Cheryl Strayeds Wild according to Joseph Campbell's Theory about The Hero With a Thousand Faces - Term Paper Example

Cheryl Strayed’s Wild according to Joseph Campbells Theory about The Hero With a Thousand Faces Cheryl Strayed corresponds to Joseph Campbell’s theory about the hero. Strayed writes in her book Wild (2012) how she decided to hike over a thousand miles on the Pacific Crest Trait that stretches from Mojave Desert through Oregon and California to Washington State. Campbell’s theory of heroism states how the hero experiences the power and then comes back to help others. Strayed writes the nonfiction inspirational book after completing her impulsive journey, she is a hero. 1. Departure. The Call to Adventure. “A blunder—apparently the merest chance—reveals an unsuspected world” (Campbell 46) There is tremendous correlation between Campbell’s theory and Strayed’s adventure. Campbell writes in the first chapter of his book how an adventure ensues. By relating to the story of the frog who trusts the princess, Campbell tells how an adventure starts. A mistake is not really a mistake, it is the ripple on the surface of water, caused by an agent. It doesn’t happen on its own, there is a cause and according to Freudian analysis, it is the conflict and suppressed feelings that cause it. Strayed did not make a blunder but she needed to hit the bottom line in her life to start her journey. Her mother dies, she files for divorce and literally reaches the point in her life where she has nothing more to lose; the best time to act impulsively. It is this time when, figuratively speaking, one cannot make a mistake. When there is no loss, they can take the risk they have been fearing all their lives. Due to this blunder, the bottom low, a person can relate to forces that cannot be fully understood. “I didn’t know. I only knew that it was time to go, so I opened the door and stepped into the light.” (Strayed 39) Refusal of the Call. “…we encounter the dull case of the call unanswered; for it is always possible to turn the ear to other interests.” (Campbell 54) Strayed’s refusal to the ‘call’ occurred when she got married. She tried to adjust herself in the ordinary, turning the ear the other way from the call. She tried to ‘refuse the summons’ (Campbell 54). By indulging in the ordinary she went against Campbell’s profile of a hero and turned her adventure into negative. She tried wall herself in boredom and hardwork (she was serving as a waitress paying off her student loan) but it didn’t work out for her, eventually she learned that she could not live like that anymore. This realization is essential to give the hero that final push. “…the grim realization of what it meant to do it, followed by the decision to quit doing it” (Strayed 41) “They were raped and decapitated. Tortured and left for dead. But…I could not allow such thoughts to distract me.” (Strayed 41) Supernatural Aid. “The first encounter of the hero-journey is with a protective figure (often a little old crone or old man) who provides the adventurer.” (Campbell 63) Supernatural is a very broad term. It does not necessarily have to be religious. Every hero has this kind of aid. Sometimes it is the wisdom of an old man or spirit. As Campbell points in his book “protective figure (often a little old crone or old man)” (Campbell 63). With Strayed, it was nothing like that but she did have her protection with her; herself! To understand this supernatural understanding Strayed’s life history is crucial. The name Strayed is fictitious, like a curse word she invented for herself for she had been unfaithful to her husband to the point where their marriage broke off (Shapiro, 2012). Her guilt gave her the supernatural strength to take risks. Strayed’s courage also stems from her wild nature; a supernatural aid. She had no experience of wilderness, no training, she also didn’t complete her college degree at the time when she was about to set off on this adventure. May be the urge to prove to herself or to discover her true potential she needed to test her strengths and fears. While in the middle of nowhere, the branch outside her tent broke off that made her scared but she chanted to herself “I am not afraid” (Strayed 73). Strayed did not ask Jesus to help her, or any other divine power, she simply believed her inner strength. It was discovery of herself and finding what she loves doing, it was her supernatural aid; “I loved getting lost in the rhythm of my steps and the click of my ski pole against the trail; the silence and the songs and sentences in my head.” (Strayed 210) The Crossing of the First Threshold. “…until he comes to the ‘threshold guardian’ at the entrance to the zone of magnified power.” (Campbell 71) Strayed came across many threshold guardians where she had to take the step forward into the unknown. Behind her was society, her mundane job, and her efforts of fitting in with the norm, and in front of her was danger and excitement. Campbell gives taste of Columbus’s vessel and its bold sailors how they overcame the fear of dragons and mermaids to discover North America. Apparently Strayed had to face herself, she was the threshold guardian in the way of her own destiny. Strayed’s book does not list any particular enemy other than her own oblivion. As she explains it was her decision to leave for Pacific Crest Trail. She didn’t have to prove herself to anyone but her own; “There was the first, flip decision to do it, followed by the second, more serious decision to actually do it…” (Strayed 14) 2. Initiation. The Road of Trials. “Once having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he must survive a succession of trials.” (Campbell 89) Strayed went on to the road full of trials. She knew what was coming. She set off on a journey with very little money. She would walk the whole day and slept in a tent. Her shoes got torn; “I looked down at my bare feet, staring at them for a long moment, then began repairing my sandals with duct tape as best I could, sealing the bottoms back together and reinforcing the straps where they threatened to detach. Sandals” (Strayed 161). The road to her trial began by disobeying the god of the society; money. “Our whole society is designed so that you have to have money.” (Sundeen 18) Return Refusal of the Return After the hero has met the source, achieved nirvana, or transformed then; “…the adventurer still must return with his life-transmuting trophy.” (Campbell 179) It is this trophy that lures the audience to the hero’s story. This inspires ordinary people to the point where they start worshipping the hero. Towards the end of journey, there is the moment to sum up the experience, wisdom and enlightenment and take it to those who need it. But the end is also one of the toughest that make one doubt the true purpose and progress of their journey. The refusal to return is a part of this challenge; the hero needs to overcome it and return to the worshippers. Upon leaving California, Strayed had similar feelings. The feeling of making the wilderness their home. Odysseus, Homer’s famous character suffers similar feelings when he stops thinking about going back home. He gets stranded at an island for seven years and loses all hopes of going back. Sometimes the hero’s journey can be very addictive. The nirvana can be euphoric, as Strayed describes it; “I was entering. I was leaving…. I didn’t feel like a big fat idiot anymore. I felt fierce and humble and gathered up inside, like I was safe in this world too.” (Strayed 180) Freedom to Live. At the end of the journey the hero possesses untold secrets from the journey. At the end lies the new beginning. Campbell’s theory talks about this beginning as the freedom to live, a form of rebirth. A process of purification. This is presented by communicating the secrets to others. In mythology it is the end of a great story that inspires people; “…have to be followed through all their implications before they open out the full system of correspondences” The hero is the translator and interpreter of the secrets. Strayed completed her journey and returned to her life. But this life was hers, where she had reinvented herself. Her journey was a rebirth, a form of purification. She had to reveal her secret to the world now. She had found her freedom to live and now she wanted to live it in retrospect. “…the secret I’d always told myself finally revealed.” (Strayed 236) Campbell’s breakdown of mythological heroes describes common aspects among heroes. It can also be considered a guidebook as to what makes a hero. Strayed might not fulfil all the commandments to qualify Campbell’s hero but she is a hero according to his theory. She did venture out and gained an unbelievable experience and came back to the common people to be praised and inspired. References Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1968. Print. Shapiro, Dani. "The High Road." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. . Strayed, Cheryl. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. Print. Sundeen, Mark. The Man Who Quit Money. New York: Riverhead, 2012. Print. Read More