The Hero’s Journey The hero I have chosen is Meriwether Lewis. There are 12 parts to his journey. They are: the ordinary world, the call t adventure, refusal of the quest, accepting the call, entering the unknown, supernatural aid, a talisman, allies or helpers, tests and the supreme ordeal, rewards and the journey home, and, finally, master of two worlds and restoring the world. Captain Lewis’s ordinary world was uneventful. Lewis’s simple life consisted of advising President Jefferson, commanding the First U.S. Infantry Unit, and going to freemason meetings. The monomyth structure defines the ordinary world as a world considered uneventful by those who live in it. The call to adventure is when the heroes are called away from their ordinary world. Lewis was called away after Congress appropriated $2,500 to make an official military expedition to find a Northwest Passage through North America. Jefferson asked Meriwether if he wanted to lead the expedition. The monomyth definition of the refusal is when the hero is called to his/her own quest and they refuse in order that they may stay in their “safe haven.” When this happens, evil enters into the hero’s life. Lewis’s refusal was not really of his own doing. The American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia had brought the subject of The Northwest Passage before when Thomas Jefferson proposed the idea, ten years before he brought it to Congress in his presidency. But when Lewis volunteered to lead it at the age of 18, inexperienced and youthful, he was declined for these features. The consequence for this was that he had to wait ten years to lead the expedition. This step is one of the easier steps to accomplish for any hero. The “ball gets rolling” for Lewis after Jefferson suggested that 28 year-old Lewis be the expedition leader. Now, Lewis has the chance to accept his call. Needless to say, he does so with haste. The definition to this part is basically self explanatory, and after this part is completed they move to the next step of their quest. I think Lewis’s motive for accepting the call was that he wanted to explore out west. Now our hero will enter the first real change in his/her life. The definition is simply entering the new unknown world their adventure keeps its basic setting in. Lewis entered his unknown when he took his men onward into the wilds of the Louisiana Purchase across the Missouri River. Some creatures they would have seen would have been coyotes, prairie dogs, badgers, wolverines, bobcats, mountain beavers, bison, bighorn sheep, moose, antelope, grizzly bears, and the dead whale. Lewis almost died before it began when he slipped of a cliff but hung on for dear life before pulling himself up. The Rocky Mountains were also a threat to all the corps for the crossed during winter so they almost froze and starved to death. The new world had one almost universal rule, and that was to be honest and courteous to others. The supernatural aid is received from someone who has mastered this new world before and has come to help our new hero on their quest. The instructors of the unknown that I associate with supernatural aid are Gandalf, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Leonard Nimoy Spock (in the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movies), and Yoda. The whole corps’ aids would have been Old Toby and Drouillard. But Seaman, Lewis’s dog, could be considered Lewis’s personal guide. Old Toby directed them through the mountains. Drouillard helped bring in meat for the men, and tracked Indian and game trails. Seaman stayed with Lewis and made him happy in his depression. Talismans, by definition are special items that assist heroes on quests. But talismans are sometimes defined only as magical necklaces. The talismans that helped the corps could be considered as rifles to hunt, tomahawks to chop wood, pirogues to traverse the rivers, and trade goods used
