of the archetypal characters.

Tarcisio Cardieri says

December 23, 2018 at 1:39 pm

Thank you for this engaging article. Really useful. I remembered another movie on the same theme and another favorite in Christmas season. It is “What a Wonderful Life”, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart and Dona Reed. In this film, the protagonist is a good character who doesn’t realize the good he is doing for so many people and, in desperation, try suicide. He is rescued by an angel who shows him what his city would be if he was not alive. Really touching. Another transformation story we can watch in “The Doctor”, starring William Hurt. I think all these movies are very good examples of the story arc. Merry Christmas.

December 23, 2018 at 10:12 pm

Thank you, Tarcisio! Yes, that’s another fantastic Christmas movie about transformation. I think “A Christmas Carol” may have inspired some of those scenes where Jimmy Stewart sees what the town would be like if he had never been born. 🙂 I haven’t seen “The Doctor”! Thanks for the recommendation. I love discovering new movies.

John DiCarlo says

December 23, 2018 at 5:48 am

Excellent post Nicole. Nothing could be more timely as one year fades into another. Sometimes we need to look deep inside our own psyche to discover the spirits that haunted Scrooge. But if we look hard enough they will appear and we will learn. Thank you!

December 23, 2018 at 10:10 pm

Thanks so much, John! Yes, it’s true that we can examine our own lives like Scrooge did and learn from our experiences. Love the way you put it. Hope you have an amazing 2019! 🙂

December 23, 2018 at 4:37 am

Never thought about this that way, but seems to me it is a great way to make a post more tempting and to get the attention of the readers. Thanks for the great article and Merry Christmas and Happy and prosperous New Year!

December 23, 2018 at 10:08 pm

Thanks for reading and commenting, Ned! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it. Merry Christmas to you as well! Hope you have a wonderful 2019.

Rhonda Marie Stalb says

December 22, 2018 at 10:16 pm

I love the story little women by Louisa May Alcott. Jo goes through a transformation. I get teared up every time I watch or read the story. I just watched the 2018 version today. It was awesome!!

December 23, 2018 at 10:07 pm

Yes, that is a wonderful story of transformation. 🙂 I have not seen the 2018 version yet — sounds like I should add it to my list of movies to watch. Coming of age stories usually are fantastic examples of the hero’s journey.

A Christmas Carol

Table of contents, charles dickens.

A Christmas Carol , published in 1834, is the famous tale of a miserly old man named Ebenezer Scrooge. Over the course of the story, he is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, who give him a new perspective on his life. Ultimately, these encounters teach him the importance of generosity, kindness, and the Christmas spirit.

Musings on the Arts, the Mind, and Whatever Else Moves Me by Doc B

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The Psychology of “A Christmas Carol”

on Dec 28, 2020
in Culture , History , Literature , Social Issues , The Mind

A dear friend who is an American Sign Language interpreter recently shared with me a video of a virtual performance of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol that she helped interpret. I hadn’t read or seen a film version of A Christmas Carol in many years, and I’d forgotten what a touching and timeless story it is.

While A Christmas Carol , a novella written in 1843, was a story of its time, meant to promote understanding of and empathy for the industrial-age urban poor in England, its messages remain salient today. And, there are deeper meanings in its story.

Layers of Meaning

In addition to its more obvious meaning as a story about compassion and charity, the story is also a powerful archetypal tale. It speaks to universal human needs for for meaning and community. What’s more, it illustrates the Jungian “hero’s journey”–Ebenezer Scrooge starts as a flawed, cold, and closed-off man who is transformed as he goes on an odyssey through his past, present, and future.

The Ghosts’ Lessons

The first of the three main motifs in the story, represented by the Spirit of the Past, is a Jungian battle between ignorance/repression (represented in the novella by fog, smog, dusk, and darkness) and awareness (represented by light from fires, candles, street lamps, and the ghost’s flaming crown). Scrooge must go through the pain of seeing his evolution from an innocent youth to a selfish and miserly adult. He begins to realize what he has lost in this process.

