Joseph Campbell’s 17-step template

 A Critical Analysis of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey

Joseph Campell’s “Hero’s Journey,” outline, describes the journey of most main characters in fiction stories. Joseph Campell’s original Hero’s Journey took many forms, but still all accurately describe the Hero’s Journey in Campell’s perspective. The versions of the Hero’s Journey that are going to be analyzed in this blog are the “Hero’s Journey” circle in Wikipedia and the “Hero’s Journey” circle handed out to us in class. My argument is that Joseph Campbell intentionally categorized the hero’s journey, not only for a fictional character, but a non-fictional character. He set up the diagram to promote his belief that someone who followed his bliss will lead a satisfied life. My argument is demonstrated through the crossing of the first threshold until the return of the known world.

In Wikipedia, the Hero’s Journey is separated into two main categories, the known world, and the unknown world to the main character. The known world is typically where the story starts and is, for the most part, mundane and where the character is struggling to find meaning in their life. It is an era of hardship or boredom that the main character has lived throughout his or her entire life.  This is before the character hasn’t followed their bliss yet. They lived a life of boredom and dissatisfaction because they have not followed their goals, their dreams, and their desires. They may not even have a clue of their dreams, and they may not even have a hope for adventure. Joseph Campbell explicitly said in one of his books “Remember the last line? ‘I've never done a thing I wanted to do in all my life.’ That's the man who never followed his bliss.” ("Joseph Campbell") One can clearly see that the main character of any book follows the bliss only when they cross their first threshold, learn from themselves, and live a life that satisfies them. It demonstrates an opportunity in our life that we have to take, even if it seems risky. It represents a “yes” to the Call of Adventure that will drastically change the character’s life usually for the better.

Although following the bliss may sound like an unrealistic fortunate life, the character will experience more hardships, trials, and sometimes even failures, which shows that it is meant to exemplify the life of an ordinary person. Even though the hero’s journey may seem like a fantasy and mythical, the character still has to face challenges that will successfully allow them to find satisfaction. Joseph Campbell’s quotes best prove this argument: “If your bliss is just your fun and your excitement, you’re on the wrong track. I mean, you need instruction. Know where your bliss is. And that involves coming down to a deep place in yourself,” (Gerringer). In other words, Joseph Campbell meant that your path may not feel adventurous or exciting like a comic book or a movie, and it may still feel hard and bitter, but it is still a path worth following and an adventure worth accepting. Everyone still has a Call of Adventure even though it may look too hard to accept. 

Finally, Campbell’s philosophy shows that the return back to the known world represents any time the character grows in behavior or character. The quote that best supports my claim, says this: when you found the bliss “...you aren’t thinking about that misunderstanding with your sister, or what you should do for dinner, how you’re going to pay the light bill next Tuesday, or what’s on television tonight. When you are in your bliss, whether that bliss is sculpting clay or crunching numbers, time ceases to exist,” (Gerringer). This quote says that once you have grown during the bliss, you have become the master of your new world which involves the bliss and the old world, which involves relatively minor things in the person's life, like those mentioned in the quote. Therefore, this moment is the “master of the both worlds” section in our handout, further demonstrating the fact that anyone who follows the bliss is following their own hero’s journey.

All in all, the hero’s journey timeline accurately represents the journey of any person who discovers their passions, goals, dreams, and fulfilling them. From Joseph Campbell’s ideology, we can infer that Joseph Campbell carved out the Hero’s Journey timeline for the hero’s journey of a common real-life people, not just for fictional characters in books, movies, or shows. The hero’s journey timeline and ideology is practically Campbell’s life advice as an unprofessional life coach. Whether you choose to believe all of it, parts of it, or none of it is up to you.

Sources

1. Gerringer, Stephen. "Follow Your Bliss." Experience the Power of Myth at the Movies, www.jcf.org/learn/joseph-campbell-follow-your-bliss. 

2. "Joseph Campbell." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Jan. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell.