the hero's journey hunger games

Hero's Journey

Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or her swag? Yeah, scholar Joseph Campbell noticed first—in 1949. He wrote The Hero with a Thousand Faces , in which he outlined the 17 stages of a mythological hero's journey.

About half a century later, Christopher Vogler condensed those stages down to 12 in an attempt to show Hollywood how every story ever written should—and, uh, does —follow Campbell's pattern. We're working with those 12 stages, so take a look. (P.S. Want more? We have an entire Online Course devoted to the hero's journey.)

Ordinary World

We see the ordinary world before the Hunger Games begin, and frankly, it stinks. There's fences and wires up everywhere, the TV's all "mandatory viewing this" and "you must comply" that, and Katniss frankly has no use for it at all. She periodically sneaks out of the fence to go hunting in the woods; it's the only time she feels at peace or contented. Both she and Panem are pretty complacent when we find them. Time to do a little shaking up.

Call To Adventure

It's not hard to see the call coming. Effie Trinket and the selection ceremony for the Hunger Games start Katniss off on her perilous adventure. In true Campbellian fashion, she's not doing it for herself but to protect the people she's leaving behind. In this case, it's her sister Prim, who's been selected as Tribute and who Katniss will do anything to keep safe.

It's also interesting to note that in many ways, this call to adventure is just business as usual: there've been 73 of these things before now, after all, and everyone's more or less become used to them. The only difference is that Katniss volunteers, something that hasn't happened in District 12 before. It's a signal that this time, things aren't going to go entirely as planned.

Refusal of The Call

We can't say too much here because of spoilers for future Hunger Games adaptations, but as far as this story is concerned, ain't no refusal going on. Katniss steps up when the call is given and terrifying as the Games may be, she's not going back.

Meeting The Mentor

Modern girls don't have to settle for just one mentor. In the future, they get a whole team. The big kahuna is Haymitch, who may be drunk as a skunk, but certainly understands the politics involved, as well as the things Katniss needs to do to succeed in the Games. She gets a back-up mentor in Cinna, and even Effie and her team help out when they need to. Team Katniss is armed and fabulous. Believe it or not, they may give her everything she needs to survive.

Crossing the Threshold

You might think that crossing the threshold starts when Katniss enters the arena. But it actually takes place much earlier than that—as soon as Katniss is pulled off of the stage and starts her journey to the Capitol. It has all of the hallmarks of a classic fairy tale: a speedy means of moving (the train), magic food and goodies on the way, and even a surly drunk for entertainment.

Tests, Allies, Enemies

The tests take place before the Hunger Games start. In the Capitol as Katniss has to earn attention, gain sponsors and keep from being blinded by the dazzling teeth of Caesar Flickerman. Her guides and mentors offering sound advice, and she gets a boost from allies like Peeta and her new buddy Rue. We recognize the Careers as enemies before things even get going in the arena.

Approach to The Inmost Cave

The innermost cave is most definitely the Games themselves: an enclosed arena from which there's no escape.

Mutant wasps, evil Careers, poisonous berries, fire—you name it, and the arena has it, ready to push Katniss to the limit before she finally earns victory.

Reward (Seizing The Sword)

The reward comes when Cato is finally eaten alive, leaving Katniss and Peeta alone in the arena. They're both saved by the virtue of an eleventh-hour rules change letting them claim victory together instead of butchering each other for the pleasure of a live audience. Except….

The Road Back

The Capitol changes the rules again after they've won, forcing them to choose who gets to live. That's dirty pool, and it marks just one of a number of very bad tactical decisions on the Capitol's part.

Resurrection

Katniss and Peeta still have one trick up their sleeve. They can both eat the poison berries, denying the Capitol the sight of them killing each other; it could them into martyrs to a potential revolution. They mean it, and the Capitol backs down in the face of their self-sacrifice/blackmail.

Return With The Elixir

Peeta and Katniss survive, and now get to enjoy their reward: a life of privilege and luxury for as long as they refrain from drinking themselves to death. But in truth, the elixir is a lot more than that. By defying the Capitol and earning status as a beloved celebrity in the process, Katniss now becomes an example to stir the people's hearts. Do we sense a revolution brewing? The elixir might be that thing that Snow fears is dangerous in large doses: hope.

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W hy's T his F unny?

In The Hunger Games , Katniss Everdeen embarks on a hero’s journey armed only with her bow, her arrows, and her wits: She must survive a televised death match against 23 other young people if she’s to return home and continue hunting to provide food for her family. But in the real world, the character Katniss Everdeen faces an even greater challenge: Proving that pop culture will embrace a heroine capable of holding her own with the big boys.

It’s a battle fought on two fronts. First, The Hunger Games must bring in the kind of box office numbers that prove to Hollywood that a film led by a young female heroine who’s not cast as a sex symbol can attract audiences. And second, for Katniss to truly triumph, she must embody the type of female heroine — smart, tough, compassionate — that has been sorely lacking in the popular culture landscape for so very long.

At bookstores she’s already proved her mettle — Suzanne Collins’ book series already has some 24 million copies in print in the U.S., according to publisher Scholastic — but at multiplexes her fate has yet to be determined. However, early projections show that The Hunger Games could bring in between $70 million and $100 million on its opening weekend.

“There’s a glass ceiling cinematically…. They’ll say women don’t want to see action or men don’t want to see women. And I’m like, ‘Men don’t want to see women? Ninety percent of us really do!'” Hitting a bull’s-eye at the box office would be momentous because it would prove that a major motion picture starring a female hero (in this case played by Jennifer Lawrence, who Rolling Stone ’s Peter Travers noted “gives us a female warrior worth cheering “) can bring in as much money as any Thor ( $65.7 million opening weekend ) or Iron Man ( $98 million ). Such a strong opening could turn heads and change minds in Hollywood, where female superheroes rarely get considered.

“There’s a glass ceiling cinematically,” The Avengers director Joss Whedon , a man known for his strong female characters, said in an interview with Wired last week at South by Southwest. “There is not a major studio that is out there that is trying to make a movie about a female superhero. They’ll say, ‘This is guy stuff.’ They’ll say women don’t want to see action or men don’t want to see women. And I’m like, ‘Men don’t want to see women? Ninety percent of us really do!'”

Granted, Katniss Everdeen isn’t a traditional superhero — she possesses no special power and didn’t come from a comic book — but her success could pave the way for those that are. Provided the film remains as true to the book as early clips and filmmaker comments have suggested, the movie could prove revolutionary for portraying a true female hero who is emotionally and physically strong, and isn’t romantically involved with a male hero counterpart. (Katniss also doesn’t fall into the troubling pattern of women in action movies who sacrifice themselves, like Trinity’s death in the Matrix trilogy, or Wolverine killing Jean Gray in X-Men: The Last Stand .)

Charlie Wood

Juliane Bergmann

Kathy Gilsinan

Julian Chokkattu

( Spoiler alert: Minor details and plot points follow.)

For those who haven’t read Collins’ young-adult novels, here’s the gist of Katniss Everdeen’s hero CV: Her father died when she was very young and her mother was a bit of hot mess thereafter, leaving Katniss to provide for her family. To do so (and to avoid selling her body for food) she began hunting — a survival skill that makes her an excellent markswoman. In the future dystopia in which she lives, what was North America is now called Panem and has been divided into 12 Districts controlled by a ruthless Capitol located near present-day Denver. Each year, as retaliation for a previous attempt at rebellion by the poor, the Capitol randomly selects a boy and a girl from each District to compete in the Hunger Games and fight to the death in a gruesome reality television show that the oppressed are forced to watch live.