The Spirit of the Present brings the story’s second motif–want (represented in the novel by cold, ice, frost, and sleet) versus charity (represented by warmth, being well fed, and fine alcohol). The second spirit allows Scrooge to witness people coming together and bonding. Seeing this brings into the light his own loneliness and aloofness. As his journey continues, Scrooge must start facing his sins and their impact on others to become self-aware. The ghost also shows Scrooge two emaciated children called Ignorance and Want and warns him to avoid Ignorance at all costs.

The second spirit’s lessons help Scrooge bring his dark side further to the surface and begin to integrate his dark and light parts into a cohesive self. It is only after knowing himself that Scrooge would be able to more fully connect with others. The spirit also shows Scrooge Tiny Tim, a cheerful but ill child; this awakens some compassion in the miser. Tiny Tim represents youthful optimism and joy, love, and the promise of what life could be. Scrooge is saddened when the ghost tells him Tim will die.

When the third ghost, the Spirit of the Future, arrives, he is frightening and silent. He forces Scrooge to confront his mortality and the meaninglessness of his life–others don’t care that he dies, steal and sell his possessions, and have few kind words to say about him. The spirit also shows Scrooge that Tiny Tim has died, and people do mourn the loss of this pure little soul.

Scrooge learns that that for his life to have purpose, he must use the lessons learned through his odyssey: He must see all facets of himself and take responsibility for what he’s done to others, he must cultivate emotion and compassion for others, and he must use his wealth to help people. Scrooge has completed the hero’s journey and emerged as a new man.

Salient Lessons for Today

On the surface, we see the lessons Dickens intended for the capitalist upper classes of his time: Scrooge begins to run his business with mercy toward his debtors, give money to the needy, and treat his employees well. These are certainly messages that apply to our current world as well.

The deeper, and also timeless, lesson of Dickens’ tale is for us to live our lives seeking to really know and accept ourselves so that we can fully participate and contribute to the world around us. It is only by rejecting ignorance and denial that we can become integrated humans capable of empathy and connection.

My Wish for You

We’ve gone through a terrible journey of our own in 2020. My wish for anyone reading this post is for a peaceful holiday season and that 2021 brings good things for you, and for all of us. I also wish for you to be able to see and accept yourself as you are while striving to cultivate your higher self. Count your blessings, and share them.

A Christmas Carol (1978)

IMPORTANT: This is a very rough and general deconstruction that is meant to simply illustrate that this story follows the pattern described on the main page .

DO NOT attempt to write a story by following this deconstruction � it contains inaccuracies, critical stages have been omitted and it does not benefit from the latest insights; if you need an accurate deconstruction of this story, place an order at ../CustomServices.html#deconstructions

For other basic deconstructions, you may also want to do a search on our youtube channel .

You would be wise to gain a deep understanding of effective story structure by purchasing the complete 510+ stage Hero's Journey from ../ClassicHero.html and learning from our video lessons and tuition services at ../CustomServices.html

Good bye to the Old World: Marley dies.

Ordinary World: Period England.

Professional World: Scrooge's offices.

Devolved State: it's cold in here.

Catchphrase: Baaaa….humbug.

Devolved State: what's the value of Christmas?

Foreshadow of the Elixir: come to dinner.

Refusing the Journey: no I'm not coming; why did you get married?

Devolved State: Scrooge refuses to give to charity.

Devolved State: Scrooge admonishes the boy singing.

Time Pressure: the bell rings.

Goto the main web page

Buy the Complete 510+ stage Hero's Journey / Monomyth

Devolved State: I suppose you want the whole day off tomorrow.

Foreshadow of the Supernatural Aid: Scrooge sees the ghost.

The strange sounds.

Foreshadow of the Supernatural Aid: Scrooge sees the ghost again.

Catchphrase: humbug.

Supernatural Aid Physical Marker: the ghost comes up to the door.

