The final stage of the heroic journey is the hero’s return to their old life, which shows the progress that the hero has made and how far they have truly come. This stage starts with the refusal of the return, where the hero is kept from returning home either by their own wish to stay in the other world or by an outside force. Campbell explains this as, “The full round, the norm of the monomyth, requires that the hero shall now begin the labor of bringing the runes of wisdom, the Golden Fleece, or his sleeping princess, back into the kingdom of humanity” (Hero 179). Though the hero may not want to return to their old life, they must do so in order to complete their journey. The hero is then met with the magic flight, where something triggers…show more content… With Sam, he refuses to be the hero and leaves the monsters to his dad and brother while running away to go to college. In a similar way, Aang refuses to let his status as the Avatar interfere with his daily life and runs away from the air temple, ultimately refusing to become the hero they want him to be. In this connection, both journeys begin to intertwine and show their connection through monomyth. Huck Finn has a similar experience to Aang and Sam’s refusals of the call, where he says, “Then he dropped down and went to sleep again- but what he had been saying give me the very idea I wanted. I says to myself, I can fix it now so nobody won’t think of following me” (Twain 24). Here, Huck is also running away from his home and into an unknown world, which showcases how monomyth truly connects different works. These two characters, though existing in different universes, time periods, and genres, are essentially one and the same. They are both responsible for the fate of the world, are frightened by this weight on their shoulders, and run away from their destinies. However, both ultimately decide to return for the good of the world, even if they do so reluctantly (DiMartino;