Katniss is the chosen girl — they’re called Tributes — from District 12. Her struggle to come to grips with the option of using her archery skills to survive the Games and continue feeding her family or kill other poor children she has no beef with is the emotional thrust of the tale. (In a prescient moment that probably got her the part, Lawrence told the movie’s director, Gary Ross, during her audition, “Please remember that after Katniss shoots a bow and kills someone, her face cannot be badass.” She added in an interview with Vanity Fair , “She’s a hunter but not a killer.”) Her actions in the Games — that hand gesture you’ve seen her make in the trailer means a lot more than “Holla atcha girl!” in Panem — turn her into something of an accidental revolutionary. Suddenly, the Girl On Fire (she’s from the District that mines coal) sparks something bigger than herself.

Her brain is as sharp as the arrows in her quiver and her heroism isn’t necessarily something that’s played up as sexy. Throughout the book series, Katniss exemplifies what sociologist Kathryn Gilpatric calls a “true action heroine” — a rare sort of character in Gilpatric’s studies. In essence, she’s not a heroine because she fights next to a male hero — in fact she feels compelled to protect the boy Tribute from her District, Peeta (played by Josh Hutcherson in the film). Her brain is as sharp as the arrows in her quiver — she outsmarts the Gamemakers more than once — and her heroism isn’t necessarily something that’s played up as sexy. (Lawrence is a beautiful girl, but she’s a good Katniss because she’s an incredibly multifaceted actress, not because she looks good holding a weapon in spandex.)

“I think Katniss really breaks down gender stereotypes,” Gilpatric said in an e-mail to Wired. “[At one point in the book] she stares in the mirror and tries to remember who she is and [says] the presence of Peeta’s arm around her shoulders ‘feels alien.’ It’s a great line that really captures her strong sense of self and undermines stereotypes of female dependency.”

At first glance, The Hunger Games may seem like young-adult fluff, what with the female lead, the two male leads and packs of screaming teen fans, but at least at this turn those teen fans are screaming for something that might actually turn out to be empowering (love you, Bella Swan , but you’re kind of milquetoast). In a study published in 2010 in the journal Sex Roles , Gilpatric examined the way female action heroines were treated in films with an eye on determining how those representations can inform gender stereotypes in popular culture. Looking at 157 different heroines in films released from 1991 to 2005 (though Sigourney Weaver’s Lt. Ripley in 1979’s Alien is cited as an archetype for a positive heroine) and found that only 15.3 percent were depicted as the main heroine and a depressing 58.6 percent were presented as being submissive to the male hero. She also found that 30 percent of them died by the end of the film, 47 percent were evil characters, who died for their crimes, and many died disturbing, heart-wrenching deaths. No wonder girl geeks feel they have so few ladies to look up to, most of them are dead.

“The violent female action character is a recent addition to contemporary American cinema and has the potential to redefine female heroines, for better or worse.” “The [violent female action character] is a recent addition to contemporary American cinema and has the potential to redefine female heroines , for better or worse,” Gilpatric wrote in her study. “This research provides evidence that the majority of female action characters shown in American cinema are not empowering images, they do not draw on their femininity as a sources of power, and they are not a kind of ‘post woman’ operating outside the boundaries of gender restrictions.”

Katniss Everdeen arguably does, and it’s not a total coincidence: Since Collins set her books in the future, it doesn’t seem so out of place that a 16-year-old girl would think she could do everything a young man her age could — presumably gender equality has advanced in the intervening years (think of Starbuck’s swagger in the modern Battlestar Galactica ). Also, Collins came up with The Hunger Games after a night spent flipping channels between reality television and footage of the Iraq war. And when her agent once suggested she not kill off a beloved, innocent young character, she replied flatly, “ This is not a fairy tale; it’s a war , and in war, there are tragic losses that must be mourned.”

That level of brutality in Collins’ books gives them a gravity that could make them inspirational on other fronts. Katniss’ actions in the Hunger Games arena that inspire a revolution in the book and movie could easily been seen as a future, fictional version of the leadership of Asmaa Mahfouz, an April 6 Youth Movement founder who posted a video online calling young women to flood the streets of Cairo to protest Hosni Mubarak’s rule in Egypt last year. Her call worked: Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians, men and women, joined the movement and Mubarak stepped down in early February 2011, just weeks after Mahfouz posted her video.

“Occupy should adopt the Mockingjay symbol.” While Katniss Everdeen is a fictional character, not a real-life revolutionary like Mahfouz, it’s not inconceivable that young people could read her tale and be inspired to sociopolitical involvement (or at least not feel intimidated to investigate a cause they believe in). Even the film’s stars acknowledge the political potency of the Hunger Games film — Hutcherson noted in a recent interview there were parallels between the story and the real-world “disconnect between the people who run the country and the people who live in the country” — and an astute commenter on this very blog even recently noted “Occupy should adopt the Mockingjay symbol.” ( The Mockingjay is the result of cross-breeding between mockingbirds and genetically engineered jabberjays, which were created by the Capitol to spy on rebels, who simply fed the flying moles lies. The existence of the birds is an in-joke in the Districts, a failure of the Capitol that’s easy to, well, mock. The symbol becomes a logo of revolution after Katniss wears a Mockingjay pin in the arena during the Games.)

Having the main character from a young adult novel be the new face of the Occupy movement or the Arab Spring may be a stretch — she’s no Guy Fawkes , after all — but young women reading a series of books and opting to care about something can’t be a bad thing. Also, the self-empowerment inherent in young women identifying as Team Katniss instead of, say, Team Edward or Team Jacob is extremely refreshing.

Katniss’ possible ripple effect on the movie industry and the wider culture will depend, at least in part, on how well the film does when it is released in theaters this weekend. As Drew Goddard, director of upcoming horror-comedy The Cabin in the Woods (and a former Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer) told Wired, Hollywood execs look at what did or didn’t work in the last year, and their business-driven observations quickly become conventional wisdom. If a female-led movie like Hunger Games underperforms, the weak box office will be used as an excuse not to make similar films. But he’s hopeful heroines will re-emerge.

“These things are cyclical, they will come back,” Goddard said. “But it’s unfortunate that we have to battle against that.”

Perhaps in the future, the cycle will stop and audiences can expect an annual superheroine summer blockbuster as much as they expect any other popcorn flick. In documentary Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines , director Kristy Guevara-Flanigan traced the impact Wonder Woman had on whole generations of women, from the 1960s to the Riot Grrrls of the 1990s. The impact of the Amazonian superhero’s existence proved incredibly far-reaching — and that’s just one comic book character.

“Girls actually need superheroes much more than boys, when you come right down to it.” “I think when you’re little, and looking at people’s knees, you’re so powerless and so unequal that it’s really helpful to be able to think yourself into someone who is powerful,” activist Gloria Steinem says in the documentary. “Girls actually need superheroes much more than boys, when you come right down to it … and what’s revolutionary, of course, is to have a female protector, not a male protector.”

Steinem was speaking of the importance of Wonder Woman, but she could just as easily have been speaking of Katniss Everdeen. And, as the culminating montage of Wonder Women! shows, Katniss is just one of a few powerful young female characters who have surfaced in recent years (hacktivist Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Hit Girl also get nods). But Guevara-Flanigan’s money is on Katniss.

“I’m thinking The Hunger Games , probably,” she told Wired when asked what the next great heroine story would be.

The answer to whether Katniss Everdeen becomes the heroine pop culture needs and deserves isn’t very far off — midnight screenings of the film begin Thursday night — but for the sake of girl geeks everywhere, let’s hope the odds remain ever in her favor.

Eric Ravenscraft

Jason Parham

Jennifer M. Wood

The Hero’s Journey: A Classic Story Structure

Writing a compelling story, especially if you’re new at this, can be grueling.  

Conflicting advice online can overwhelm you, making you want to quit before you’ve written a word.

But you know more than you think.

Stories saturate our lives. We talk, think, and communicate with story in music, on television, in video games, in books, and in movies.

Every story, regardless of genre or plot , features a main character who begins some adventure or quest, overcomes obstacles, and is transformed.

This is generically referred to as The Hero’s Journey, a broad story template popularized by Joseph Campbell in his The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).

In essence, every story ever told includes at least some of the seventeen stages he outlined .

In 1985, screenwriter Christopher Vogler wrote a memo for Disney titled The Practical Guide to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces that condensed the seventeen steps to twelve.

The Hero’s Journey template has influenced storytellers worldwide, most notably George Lucas (creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones ).

Vogler says of Campbell’s writings: “The ideas are older than the pyramids, older than Stonehenge, older than the earliest cave painting.”

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a prime example of The Hero’s Journey, so I use “she” inclusively to represent both genders.

• The 3 Hero’s Journey Stages

1. The Departure (Separation)

The hero is compelled to leave her ordinary world.

She may have misgivings about this compulsion, and this is where a mentor may come to encourage and guide her.

Example: Katniss Everdeen is a devoted sister, daughter, and friend. She’s an avid hunter, well acquainted with the forbidden forest outside District 12, where she and her friend Gale hunt to keep their families from starving. The Hunger Games, wherein only one winner survives,  loom, and she fears she or one of her friends will be chosen. 

2. Initiation

The hero crosses into the other world, where she faces obstacles.

Sometimes she’s alone, sometimes she’s joined by a companion. Maybe a few.

Here she must use the tools she’s been given in her ordinary life to overcome each obstacle. She’ll be rewarded, sometimes tangibly.

Eventually she must return to the ordinary world with her reward.

Example: District 12’s Representative and Stylist Effie Trinket arrives to choose the Tributes who will compete in The Hunger Games. 

Katniss and her family attend, and she breathlessly wills Effie not to draw her name. She gets her wish, but to her horror, her little sister Primrose is chosen. 

Peacekeepers shove Prim toward the stage before Katniss volunteers to take her place. She’s joined by the male tribute, the baker’s son Peeta. They are soon whisked away for training and then the competition. 

The hero crosses the threshold back into her ordinary world, which looks different now. She brings with her the rewards and uses them for good.

Example: Unexpectedly, Katniss and Peeta are told there can be two victors instead of one. But Katniss and Peeta, to the dismay of the Capitol, decide they’ll die together or emerge as victors together. They emerge not only as victors, but also as celebrities. They have changed in unimaginable ways. 

• The 12 Hero’s Journey Steps (and How to Use Them)

1 — Ordinary  World

Before your hero is transported to another world, we want to see her in her ordinary world—who is she when no one is watching? What drives her?

This sets the stage for the rest of your story , so show her human side. Make her real and knowable.

But don’t wait long to plunge her into terrible trouble. Once you give your readers a reason to care, give them more to keep them turning the pages.

Example: Katniss Everdeen is introduced as a teenager for whom life isn’t easy. Her father is dead, her mother depressed, and Katniss will do anything to provide for her family and protect her little sister. 

2 — The Call to Adventure

This is the point at which your hero’s world can never be the same. A problem, a challenge, or an adventure arises—is she up to the challenge?

Example: The Reaping, where Katniss volunteers to take Prim’s place. 

3 — Refusal of the Call

Occasionally, a hero screeches to a halt before the adventure begins. When faced with adversity, she hesitates, unsure of herself.

She must face her greatest fears and forge ahead.

Example: There is no refusal of the call in The Hunger Games. Katniss eagerly steps forward. 

4 — Meeting With the Mentor

The mentor may be an older individual who offers wisdom, a friend, or even an object, like a letter or map.

Whatever the form, the mentor gives your hero the tools she needs for the journey—either by inspiring her, or pushing her in the direction she needs to go.

Example: Katniss is introduced to Haymitch the minute she reaches the stage to accept the challenge. He’s the only person from District 12 to have ever won The Hunger Games. She’s not initially impressed, but he eventually becomes her biggest ally. 

5 — Crossing the First Threshold

In the final step of the departure phase, your hero musters the courage to forge ahead, and the real adventure begins.

There’s no turning back.

By now, you’ve introduced your hero and given your readers a reason to care what happens to her. You should have also introduced the underlying theme of your story .

Why is it important for your hero to accomplish this task?

What are the stakes?

What drives her?

Example: Katniss is transported via train to the Capitol to begin training for The Hunger Games. She’s promised Prim she’ll do everything in her power to return home.

Your hero is laser focused, but this is the point at which she faces her first obstacle. She will meet her enemies and be forced to build alliances. She will be tested and challenged.

Can she do it?

What does she learn in this initiation phase?

Example: Katniss meets her competitors for the first time during training and is able to watch them to get a sense of what challenges lie ahead.  

6 — Tests, Allies, and Enemies

Things have shifted in the new world. Danger lies ahead. Alliances are formed, chaos ensues.

Your hero may fail tests she’s confronted with at first, but her transformation begins. She has the ability and knowledge to accomplish her tasks, but will she succeed?

Example: The Hunger Games begin. Tributes die. Katniss fights without water or a weapon. Her allies are Peeta and young Rue (the 12-year-old Tribute from District 11). The strongest players have illegally spent their young lives training for The Hunger Games and loom as her enemies from the start. 

7 — Approach to the Inmost Cave

Your hero approaches danger—often hidden, sometimes more mental than physical. She must face her greatest fears time again and may even be tempted to give up. She has to dig deep to find courage.

Example: Katniss is in the arena, the games underway. There’s no escape. She’s seen death, fears she may be next, and must find water and a weapon to survive. 

8 — The Ordeal

Your hero’s darkest moment and greatest challenge so far, in a fight for her life, she must find a way to endure to the end.

This may or may not be the climax of your story, but it is the climax of the initiation stage.

During this terrible ordeal, the steepest part of her character arc takes place.

Example: Katniss faces dying of thirst (if she’s not killed by another Tribute first) and faces every obstacle imaginable, including the death of Rue, before she finally wins the battle. 

9 — Reward (Seizing the Sword)

Against all odds, your hero survives. She’s defeated her enemies , slain her dragons—she has overcome and won the reward.

Whether her reward is tangible depends on the story. Regardless, your hero has undergone a total inward and outward transformation.

Example: Peeta and Katniss stand alone in the arena, told that because they are from the same district they can both claim the victory—or can they?

10 — The Road Back

As she begins to cross the threshold back into the ordinary world, she learns the battle isn’t finished.

She must face the consequences for her actions during the initiation stage.

She’s about to face her final obstacle.

Example: The Capitol reverses and announces that only one winner will be allowed. 

11 — The Resurrection

During this climax of your story, your hero faces her final, most threatening challenge.

She may even face death one more time.

Example: Katniss and Peeta decide that if they can’t win together, there will be no winner. They decide to call the Capitol’s bluff and threaten to die together. As they are about to eat poison berries, the Capitol is forced to allow two winners. 

12 — Return With the Elixir

Your hero finally crosses the threshold back into her ordinary life, triumphant. Only things aren’t so ordinary anymore.

She’s been changed by her adventure. She brings with her rewards, sometimes tangible items she can share, sometimes insight or wisdom. Regardless, this all impacts her life in ways she never imagined.

Example: Katniss and Peeta return home celebrities. They’re given new homes, plenty of food to share, and assistants who tend to their needs. Katniss learns that her defiance of the Capitol has sparked a revolution in the hearts of residents all across Panem. 

• Hero’s Journey Examples

You may recognize The Hero’s Journey in many famous stories, including Greek Mythology and even the Bible. Other examples:

• Sleeping Beauty
• Lord of the Rings
• Indiana Jones
• Sherlock Holmes
• Pilgrim’s Progress
• The Wizard of Oz
• Should You Use The Hero’s Journey Story Structure?

