MonomythMonomyth

Part II

Crossing the First Threshold

The Crossing of the first threshold gets the hero out of the real world (and its relative safety) and thrusts him into this new, exciting, and dangerous dream-like world.

Often, he encounters a threshold guardian (generally a powerful monster) he must best in some sort of trial.

Threshold Guardians

The hyenas - even though they are evicting Simba rather than trying to keep him out of the new, dangerous world

The Wicked Witch of the East - Thankfully, Dorothy’s house eliminated her

The Cicones who significantly reduce Odysseus’ crew

The threshold guardian in Bless the Beasts and Children is the boy’s own insecurities.– Best demonstrated by the boys’ adventure to

the movie theater to see The Professionals– Proves they can defeat the camp system and

can work together 

The Belly of the Whale

The hero is fully engaged in a place of supernatural shadows.

Low point emotionally for Hero dream-like place that carries symbolic

meanings– Ex: In Red Riding Hood story the Belly of the

whale is the woods – scary, filled with adventure, and dangerous.

– Woods serve as a symbolic representation of our inner psychological growth during adolescence from naïve innocence of childhood to the darker realities of adulthood.

Belly of Whale Examples:

For Simba, the Belly of the Whale is the desert outside of the Pride Lands where he almost dies. This represents the utter despair of being cast out of a group alliance.

The field of poppies Dorothy encounters on the way to the Emerald city is Dorothy’s Belly of the Whale. Again despair, and its accompanying desire to give-up is seen.

The Underworld, where Odysseus meets with the shades of Tiresias and his mother– symbolizes obedience or the lack of obedience

to a higher authority

The land between Box Canyon Boy’s Camp (the diner, Flagstaf, etc) and the buffalo perserve is the Belly of the Whale– symbolically representing man’s greed and

cruelty

Initiation

The second major stage of the monomyth – primarily the hero’s testing stage where he

encounters a series of tests designed to teach him the values and mores of his culture

– story becomes more individualized as each author presents the most important values and mores from his or her society

Inside the Initiation

The Road of Trials Meeting with the Goddess The Temptation Father Atonement Apotheosis The Ultimate Boon

The Road of Trials

Trials (tests) greet the hero. If the hero fails a test, under certain circumstances, as in The Odyssey, the hero may get a redo.

During these trials his helpers may provide specific help for the hero.

Tests represent important values of culture or traits that culture desires in an idealized member of society.

Examples of Trials

Simba faces a test of adaptability when he decides to eat grubs, rather than zebra.

Dorothy encounters a trial of friendship and sacrifice when she risks her life to save the Scarecrow from the Wicked Witch of the West’s fire.

Odysseus faces trials of leadership with the Cicones and the Lotus Eaters.

All heroes face a trial of sacrifice at one point. As a Christ-figure many of Cotton’s trials are tests of sacrifice.– Inviting the losers into his cabin is a sacrifice

of his status– Giving up his dream of joining the marines is

a sacrifice – Attacking the Apaches during the baseball

game is a sacrifice, since he knows he cannot win

Meeting with the Goddess

(Sacred Marriage)

Some heros will encounter a powerful woman who symbolically represents the unification of the inner self (anima) and the outer self (persona).

Jung theorized that to become whole an individual must understand both the anima, which takes on the characterstics of the opposite gender, and the persona, which is the face (and obviously the gender) an individual shows the world.

This stage is about the hero coming to grip with his own self-identity.

Examples

Simba is reunited with a much older and definitely more alluring Nala who reminds him of his commitments  

Dorothy, as a female, finds The Wizard, and discovers that true power is within herself

Odysseus encounters Calypso who offers him immortality as well as herself. 

John Cotton, as a Christ-figure, does not encounter a Goddess

The Temptation

Sometimes represented as a woman who may lure the hero away from the Goddess, temptation may also show up as a general temptation.

If this shows up in the monomyth, it is a test in which the hero must prove himself worthy of the Goddess by resisting the temptation.

 

Examples

Arthur in The Once and Future King falls to his temptation, his half-sister Morgause, and this eventually leads to the destruction of his kingdom. It is interesting to note that Guenever is always barren in these stories, perhaps a punishment for Arthur’s failure to resist temptation. 

At Alcinous’ Hall, Odysseus is tempted by Alcinous’ daughter (as well as her father) who offers him his daughter and his kingdom as an inheritance. At this point though, Odysseus has finally realized the importance of home and so he resists the temptation.

Odysseus does not face a father atonement, per se. Unless you take the view that Poseidon’s big character flaw is his hubris, which is also Odysseus’ so that by triumphing over his hubris (the last test Odysseus faces) he has in essence conquered his inner father demon.

Cotton does not have a father atonement, since one can argue as a Christ-figure he has not wronged his father, nor is his father an evil character.

Father Atonement

Hero faces a trial that pits him against his symbolic father

Hero must come to understand his place in society, he is not a reproduction of his father

symbolically represents the time in life in which a young person loves and respects a parent, but may disagree with that parent on certain issues

an analysis of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses.

Examples Simba faces Scar, his uncle. In essence Simba must

choose to become like Scar, or to become like Mufasa, who represents the noble and idealized member of society.

Dorothy faces the Wicked Witch of the West. Once she faces this fear, she learns that its power wasn’t really all that great. Here the witch represents the parts of Dorothy’s self she fears, the wicked, nasty parts in all of us that we try not to acknowledge.