Supernatural Aid: Marley's ghost arrives; mankind was my business; you will be visited by three spirits (i.e. you will be going on a journey).

The Ghost of Christmas Past arrives.

First Threshold Outer Cave: The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge to where he grew up.

Transformation: there was a boy singing at my door; I wish I'd given him something.

First Threshold Middle Cave: Scrooge's sister arrives.

Inner Cave: Scrooge's boss gives his staff a Christmas.

Transformation: I wish I could have had a word, that's all.

Belly of the Whale: Scrooge is released by his love; his love finds another; Scrooge is alone.

Road of Trials 1: The Ghost of Christmas Present arrives.

(a) Cratchet's Christmas table is being laid; Cratchet's Christmas.

(b) Transformation: Scrooge asks if Tiny Tim will live.

(d) Scrooge's nephew and friends make fun of him.

Warning: Scrooge is told of the children of man.

Night Sea Journey: The Ghost of the Future arrives.

Rebirth through Near Death Experience:

(a) People talk of Scrooge's death.

(b) People steal his things.

(d) Cratchet cries at Scrooge's demise; Tiny Tim is dead.

Transformation: Scrooge sees his own grave; are these the shadows of things that will be or maybe.

Atonement with the Father: Scrooge is returned home; it all really happened.

Apotheosis: Scrooge is stingy no more; goes to his nephew's dinner.

Ultimate Boon: Scrooge raises Cratchet's salary; make up that fire; we'll talk about what we can do about Tiny Tim.

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GCSE The Hero Journey in Literature (A Christmas Carol) can be edited

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

30 October 2022

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A useful introduction to literary theory and structure. I have used this lesson after teaching structure Q3 and structure in the novella. Ideal for a high ability set. Main activity - labelling the steps of Scrooge’s journey. Credit to David Jolly on Wordpress for his magnificant image/model.

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ELA A Christmas Carol Track the Hero's Journey Notes and Movie/Book Organizers

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This product is an engaging way to introduce the Hero's Journey to students by tasking them with tracking Scrooge's Hero's Journey in A Christmas Carol.

Before watching the film or reading the text, students can complete the Notes Organizer, which accompanies my free Editable Hero's Journey PPT , to get a general understanding of each stage. As students watch the film/read the text, they will complete the Hero's Journey Stages Movie Organizer. Each stage has a titled section containing guiding questions as to how each stage might pertain to the protagonist. At the end of the film/text, students will determine if the protagonist is a true hero and defend their position with evidence.

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Hero's Journey Stages Movie Organizer

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The Hero’s Journey, Part One

I netflixed The Power of Myth last week and watched it over a couple of nights. Have you ever seen it? It’s the PBS series that Bill Moyers did in 1988, interviewing Joseph Campbell. The program was great then and it’s great now.

You meet all kinds of people on the hero's journey

What I realized, re-watching Joseph Campbell (tragically he died a couple of years after the series aired) was what a powerful influence his books and thought have had on me. The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Follow Your Bliss, The Power of Myth . I decided I would dedicate the next few Writing Wednesdays to exploring those subjects. I don’t know exactly what I think about them, but writing is a very efficient way to find out.

What exactly is “the hero’s journey?” What is it in myth? What is it in our psyches? Is it the software we live by? We know George Lucas built Star Wars (and Luke Skywalker’s inner journey) around the concepts in Joseph Campbell’s Hero With A Thousand Faces. But how does that stuff impact you and me? As artists, do we have hero’s journeys? What are they? What do they mean? Is the hero’s journey the same for women as for men?

What is the hero’s journey in story terms? Novelists and screenwriters use bits and pieces all the time, often unconsciously. The hero’s journey in one form or another is the template for almost every screen story from Conan the Barbarian to The Hangover . Concepts like the inciting incident and the All Is Lost moment come straight from Joseph Campbell’s studies of myth and legend. Is the hero’s journey still alive today? Can you have one in a cubicle or on Facebook?

I have my own theory about the hero’s journey as it relates to an artist’s evolution. I’m not sure exactly what that theory is, but I’ll try to hammer it out a bit over the next few weeks.

What I do think is critically important about thinking in mythic and metaphorical terms is it keeps you from going crazy. When we look at our lives, particularly when we’re young and trying to figure out who we are and what our purpose is in this lifetime (if indeed we even have a purpose), it’s easy to see the landscape of our days as constituted of chaos and disorder and ruled (if they’re ruled at all) by randomness and happenstance, animal appetites, fear, risk aversion, habit, even plain old evil.

When we think in terms like that, the world becomes a form of hell and we experience ours lives as careening in circles, heading nowhere except down the tubes.

A concept like the hero’s journey changes all that. If you’ve ever had a terrible dream—one you woke up from in a sweat, shaken to the core—and then analyzed that dream later, you may have come to see it as a breakthrough, as overwhelmingly positive. The dream may have been a warning. It might have opened your eyes or kicked you in the ass. In the end, terrible wasn’t terrible after all. You were better off having had that terrible dream.

In the hero’s journey in myth, the hero suffers terribly. He’s lost, he’s drowning, he’s thrashing around in darkness and terror. But here’s the point. The suffering isn’t random. It’s isn’t chaos, and it isn’t without meaning. In fact it’s loaded with meaning.

What makes our suffering seem random and hellish is that we perceive it without context. The idea of the hero’s journey supplies that context. If we believe it, it puts our trials into a framework that stretches back across thousands of generations. Our ordeal is nothing new. We’re not unique; we’re not the first trolley to ever trundle down this track. Others have traveled the same path and, fortunately for us, left clues along the trackside. Guys like Joseph Campbell have helped decode those clues. Thank you, Joe!

I’ve had my own hero’s journey, and you have too. We’re both still on those journeys. Concepts like “the call” or “the wise crone” or “the chance encounter” don’t apply only to Luke or Yoda or Obi Wan Kenobi. They’re hard-wired into our psyches, I believe, like the “take me home” feature on your Mini Cooper’s navigation screen.

More to come in the next few weeks.

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27 Comments

Hi Steve & all,

This train of thought following narrative structures and devices which seem to be born out of everyday human life reminds me of a book by Christopher Booker called ‘The Seven Basic Plots: Why we tell stories”. (It’s a UK book, so it might not be available in the U.S.)

It’s a pretty mammoth piece of work, because within it Booker analyses a myriad of stories from across the world and categorizes them down to ‘Seven Basic Plots’:

-Overcoming the Monster (say, Perseus, Beowulf and James Bond)

-Rags to Riches (Aladdin, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air)

-The Quest (The Odyssey, Raiders of the Lost Ark)

-Voyage and Return (Orpheus, Brideshead Revisited)

-Comedy (Lysistra, Guys & Dolls)

-Tragedy (Agamemnon, Scarface)

-Rebirth (A Christmas Carol, The Last Samurai)

These plots may overlap, some stories might contain several, hell, some might even contain all seven plots! (‘The Lord of the Rings’ being Booker’s example of an all-encompassing plot).

Having explained each plot he goes onto analyse different ways that the plots have broken down, mostly during the twentieth century, into shadows of their former selves.

Booker also tries to get at their relevance, at the reasons why all stories from ancient folk tales to Hollywood blockbusters seem to be following these plots without fail. His answer to this riddle is that all the plots represent important human experiences and contain lessons which were just as relevant to our earliest ancestors as they are to us today. In short, all stories are outgrowths of some problem or challenge which is deeply buried in the human psyche, and serve as a means not only to pass on messages of hope, but also techniques for victory.

Anyone who thinks this sounds a little crazy might want to flick through ‘The War of Art’; there is as prime an example of the ‘Overcoming the Monster’ plot as you are likely to come across! Unfortunately, it’s very much only a script; we have to act it out if that story is to be told properly!

Thanks Steve and Mike–looks like I have some reading to do.

Steve, great find on that book.

Thanks so much for sharing this, Steven.