Structure is necessary to a story , regardless which you choose. Because the Hero’s Journey serves as a template under which all story structures fall, each bears some variation of it.

For fiction or nonfiction, your story structure determines how effectively you employ drama, intrigue, and tension to grab readers from the start and keep them to the end.

For more on story structure, visit my blog post 7 Story Structures Any Writer Can Use .

Are You Making This #1 Amateur Writing Mistake?

Faith-Based Words and Phrases

What You and I Can Learn From Patricia Raybon

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12 Hero’s Journey Stages Explained (+ Free Templates)

From zero to hero, the hero’s journey is a popular character development arc used in many stories. In today’s post, we will explain the 12 hero’s journey stages, along with the simple example of Cinderella.

The Hero’s Journey was originally formulated by American writer Joseph Campbell to describe the typical character arc of many classic stories, particularly in the context of mythology and folklore. The original hero’s journey contained 17 steps. Although the hero’s journey has been adapted since then for use in modern fiction, the concept is not limited to literature. It can be applied to any story, video game, film or even music that features an archetypal hero who undergoes a transformation. Common examples of the hero’s journey in popular works include Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

• What is the hero's journey?

Stage 1: The Ordinary World

Stage 2: call of adventure, stage 3: refusal of the call, stage 4: meeting the mentor, stage 5: crossing the threshold, stage 6: tests, allies, enemies, stage 7: the approach, stage 8: the ordeal, stage 9: reward, stage 10: the road back, stage 11: resurrection, stage 12: return with the elixir, cinderella example, campbell’s 17-step journey, leeming’s 8-step journey, cousineau’s 8-step journey.

• Free Hero's Journey Templates

What is the hero’s journey?

The hero’s journey, also known as the monomyth, is a character arc used in many stories. The idea behind it is that heroes undergo a journey that leads them to find their true selves. This is often represented in a series of stages. There are typically 12 stages to the hero’s journey. Each stage represents a change in the hero’s mindset or attitude, which is triggered by an external or internal event. These events cause the hero to overcome a challenge, reach a threshold, and then return to a normal life.

The hero’s journey is a powerful tool for understanding your characters. It can help you decide who they are, what they want, where they came from, and how they will change over time. It can be used to

• Understand the challenges your characters will face
• Understand how your characters react to those challenges
• Help develop your characters’ traits and relationships

In this post, we will explain each stage of the hero’s journey, using the example of Cinderella.

You might also be interested in our post on the story mountain or this guide on how to outline a book .

12 Hero’s Journey Stages

The archetypal hero’s journey contains 12 stages and was created by Christopher Vogler. These steps take your main character through an epic struggle that leads to their ultimate triumph or demise. While these steps may seem formulaic at first glance, they actually form a very flexible structure. The hero’s journey is about transformation, not perfection.

Your hero starts out in the ordinary world. He or she is just like every other person in their environment, doing things that are normal for them and experiencing the same struggles and challenges as everyone else. In the ordinary world, the hero feels stuck and confused, so he or she goes on a quest to find a way out of this predicament.

Example: Cinderella’s father passes away and she is now stuck doing chores and taking abuse from her stepsisters and stepmother.

The hero gets his or her first taste of adventure when the call comes. This could be in the form of an encounter with a stranger or someone they know who encourages them to take a leap of faith. This encounter is typically an accident, a series of coincidences that put the hero in the right place at the right time.

Example: An invite arrives inviting the family to a royal ball where the Prince will choose a wife.

Some people will refuse to leave their safe surroundings and live by their own rules. The hero has to overcome the negative influences in order to hear the call again. They also have to deal with any personal doubts that arise from thinking too much about the potential dangers involved in the quest. It is common for the hero to deny their own abilities in this stage and to lack confidence in themselves.

Example: Cinderella accepts the call by making her own dress for the ball. However, her stepmother refuses the call for her by not letting her go to the ball. And her step-sisters ruin her dress, so she can not go.

After hearing the call, the hero begins a relationship with a mentor who helps them learn about themselves and the world. In some cases, the mentor may be someone the hero already knows. The mentor is usually someone who is well-versed in the knowledge that the hero needs to acquire, but who does not judge the hero for their lack of experience.

Example: Cinderella meets her fairy godmother who equips her with everything she needs for the ball, including a dress and a carriage.

The hero leaves their old life behind and enters the unfamiliar new world. The crossing of the threshold symbolises leaving their old self behind and becoming a new person. Sometimes this can include learning a new skill or changing their physical appearance. It can also include a time of wandering, which is an essential part of the hero’s journey.

Example: Cinderella hops into the carriage and heads off to the ball. She has transformed from a servant into an elegant young lady. 

As the hero goes on this journey, they will meet both allies (people who help the hero) and enemies (people who try to stop the hero). There will also be tests, where the hero is tempted to quit, turn back, or become discouraged. The hero must be persistent and resilient to overcome challenges.

Example: At the ball, Cinderella meets the prince, and even see’s her stepmother and stepsister. She dances with Prince all night long making her step-sisters extremely jealous.

The hero now reaches the destination of their journey, in some cases, this is a literal location, such as a cave or castle. It could also be metaphorical, such as the hero having an internal conflict or having to make a difficult decision. In either case, the hero has to confront their deepest fears in this stage with bravery. In some ways, this stage can mark the end of the hero’s journey because the hero must now face their darkest fears and bring them under control. If they do not do this, the hero could be defeated in the final battle and will fail the story.

Example: Cinderella is having a great time at the ball and nearly forgets about the midnight rule. As she runs away in a hurry, her glass slipper falls off outside the palace.

The hero has made it to the final challenge of their journey and now must face all odds and defeat their greatest adversary. Consider this the climax of the story. This could be in the form of a physical battle, a moral dilemma or even an emotional challenge. The hero will look to their allies or mentor for further support and guidance in this ordeal. Whatever happens in this stage could change the rest of the story, either for good or bad. 

Example: Prince Charming looks all over the kingdom for the mysterious girl he met at the ball. He finally visits Cinderella’s house and tries the slippers on the step-sisters. The prince is about to leave and then he sees Cinderella in the corner cleaning.

When the hero has defeated the most powerful and dangerous of adversaries, they will receive their reward. This reward could be an object, a new relationship or even a new piece of knowledge. The reward, which typically comes as a result of the hero’s perseverance and hard work, signifies the end of their journey. Given that the hero has accomplished their goal and served their purpose, it is a time of great success and accomplishment.

Example: The prince tries the glass slipper on Cinderella. The glass slipper fits Cinderella perfectly, and they fall in love.

The journey is now complete, and the hero is now heading back home. As the hero considers their journey and reflects on the lessons they learned along the way, the road back is sometimes marked by a sense of nostalgia or even regret. As they must find their way back to the normal world and reintegrate into their former life, the hero may encounter additional difficulties or tests along the way. It is common for the hero to run into previous adversaries or challenges they believed they had overcome.

Example: Cinderella and Prince Charming head back to the Prince’s castle to get married.

The hero has one final battle to face. At this stage, the hero might have to fight to the death against a much more powerful foe. The hero might even be confronted with their own mortality or their greatest fear. This is usually when the hero’s true personality emerges. This stage is normally symbolised by the hero rising from the dark place and fighting back. This dark place could again be a physical location, such as the underground or a dark cave. It might even be a dark, mental state, such as depression. As the hero rises again, they might change physically or even experience an emotional transformation. 

Example: Cinderella is reborn as a princess. She once again feels the love and happiness that she felt when she was a little girl living with her father.

