Joseph Campbell Hero Myth

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Joseph Campbell in the twentieth century was well known for interpreting mythology. He came up with the hero myths and theory that all these countries and places that have no relationship with each other tell the same story because it relates to the human race. The struggle, the problems, the good, the bad in people’s lives.The myth I chose is from Japan and like Mwindo was “orally told from 1392-1573 then the oldest current written down one was from 1688” (Wikipedia). The main plot line of this myth is that an old man and wife have no kids and tend some land and one day the wife finds an enormous peach going down the river. They are about to eat the peach and a little boy pops out. He works and tends the land with his new parents. Then one day decides to go on a quest to fight some demons on this island that terrorize the people and do not follow the laws of the land. He comes out victorious and becomes a national hero. Momotaro is an example of Campbell’s monomyth of the hero.

Campbell’s idea of departure has five main parts. The first one is the Call to adventure where the hero gets a quest or something to go into the unknown. The next part is the refusal of the call, where the hero makes some excuse and is kind of scared from doing this mission. After that it is supernatural aid and that is the magical helpers that help guide the hero to his success. Then, crossing the threshold is when the hero leaves the known and heads towards the …show more content…
One of these trials Momotaro faces is when he gathers the three allies, the dog, pheasant and monkey. He had to persuade some of them to even bribe some of his rations, the best cake in Japan, to get them to go on the quest. Fighting the demons and realizing he has to save people is a trial in itself. Then we can extrapolate that the long journey from the valleys and grasslands up to the mountains was a task for the

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