“The Hero with A Thousand Faces” and “The Power of Myth” are revelations. They are road maps not only into and through our psyche, but through life.

It is amazing how Carl Jung’s life work corresponds so directly to Joseph Campbell’s hero quest.

This should be taught in every school.

So glad that you are teaching it!

campbell should be required reading.

I guess it’s only the tip of a really large iceberg, but we watched recently and were completely blown away. For anyone who hasn’t yet seen this gem, it’s well worth a watch.

What I absolutely love about the online space is how easily we’re led to new and wondrous things that we might well have otherwise missed. I’m off to find on my Kindle! 😉

Joseph Campbell says that people are not seeking the meaning of life but rather the experience of being alive. To just ‘go along’ in a life that does not do justice to the awe we feel in those moments of being blown away by the incredulity of life itself, to become who we sense we are meant to become, is a subtle, desperate and all too shared grief; Thoreau’s ‘mass of men’. Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” is a gospel for a life that breathes’, that makes sense of failure and courage and heart. More importantly he shows us that it is a recurring thread through the ages, a story of life, regardless of station, ethnicity or era. It is a theology that both binds mankind and frees him.

The old myths are worth studying deeply. They give great insight into the human psyche.

For me as a writer, the “Hero’s Journey” is simply the most satisfying way to take the reader through the protagonist’s way through the plot. Having a good story to tell is a gift, and the Hero’s Journey is a way to live out that gift on the page. It’s not the answer for everything, of course, but if the best writing advice is to write the thing that you would want to read, then that’s good enough for me.

Thanks so much for sharing this Steve. As an aspiring golfer, and writer, these glimpses into the psyche of a hero have helped me establish a basis for my own journey. A constant struggle resides deep from within as my heart desires to follow my dreams to the PGA tour, and my soul eloquently captures this as I write in my journal.

Again I just want to thank you as your writing has not only been a great inspiration to my own writing, but to finding who it was on the golf course as well. For years my game had become filled with a forceful vengeance, years of expectations had widdled down the poetic swing I once had. My renaissance has begun, and with your help I’ve begun to put one foot in front of the other. I’m becomming the the person I have envisioned staring back from the other side of the mirror. Thank you!

What makes our suffering seem random and hellish is that we perceive it without context.

This is so true. My favorite part of the piece.

I’m so glad you are doing this, Steve, as I too am an ardent believer that this is every person’s path if we choose to think of our lives in this way. I have not seen the Bill Moyer’s series, but I have read The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Great post and great comments! I especially like Mike’s summary of Booker’s seven basic plots; thanks for putting that up.

Every now and then I re-read Don Quixote and wonder at how relevant this farcical tragicomedy is to my own life. Myth is powerful because it is the hook upon which we hang our coat and hat at the end of each day, trying to make sense of what transpired.

Great post…I just watched Power of Myth too…Joseph Campbell was amazing…I plan to read his books next…

This campfire of yours, Steven, never ceases to amaze me, excite me, inspire and delight me. Joe Campbell is one of my most beloved heroes…and looking at his work through your writing is better than sea salt caramel chocolates! 😉

BTW–A recent arthouse documentary, “Finding Joe”, did a beautiful job of distilling the work of Joseph Campbell down into the modern day Hero’s Journey we each take whenever we step off the beaten path. Highly recommend it.

Thanks for this blog post. Another Joseph Campbell quote is “We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” We all need to listen that inner voice that says “Go that way.”

I love this! Nice replies!

I love Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, and I have used their work and yours, Steven, (The War of Art) in a playshop I developed for creatives and not-so-creative people, to help them move through resistance; I’m still refining the playshop, since it comes from a graduate school final class project and my interest in creativity, bringing the shadow to light, and resistance. (Master of Education in Adult Learning) The hero’s journey as I understand it is, is one who is an innovator, or a maverick, creating or bringing to the world, or consciousness, a new way of looking at something, be it art, music, writing, or a mirror to one’s own self.