At the end of the story, the hero returns to the ordinary world and shares the knowledge gained in their journey with their fellow man. This can be done by imparting some form of wisdom, an object of great value or by bringing about a social revolution. In all cases, the hero returns changed and often wiser.

Example: Cinderella and Prince Charming live happily ever after. She uses her new role to punish her stepmother and stepsisters and to revitalise the kingdom.

We have used the example of Cinderella in Vogler’s hero’s journey model below:

Below we have briefly explained the other variations of the hero’s journey arc.

The very first hero’s journey arc was created by Joseph Campbell in 1949. It contained the following 17 steps:

• The Call to Adventure: The hero receives a call or a reason to go on a journey.
• Refusal of the Call: The hero does not accept the quest. They worry about their own abilities or fear the journey itself.
• Supernatural Aid: Someone (the mentor) comes to help the hero and they have supernatural powers, which are usually magical.
• The Crossing of the First Threshold: A symbolic boundary is crossed by the hero, often after a test. 
• Belly of the Whale: The point where the hero has the most difficulty making it through.
• The Road of Trials: In this step, the hero will be tempted and tested by the outside world, with a number of negative experiences.
• The Meeting with the Goddess: The hero meets someone who can give them the knowledge, power or even items for the journey ahead.
• Woman as the Temptress: The hero is tempted to go back home or return to their old ways.
• Atonement with the Father: The hero has to make amends for any wrongdoings they may have done in the past. They need to confront whatever holds them back.
• Apotheosis: The hero gains some powerful knowledge or grows to a higher level. 
• The Ultimate Boon: The ultimate boon is the reward for completing all the trials of the quest. The hero achieves their ultimate goal and feels powerful.
• Refusal of the Return: After collecting their reward, the hero refuses to return to normal life. They want to continue living like gods. 
• The Magic Flight: The hero escapes with the reward in hand.
• Rescue from Without: The hero has been hurt and needs help from their allies or guides.
• The Crossing of the Return Threshold: The hero must come back and learn to integrate with the ordinary world once again.
• Master of the Two Worlds: The hero shares their wisdom or gifts with the ordinary world. Learning to live in both worlds.
• Freedom to Live: The hero accepts the new version of themselves and lives happily without fear.

David Adams Leeming later adapted the hero’s journey based on his research of legendary heroes found in mythology. He noted the following steps as a pattern that all heroes in stories follow:

• Miraculous conception and birth: This is the first trauma that the hero has to deal with. The Hero is often an orphan or abandoned child and therefore faces many hardships early on in life. 
• Initiation of the hero-child: The child faces their first major challenge. At this point, the challenge is normally won with assistance from someone else.
• Withdrawal from family or community: The hero runs away and is tempted by negative forces.
• Trial and quest: A quest finds the hero giving them an opportunity to prove themselves.
• Death: The hero fails and is left near death or actually does die.
• Descent into the underworld: The hero rises again from death or their near-death experience.
• Resurrection and rebirth: The hero learns from the errors of their way and is reborn into a better, wiser being.
• Ascension, apotheosis, and atonement: The hero gains some powerful knowledge or grows to a higher level (sometimes a god-like level). 

In 1990, Phil Cousineau further adapted the hero’s journey by simplifying the steps from Campbell’s model and rearranging them slightly to suit his own findings of heroes in literature. Again Cousineau’s hero’s journey included 8 steps:

• The call to adventure: The hero must have a reason to go on an adventure.
• The road of trials: The hero undergoes a number of tests that help them to transform.
• The vision quest: Through the quest, the hero learns the errors of their ways and has a realisation of something.
• The meeting with the goddess: To help the hero someone helps them by giving them some knowledge, power or even items for the journey ahead.
• The boon: This is the reward for completing the journey.
• The magic flight: The hero must escape, as the reward is attached to something terrible.
• The return threshold: The hero must learn to live back in the ordinary world.
• The master of two worlds: The hero shares their knowledge with the ordinary world and learns to live in both worlds.

As you can see, every version of the hero’s journey is about the main character showing great levels of transformation. Their journey may start and end at the same location, but they have personally evolved as a character in your story. Once a weakling, they now possess the knowledge and skill set to protect their world if needed.

Free Hero’s Journey Templates

Use the free Hero’s journey templates below to practice the skills you learned in this guide! You can either draw or write notes in each of the scene boxes. Once the template is complete, you will have a better idea of how your main character or the hero of your story develops over time:

The storyboard template below is a great way to develop your main character and organise your story:

Did you find this guide on the hero’s journey stages useful? Let us know in the comments below.

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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The Hunger Games and The Hero's Journey

Favorite Quote: "I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far flung hopes, the dreamer of improbable dreams."- The Eleventh Doctor

     The Hunger Games is nearly everything a reader could enjoy. There’s action, adventure, romance. Not to mention the metaphor for unequal social classes…      In the book, Katniss Everdeen leaves the familiarity of her home and family. She embarks on the journey that will lead her to the arena where the Games take place. Katniss breaks the 1-tribute-winner rule by threatening to perform a double suicide with the other tribute from District 12, Peeta Mellark. They then return home, victors of the games.      There is a reality and deeper meaning in the story. In the Hunger Games, Panem is a metaphorical world for Collins to communicate the inequality of modern social classes. In the book, there is no mention of money. There is however, mention of rich, poor, and hunger. The importance of food in the book is colossal. As soon as Katniss and Peeta get on the train, there are pages of food descriptions. When the decadent courses are served, Katniss describes "never having had food like it."      The simplest way to think about food in the story is that it's equivalent to wealth and social status. The poor part of Panem, District 12, has hardly any food and they are described by Effie Trinket as "savages." What's more, is the Capitol dangling the tesserae and food rations in front of their faces. In the book, if you want more food for your family, you have to increase your chances of going in to the arena where the odds, if you're poor, are NOT in your favor.      It's unfair. The reaping system sums up to: If you want to live, you have to die. We know the food each district or family has represents their wealth, the Capitol (not even being a part of the Districts or the games) being the wealthiest. In Districts 1-4, it's considered an honor to be a tribute. Tribute even means a gift that shows gratitude, respect, and admiration. Yet Katniss feels as if she has fallen from a tree, her breath knocked out of her, when her sister Prim is called. There is no applause or celebration in this District.      Panem is a lot like a social caste. In many different real world societies, a social caste loosely translates to "If your parents are poor, then you're poor too." The same goes for being rich, and you can't move your way up or down the social ladder.      This is where Collins begins to use the Hero's Journey. This theme of inequality that she sets up leads to that advantage, that extortion the Capitol holds over the other Districts, especially 10, 11, and 12. The Capitol people, not being apart of the Districts at all, never have to go into the games. There aren't contestants or tributes from the Capitol, they are merely the audience. This means that they never have to embark on the Hero's Journey. This is true in our modern day era. If you can afford it, you are assured an easy life, and you never have to commence on the journey that many fight for.      This difficulty is perhaps what the games themselves symbolize. That the arena is society, that the tributes are really just different classes. The "careerers" from the richer Districts are prepared and expected to win and succeed. The poorer Districts aren't as fortunate and almost never have any victors from the games. Haymitch in the book, one of the two winners from District 12 and the only living one during the 74th Hunger Games in which the book takes place is a perfect example. He is what must prepare Katniss and Peeta for the games, and he is their only source of knowledge. Then of course there is Districts like 1 and 2 that have numerous victors and tons of survival advice. The rich in the book are trained to win the games, prepared for whatever the arena, or, society has to throw at them.      Collins uses the Hero's Journey to her advantage, making the upper-class seem much less appealing and us readers end up cheering for the underdog as we are so used to doing. This allows Katniss to win the Games without anyone having a second thought, despite the improbability of the situation.      This story is more than fiction. Suzanne Collins expresses ideas of social class inequality using Panem as an example and a metaphor.

    So ask yourself: Are the odds in your favor?

I wrote this as an essay in my English class a while ago, and I really enjoyed the process and the writing in itself. I hope others do too.

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Favorite Quote: Failures help one grow as a person.

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The Hero's Journey: Stages, Steps, and Examples

Remember when you were younger, probably around middle school age, and your teacher introduced the Greek mythology lesson? It was such an exciting time of reading books like Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief . Maybe you fell in love with Percy, a lovable and relatable young boy struggling with his identity. Or maybe you were a part of the dystopian crave and fell in love with Katniss Everdeen from Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games . Either way, this may have been your first introduction to the hero's journey (we're sure you've seen the templates). After all, the hero's journey is all around us!

If you fell in love with reading a hero's journey archetype and want to try to create your own modern hero, then you've come to the perfect place. We're going to explore the crucial steps of a hero's journey and what they entail, so you can have a template through which to write your own story. Your questions act as our call to action (you'll understand what we mean by that shortly). But first, let's define a hero's journey. After all, how can we possibly evaluate the steps of a hero's journey if we don't even have a solid definition?

The hero's journey

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

The hero's journey is the story of a hero who leaves the ordinary world to go on an adventure full of peril. On it, the hero will gain both adversaries and allies, and will face a great evil. The hero will also face his shadow self, which is perhaps the most frightening antagonist of all.

Campbell references 17 total steps in the hero's journey. Wait a minute, 17 steps? That seems like a lot. Don't worry! Depending on who you ask, the number of steps and what those steps look like will differ, though they all follow a similar template. The hero's journey is commonly accepted to have 12 main steps. To make it even simpler on you, these steps can actually be broken down into three stages: the departure, the initiation, and the return.

Stage 1: the departure

The departure is just as you might expect. This is the stage where the protagonist is introduced, typically in a modern, realistic setting, and we are introduced to some struggles the protagonist may be experiencing or questions they may have about their own identity. This stage can be broken into our first four steps.

• The ordinary world : As we said, we are first introduced to our protagonist and soon-to-be hero in the reality we know. It is just as the first step is listed: the ordinary world. There is no magic, mayhem, or supernatural creatures evident in this ordinary world. It is the world the protagonist has known all their life.
• Call to adventure : This is one of the steps you may be most familiar with, as it's one of the most commonly known phrases in literature. Regardless of what genre you are writing, your hero has a call to action. After all, there must be a reason why the protagonist leaves the mundane, comfortable lifestyle they've lived up until now. This is the moment where the journey or quest is initiated: a problem, challenge, or quest is presented to the protagonist, and they must decide to leave behind their ordinary lives to face new challenges. Whether the protagonist is immediately threatened, a family member is threatened, or they see something they shouldn't have, it is up to the protagonist to respond to the call.
• Refusal of the call : Wow, isn't it so cool that the hero was discovered by some other world (or they discovered it!) and now they get to embark on this awesome journey? Yes, well, sometimes. Despite how amazing it may seem to be called to accept a quest (hence the reason why this archetype is so popular in literature), the protagonist may not be feeling that excitement. In fact, it's likely that the protagonist is feeling nervous, anxious, scared, hesitant, and thus, resistant to the call at first (don't worry, they'll give in eventually).
• Meeting the mentor/supernatural aid : Okay, so the protagonist is done refusing the call. Maybe they've gotten over their fears, or maybe something happened that makes it impossible for them to continue to deny their inevitable quest. Yay! Now it's time for our protagonist to meet their mentor. The mentor can be supernatural or not, but they act as a teacher, trainer, and instructor for the protagonist. After all, the protagonist is going to need some serious guidance once they've been booted out of their ordinary world. This step involves a lot of trust, though, as the protagonist may barely know their mentor. This step also involves the passing on of certain tools and equipment the protagonist may need to succeed on their journey. These can be special powers or physical instruments.

Stage 2: the initiation

Now that you've spent a decent chunk of time introducing your protagonist (and hero!) and their conflict, it's time to head into the second stage of the hero's journey: the initiation. Before you do this, though, ensure you've checked off the first four items on the previous list. It is crucial that you meet these criteria for a successful hero's journey. After all, the hero can't be truly initiated into their new world if you have not established their old world, their main conflict, and the introduction of their next steps.

This next stage will take up the largest portion of your story. You should fill it with lots of new characters, settings, and trials and tests for your protagonist to endure. This is also a stage where you should focus a lot on character development for your protagonist. No person is going to go through a massive journey and end up the same person they once were when everything is said and done. Take this time to think about how you want your protagonist to change and what it's going to take to accomplish that change.

• Crossing the first threshold : This is the point at which the hero decides to embark on the adventure and cross over into the unknown, leaving his or her ordinary world behind. This is called the threshold because there is something or someone acting as a literal barrier between the protagonist's ordinary world and their new world. Beyond the threshold lies trials and tribulations and potential risks and dangers. Once the protagonist takes that first step beyond this threshold, there is no returning to the life they once knew. This is where the hero's actual journey truly begins.
• Introduction to tests, friends, and foe : This is the step of the story where the cast of characters expands and a new setting, the new world, is introduced. The protagonist may be lost in their new world, so they must evaluate the new people around them to identify potential allies, enemies, or morally ambiguous characters. Trust is established or denied. Just like anyone would struggle with encountering anew environment, the protagonist will endure some struggles of their own, but this is how they'll determine who is friend and who is foe, establishing other character roles in the process. The rules of the ordinary world do not apply to this new world, so hopefully the protagonist meets some good people who will teach him the new ways of life.
• Approaching the innermost cave : At this point on the hero's journey, they have left all semblance of the ordinary world behind. This step marks the preparation for the main event of the journey. The protagonist may gather materials and even other characters, if they're trustworthy enough, to take on the rest of the steps of the quest with them. The cave acts as a metaphor for what the protagonist is about to endure: risk, danger, darkness, and even potential loss. This step also includes some of the tests leading up to the large test yet, which happens to be the next step in the hero's journey.
• The ordeal : Buckle up, this is about to be a wild ride! That's right, your hero has finally made it to one of the biggest challenges of all. The protagonist is no longer approaching the innermost cave. Rather, the protagonist is now fully in the belly of the beast, and what a beast it is! The ordeal is usually not the climax of the story, but this is the moment where the protagonist truly transforms from an ordinary character into a true hero. It may involve their greatest fear or a physically or mentally demanding task.
• The reward : If your protagonist, now hero, succeeds in their greatest challenge, then they will be given a reward that makes the journey worth so much time, effort, and challenge. If they can succeed, then there is hope for them, that bright light that shines through the top of a dark cave and promises fulfillment and a future. This is what the hero has been fighting for this whole time. As for the reward itself, you should make sure it makes sense in the context of your story. It can be an object, a piece of knowledge, or even something entirely different, so long as its value matches the degree of the journey.

Stage 3: the return

Wahoo, your hero has endured so much and has finally gotten their reward! It's over, right? They can return to their ordinary life and reap the benefits of all their hard work? Wrong! Things are never as easy as they seem, especially in a hero's journey, so why would the road back to the ordinary world be any different for your hero?

