The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Find a fiction text you have read (whether a short story or novel) in which the author employs major aspects of the hero’s journey narrative. Describe how the story arc coheres with the hero’s journey, as well as how it deviates.

A prominent myth in the book is the story of Kamar al-Zaman and Princess Budur. Which aspects of the hero’s journey does this story illustrate, according to Campbell? Explain how the story uses these elements to elaborate on the theme of destiny.

Campbell identifies several boons a hero might obtain in the mystical zone. Describe some of these boons from the myths Campbell excerpts throughout the book. How does each boon correspond with the type of hero who obtains it (whether warrior, lover, saint, etc.)?

Campbell includes the story of the Buddha’s enlightenment in the Prologue. Near the end of Part 2, Campbell tells of the Buddha’s death and passage into nirvana. What do these stories have in common? What do they teach about the Source of all things and its role in mythology?

According to Campbell, what is the connection between the hero’s journey and the cosmogonic cycle? Why does he depict both story patterns as circles? What do these mythological frameworks say about the human mind?

Campbell writes, “Woman, in the picture language of mythology, represents the totality of what can be known” (116). Analyze the various roles of women in the cosmogonic myth, using the three of the examples Campbell provides in Part 2, Chapter 2.

Campbell writes that the Tongan tale of the clam wife “clearly announces, in unconscious burlesque, every one of the major motifs of the typical life of the hero” (312). Explain how the story follows the hero’s journey model. How is it burlesque in tone?

In Part 2, Campbell states, “The mighty hero of extraordinary powers [...] is each of us: not the physical self visible in the mirror, but the king within” (365). What does he mean by this? How might an ordinary life resemble the hero’s journey? What prevents people from accepting the call to adventure, according to Campbell?