I have always loved The Power of Myth and I am thrilled you are doing this, Steven!

Great article and comments. As it seems the subject touches everyone’s soul. We need to have a meaning in our lives and the metaphor of the road and the journey is established deep within us.

“We’re both still on those journeys” – good thing too! I have (I hope) an open ticket with unlimited layovers and mileage! Best wishes for a continuing good journey…Roger

I just came from a conference that talked about this idea in a similar way. If we think that our suffering (and all events) are random, then we don’t take ownership for what we’re going through and we don’t create a good story with it. We just go through it get pushed around by it all. We simply react instead of being proactive.

I think this has to be why the world of sports, which we will once again glorify in London this year, takes such a prominent place on the world’s stage. A sporting event, like good fiction, offers the chance to personally or vicariously live the hero’s journey. Really, why else would we care one whit about who scores the most points?

The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler and Hero With a Thousand Faces were two of the first books I read on writing. Myths break all barriers of time and place and connect us with storytellers from all different eras and cultures.

I recently watched A Dangerous Method and have become intrigued by Carl Jung’s research on archetypes and the collective unconscious. I am eager to study the connections between the work of these two great men, Campbell and Jung. (I’m assuming Jung’s research on archetypes had an influence on Campbell.) I am especially intrigued by the collective unconscious, since it helps explain how a story can have such universal appeal, and ties in perfectly with Campbell’s concept of the Monomyth.

Interesting how our myths are just representations of, what I believe Joseph Campbell referred to as, the ‘authentic life.’ He also said the greatest cure for unauthentic living is the one living authentically. Maybe that is why we uphold our myths. We aspire to live our passions, ‘follow our bliss.’ And though we ridicule the person doing so along the way, we uphold them on our shoulders when they’ve passed through the refiner’s fire. Looking forward to future posts on this one! Thanks, Steve!

“The suffering isn’t random. It’s isn’t chaos, and it isn’t without meaning. In fact it’s loaded with meaning.”

Yes – it makes all the difference when you see it that way. (Even if it doesn’t necessarily get much easier in the short term!)

Campbell made a big impression on me years ago, enjoying your take on it and looking forward to more…

Hi Steve, I am just now also watching Power of Myth and listening to JC in my car in order to inspire my paintings. It’s a good way of coming home as we age I think. Nancy

The Power of Myth series is excellent. I discovered it during the summer of 1988 when it aired for the first time and it was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for at that stage on my life as a 20 yo. It introduced me to ideas that informed the next decade of my life. And it led to the discovery of thinkers such as Mircea Eliade, Stanislav Grof, Michael Harner and his work on shamanism, John Weir Perry and his book “Lord of the Four Quarters” and others.

The work that I think is most relevant to your project here on this blog is Campbell’s “Creative Mythology.” It’s the fourth volume in the “Masks of God” series (Primitive Mythology, Oriental Mythology, Occidental Mythology):

“…in the fields of literature, secular philosophy, and the arts, a totally new type of non-theological revelation, of great scope, great depth, and infinite variety, has become the actual spiritual guide and structuring force of civilization

“In the context of a traditional mythology, the symbols are presented in socially maintained rites, through which the individual is required to experience, or will pretend to have experienced, certain insights, sentiments, and commitments. In what I am calling “creative” mythology, on the other hand, this order is reversed: the individual has had an experience of his own–of order, horror, beauty, or even mere exhilaration–which he seeks to communicate through signs; and if his realization has been of a certain depth and import, his communication will have the value and force of living myth–for those, that is to say, who receive and respond to it themselves, with recognition, uncoerced.”

The great revolution that has taken place over the past few centuries has been the liberation of the individual to venture deep within and encounter there previously unknown constellations of meaning. And instead of subordinating oneself to inherited, external systems of meaning, one has the opportunity to discover/create them from within.

I just came to your site through twitter (I just love the way Twitter leads me to great sites.) Steven I’d love to interview you on my TV show at http://TalkStoryTV.com .