• On the road again : This is the turning point, literally. The hero turns back around, hoping to return to their normal life after receiving their reward. But thing's are never that simple, so be sure to make sure that road is blocked. Traffic cones, stoplights, maybe a supernatural villain or catastrophic natural disaster! That should do the trick. If the road back home was easy, we'd be bored, so maintain the stakes with challenges for the hero to face as they make their way back home.
• The resurrection : Congratulations, you've finally reached the climax of your story. Remember how we said the ordeal was the moment where your protagonist transformed from an ordinary character into an actual hero, this is the moment where they can prove to us that they deserve the hero title, after all. The stakes become extremely high, as the hero does not want to fail after having endured so much already. This is the final test for the hero and the final opportunity for the villain or opposing forces to defeat the hero. If the hero comes out on top, then they will finally be able to reach that light at the end of the tunnel.
• Return with the elixir : The hero has finally completed all their challenges and is able to return home with their reward. Their transformation is complete, and they've most likely become a better person because of the journey. Or, if you want to add a twist to this step, you can always have the hero fail to return without they set out to receive, but you better be prepared to write a sequel and a whole other journey!

Following the template

Since we mentioned The Hunger Games at the very beginning, let's use Katniss Everdeen and her hero's journey as a model for this template.

• The ordinary world : Katniss Everdeen is introduced as a citizen on District 12, a poor mining district. She spends her days hunting in the woods to provide food for her family.
• The call to action : Every year, a reaping takes place where a male and female tribute from each district is randomly chosen to take place in the Hunger Games, a fight to the death. During the reaping, Katniss' sister Primrose is selected, so Katniss volunteers to take her place as the female tribute from District 12.
• Refusal of the call : As we mentioned, you may not include all 12 steps of the hero's journey in your own story. Katniss does not actually refuse the call, as she volunteered herself to save her sister. A refusal of the call is slightly seen in Peeta, Katniss' fellow tribute, as he is visibly nervous and shaken up. The nature of this story makes it so that a refusal is impossible.
• Meeting the mentor : Katniss meets Haymitch Abernathy, a previous Hunger Games victor from her District. He is her literal mentor and is meant to teach her how to make allies, get sponsors, and survive in the arena. She also finds a mentor in Cinna, the person in charge of her appearance for promotions.
• Crossing the threshold : Katniss is whisked out of District 12 and on the train to the gaudy, wealthy Capitol.
• Introduction to tests, friends, and foe : Katniss must attempt to learn who to trust while also earning sponsors and impressing the Game Makers. Katniss makes a reluctant alliance with Peeta and admires Rue from District 11. During training, it is evident that the Careers (tributes from the wealthier districts) are enemies.
• Approaching the innermost cave : Katniss enters the physical arena.
• The ordeal : The arena is full of challenges: tracker jackers, mutant wolves, poisonous berries, and other tributes trying to survive. The games themselves are the whole ordeal.
• The reward : Katniss and Peeta are the last tributes standing.
• On the road again : Although Katniss and Peeta have survived, there can only be one winner, and the Capitol wants to force them to select who lives and who dies.
• The resurrection : Katniss' bold attempt at a mutual suicide leads to both of them being allowed to live as victors, lest they become martyrs in front of the whole country.
• Return with the elixir : Katniss and Peeta return to District 12 as victors, allowing them to live lives of wealth and luxury. If you've read the books, you'll know this is nowhere near the end of Katniss' journey.

Reaping the rewards

If you've managed to check off all 12 steps on our hero's journey checklist, then you've got yourself an awesome hero's journey. If you're just starting out on your own journey of writing for a hero, then be sure to follow this template for maximum results. Be the hero in your own journey and remember to never give up as you face those roadblocks and challenges while buckling down and writing a story of your own!

Header photo by Zoltan Tasi .

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Harry Potter & The Hunger Games: Part 1, The Hero’s Journey

2013, The Hog's Head

Related Papers

Tatiana GOLBAN

Suzanne Collins' novel The Hunger Games has as its central metaphor the monomythic journey of the hero. This research focuses on the novelist's attempt to redefine the monomyth in terms of gender, and on the ways in which Collins's retold version represents human experience in the contemporary world. This study presents Collins's protagonist, Katniss, who embarks on the traditional heroic quest and confronts multiple challenges and frustrations on her journey to success. During her heroic enterprise, Katniss turns inward, discovers and embraces her feminine nature and seeks a satisfactory life paradigm as a result of which she attains the inner integration and reconciliation of both masculine and feminine aspects of her personality; she also understands and accomplishes her purpose in life. By recognizing the mythical and archetypal situations, which are subverted or inverted in the novel, Collins revises the significance of private and public achievements in the contemporary community.

L'Atalante Revista de estudios cinematográficos , Marta Fernández Morales

Popular culture in the twenty-first century is witnessing a process of re-signification of the role of the hero, which we analyse here in the film The Hunger Games (Gary Ross, 2012), which depicts a dystopian world enslaved by totalitarian power and controlled by the mass media. Through a deductive approach based on a gender-focused epistemology, this paper explores the film version of the first novel of Suzanne Collins’s trilogy of the same name. Our thesis is that Katniss Everdeen, a contemporary version of Theseus who also shares elements with the myths of the Amazons and Atalanta, subverts the patriarchal order when she is revealed to be an autonomous and courageous subject. Contrary to what has often been the case in audiovisual narratives, this powerful female role does not fall prey to either traditional standards of femininity or an imitation of masculinity, but is constructed independently and with positive results.

Natascha Ehrenheim

Female Development in Young Adult Literature in the 21st Century on the examples of Hermione (Harry Potter), Bella (Twilight), and Katniss (Hunger Games).

Mike Cadden

Examines the function of the epilogue in children's fantasy fiction

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a film devised to reflect postmodern fears that the United States will eventually decline like the Roman Empire. The dystopian Panem is built on the ruins of North America, ravaged by a slew of natural and man-made disasters and practically uninhabitable. The location itself highlights the sense of fear, anger, violence and misery to come. This setting of devastation frames the need for a hero, in this case Katniss Everdeen from District 12. In this paper, I will focus on exploring how gender roles for heroes have evolved over time. I believe that modern heroes need not follow traditional gender roles, as shown by how Katniss subverts her gender role in The Hunger Games. Katniss displays traits of masculinity throughout the movie, which goes against the traditional female role. Butler (Mitchell, p.141) posits that " there is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender ". In other words, there is no necessary relation between gender expressions and the underlying gender " truth " – a character can be naturally female but have masculine gender expressions, which are exemplified by Katniss. In the movie, Katniss aggressively resents her mother's depression, deeming it an overreaction to her father's death. She fails to identify with her mother's turmoil, portraying her as not overly emotional, a typically feminine trait. Katniss becomes both mother and father to Primrose when their mother withdraws from the world, and she feels compelled to detach herself from feminine emotions lest she ends up like her mother, an apparent rejection of feminine traits. In patriarchal Panem, women's most significant role is possibly reproduction, yet Katniss associates motherhood with a lack of control, as she will have to risk her child being selected for The Hunger Games. Again, she rejects a defining female characteristic, highlighting her disillusionment with being female. After her father's death, Katniss becomes the " man of the family " , hunting to put food on the table and doing illegal trade to provide for her family. Although she assumed the role out of necessity, this underscores Katniss' ability to be masculine when the occasion calls for it, and surfaces possibly inherent masculine traits in her. Katniss' obvious discomfort when her mother lays out a dress to be worn to the reaping shows how beauty is low on her list of priorities as it has no stake in supporting her family and is an unnecessary luxury. Women are traditionally associated with vanity as opposed to men; the fact that Katniss is immune and disturbed by such thoughts further highlights her lack of femininity. Lorber (Henthorne, p.45) proposes that sex is assigned " on the basis of what the genitalia looks like at birth, " gender is not just assigned but affirmed through everyday practices. Based on this claim, Katniss displays masculine traits that debunk the traditional female stereotype. Despite possessing masculine traits, Katniss can display a maternal side, albeit at times just for show. Nicholson states that for Joseph Campbell, at the crucial juncture in the hero's journey, the woman is " recalled to nature " and becomes " symbolic flesh: sex, desire, generative motherhood " (Nicholson, p. 190). Katniss' actions and intentions are not in line with Campbell's portrayal of female heroes, although at times her actions befit the traditional female role. This is shown by her instinctive sacrifice for Primrose, who is akin to " her " child. Katniss' function is not

Sara Francesca Soncini

A play saturated with images of food, eating and being eaten, Coriolanus provides the most thoroughgoing exploration of the hunger paradigm within the Shakespearean corpus. From the very early moments of the tragedy, Shakespeare’s emphasis on hunger as a literal, material condition is paralleled by a probing investigation of the rhetorical and metaphorical dimension of alimentary imagery and its problematic applicability, and actual application, in the political sphere – most notably, in Menenius Agrippa’s fable of the belly, a rhetorical attempt at naturalizing social inequality which however fails to appease the plebeians’ threatened uprising against the Roman aristocracy. Shakespeare’s politicization of hunger has played a crucial role in securing and shaping Coriolanus’s afterlife. This essay deals with a very recent take on Coriolanus by investigating the Shakespearean palimpsest within Suzanne Collins’s highly popular The Hunger Games trilogy (2008-2010). While unacknowledged by the author and so far unregistered in critical studies of the novels, Collins’s extensive borrowing from Coriolanus across the three instalments of her science fiction adventure amounts to a consistent and comprehensive reframing of Shakespeare’s hunger paradigm, here remoulded into cautionary dystopia about the social and political order of the global era.

Benjamin Nickl

The involvement of child soldiers in war has attracted global outrage through social awareness campaigns in the new century. An increasingly visible topic in a worldwide discourse on popular culture, the recruitment, use, and exploitation of children by armed forces and military leaders also features heavily in contemporary literature, popular television, and film productions. The status of the child solider is that of the reluctant combatant, and, according to UNICEF’s 2016 peace report, a sign of the rise of extreme violence around the world.1 This paper uses a popular culture studies paradigm to highlight the damaging physical and emotional trauma of child soldier characters such as Melody Pond in Dr Who and Naruto Uzumaki in Naruto. From Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games to Dumbledore’s Army in Harry Potter, child soldiers who take up arms against the enemy triumph over evil warlords, insane despots and corrupt regimes. Yet it is the adult world around them which profits from the child soldiers’ mutilation, posttraumatic stress disorders, and, oftentimes, deaths. The ingenuity of children and their simplified sense of justice and retribution also serve to foreground as a narrative device the moral politics and discursive appropriation of unconventional warfare combatants. The award-winning story of nine-year-old commander general Ender Wiggin in Ender’s Game suggests that genocide in today’s world is equivalent to child’s play, while female child soldiers have become synonymous with emancipatory, feminist identities. However, the reintegration of these children into post-war society features only infrequently in popular stories about child soldiers, which this paper suggests in its concluding remarks is an undervalued concept to further debates about asymmetrical warfare.

Michael Marek

This book chapter considers a Japanese three-film creation, 20 th Century Boys (2008, 2009 & 2009), based on a manga graphic novel series (1999-2007). The authors find that the storyline of inspired by both Western storytelling tradition, as embodied in the analysis of Joseph Campbell, but also in the very different Eastern traditions of storytelling. In addition to exploring the intersection with Campbell, including the overarching theme of ordinary people called upon to do extraordinary things, the authors interpret the work in terms of game theory, the transformative power of music and the supporting theme that " rock music saves the world, " the authors explore Game Theory and Redemption as creative motifs, as well as the new roles of the hero of the 21 st Century, who are often flawed. Unlike Campbell's monomyth, modern heroes are sometimes female, including in 20 th Century Boys. The authors explore how the complexities of the three-movie story arc mirror the com...

ANDREI LILIANA

Photochemistry and Photobiology

Silvia Braslavsky

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Katniss as a Hero in the Hunger Games

This essay about Katniss Everdeen explores her portrayal as a hero in Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games.” It examines how Katniss, initially driven by the need to protect her sister, embodies heroism through her bravery, sacrifice, and defiance against the oppressive Capitol. The narrative highlights Katniss’ ability to maintain her humanity and forge meaningful relationships in a society that seeks to strip these qualities away. Her strategic actions in the Games not only ensure survival but also challenge the Capitol’s authority, sparking a broader rebellion. As the symbol of this uprising, Katniss transforms into a beacon of hope and change, exemplifying a new kind of heroism that resonates with personal and societal struggles against tyranny. This essay underscores her impact as both a survivor and a leader, reflecting on the nature of oppression and the significance of individual resistance.

How it works

Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist of Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games,” is not just a character in a dystopian novel; she embodies the archetype of a hero thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Her journey, marked by bravery, sacrifice, and the quest for justice, makes her a compelling figure in modern literature and a focal point for discussions on heroism.

Panem is a nation located in the remains of what was once North America. It is made up of twelve outlying districts that are subject to the tyrannical rule of the Capitol and an affluent Capitol.

A horrific form of entertainment, the yearly Hunger Games are both a punishment for a previous rebellion and a broadcast event where each district sends two teens, a boy and a girl, to fight to the death. Katniss lives in a harsh environment where there is always a risk to her life.

Katniss enters the Games by need rather than by choice. Katniss decides out of love to step in for her younger sister Prim when she is chosen as a tribute; this is the first step in her journey to become a brave and defiant public figure. Her innate strength and close ties to her family are clear from the beginning, as are her protective instincts. Her deeds have defined her as a hero throughout the Games. She navigates the complexity of the Games with a combination of wit and compassion, honors her alliances, and grieves for the lost.

Her heroism extends beyond physical prowess or survival skills. Katniss challenges the Capitol’s tyranny simply by retaining her humanity. In a society designed to strip its participants of their individuality and compassion, her ability to empathize with others and forge relationships is revolutionary. Her alliance with Rue, a young tribute from District 11, exemplifies this. Their friendship not only underscores the shared struggles among the districts but also acts as a catalyst for rebellion within the districts, as Katniss’ genuine grief and subsequent tribute to Rue incite unrest and sympathy across Panem.

Moreover, Katniss’ role in the Games disrupts the narrative the Capitol attempts to control. By feigning a romance with fellow District 12 tribute, Peeta Mellark, she manipulates the storyline, turning the audience’s favor towards them and, inadvertently, sowing seeds of rebellion. This act of defiance highlights her acute awareness of the Capitol’s manipulations and her ability to subvert them. Here, Katniss does not merely survive the Games but uses them as a platform to challenge the oppressive status quo, emphasizing her role as a symbol of resistance.

Katniss’s impact is felt not just within the confines of the arena. As the trilogy progresses, she becomes the Mockingjay, a symbol of the growing rebellion. Her unwillingness to conform or capitulate to the Capitol’s demands inspires others to rise up. This transformation from a reluctant participant to a proactive rebel leader shows a heroism that resonates on a personal level with her audience and also on a broader, societal level. It is her relatability, her flaws, and her moral struggles that make her a realistic and inspirational figure.

Katniss Everdeen reshapes our understanding of what it means to be a hero. Unlike the unyielding heroes of old, her heroism is nuanced, marked by moments of doubt, despair, and vulnerability. It is these very qualities, however, that make her journey profoundly human and incredibly heroic. She does not simply fight against a tangible enemy but against the erosion of human dignity and freedom. In doing so, she encapsulates the essence of heroism in the modern age—fighting not just for survival, but for a better world.

In “The Hunger Games,” Katniss emerges not only as a survivor but as a beacon of hope and change. Her story compels us to consider the nature of oppression, the value of compassion, and the power of ordinary individuals in extraordinary circumstances. Katniss Everdeen remains a testament to the enduring appeal of the literary hero and continues to inspire those who seek to understand the complexities of heroism in our own time.

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