hunger games hero's journey essay

The Hunger Games Essay: A Hero's Journey

The hero's journey is the way a hero in a story starts and ends. It has four main parts, with more ideas within each part. Those four parts being Call to Adventure, Initiation, Transformation, and Hero's return. In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen goes through this journey. Katniss goes through every part of the hero's journey.

In the first step to the hero's journey, Call to Adventure, is when the hero or main character starts their journey in becoming the hero. The call to adventure for Katniss begins at a ceremony called the reaping where a male and female tribute get chosen to compete in the hunger games and her sister Prim gets chosen but she volunteers to take her place. There are 3 steps to the Call to adventure, The ordinary world, Call to adventure, and refusal. The ordinary world were we see where they live and how they live. The call to adventure is when the hero is given there task. Lastly the refusal is when the hero refuses to accept the task. The ordinary world for Katniss is District 12, Panem were you have to hunt, trade and gather to survive like katniss said, “With both of us hunting daily, there are still nights when game has to be swapped for lard or shoelaces or wool, still nights when we go to bed with our stomachs growling.”. The Call to adventures when the reaping begins and her sister Prim is chosen to compete in the hunger games. Lastly, Refusal is when Katniss refuses to let Prim compete in the hunger games and says, “I volunteer as tribute!”

The Initiation is when the hero gets help, starts their adventure, and they meet their allies and enemies. Like the Call to Adventure there are also three parts to the initiation, mentor, crossing the threshold, and tests allies and enemies. The Mentor step is when the hero meets the person or mentor that helps them throughout their journey. Crossing the threshold is when the hero leaves the ordinary world to start their journey. And Tests allies and enemies is when they face challenges or tests and meet their friends and enemies. In the hunger Games, the mentor stage is when they meet Haymitch and he coaches them for the hunger games. The next step is crossing the threshold, this is when the hero leaves district 12 to the capitol to prepare for the games and again when they are sent to the arena. Finally, it tests allies and enemies, in the hunger games this happens at many points throughout the journey. The first ally Katniss meets is Peeta, he is the male tribute for the games and later she meets Rue, a younger girl who helps her destroy the enemies supplies but later dies. The enemies are introduced when Katniss is chased up a tree by a group called the careers, this is also where she faces a task of getting rid of them so she decides to cut down a branch with a tracker-jacket nest  to try and scare them or kill them.

The next step, transformation, is when the hero faces their final task and loses something important to them but also gets their reward. The three parts to transformation are approach, ordeal, and treasure. The approach is when the hero starts to fight the final conflict but fails and has to go back and prepare to return with allies to fight, and then the ordeal is when the hero loses something but returns stronger than before. And the treasure is when the hero kills the final conflict and gets there reward. In The hunger games the approach step is when Peeta was injured and the had to stop and recover before they fight. The ordeal is when there realize there can only be one winner so they decide to both commit suicide but the gamekeepers change the rule for this so they both win. Lastly, the treasure is when Katniss and Peeta both win and get to go home to their family.

The last step of The Hero's Journey is the road back or the hero's return. The three steps for this are road back, growth, and reward. The road back is what the hero goes through to get home to the ordinary world. Growth is when the heroes accept the consequences of what happened throughout their journey. The last part is the reward which is when the hero returns home to the ordinary but changed world. In the hunger games the road back is when katniss had to deal with the capital being upset with her for how she ended the games. Growth is when they have accepted their new life in district 12. In the end the reward is when they finally get home and get to stay in district 12 and Katniss and Peeta give their district and others hope for the future....

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Hero's Journey

Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or her swag? Yeah, scholar Joseph Campbell noticed first—in 1949. He wrote The Hero with a Thousand Faces , in which he outlined the 17 stages of a mythological hero's journey.

About half a century later, Christopher Vogler condensed those stages down to 12 in an attempt to show Hollywood how every story ever written should—and, uh, does —follow Campbell's pattern. We're working with those 12 stages, so take a look. (P.S. Want more? We have an entire Online Course devoted to the hero's journey.)

Ordinary World

We see the ordinary world before the Hunger Games begin, and frankly, it stinks. There's fences and wires up everywhere, the TV's all "mandatory viewing this" and "you must comply" that, and Katniss frankly has no use for it at all. She periodically sneaks out of the fence to go hunting in the woods; it's the only time she feels at peace or contented. Both she and Panem are pretty complacent when we find them. Time to do a little shaking up.

Call To Adventure

It's not hard to see the call coming. Effie Trinket and the selection ceremony for the Hunger Games start Katniss off on her perilous adventure. In true Campbellian fashion, she's not doing it for herself but to protect the people she's leaving behind. In this case, it's her sister Prim, who's been selected as Tribute and who Katniss will do anything to keep safe.

It's also interesting to note that in many ways, this call to adventure is just business as usual: there've been 73 of these things before now, after all, and everyone's more or less become used to them. The only difference is that Katniss volunteers, something that hasn't happened in District 12 before. It's a signal that this time, things aren't going to go entirely as planned.

Refusal of The Call

We can't say too much here because of spoilers for future Hunger Games adaptations, but as far as this story is concerned, ain't no refusal going on. Katniss steps up when the call is given and terrifying as the Games may be, she's not going back.

Meeting The Mentor

Modern girls don't have to settle for just one mentor. In the future, they get a whole team. The big kahuna is Haymitch, who may be drunk as a skunk, but certainly understands the politics involved, as well as the things Katniss needs to do to succeed in the Games. She gets a back-up mentor in Cinna, and even Effie and her team help out when they need to. Team Katniss is armed and fabulous. Believe it or not, they may give her everything she needs to survive.

Crossing the Threshold

You might think that crossing the threshold starts when Katniss enters the arena. But it actually takes place much earlier than that—as soon as Katniss is pulled off of the stage and starts her journey to the Capitol. It has all of the hallmarks of a classic fairy tale: a speedy means of moving (the train), magic food and goodies on the way, and even a surly drunk for entertainment.

Tests, Allies, Enemies

The tests take place before the Hunger Games start. In the Capitol as Katniss has to earn attention, gain sponsors and keep from being blinded by the dazzling teeth of Caesar Flickerman. Her guides and mentors offering sound advice, and she gets a boost from allies like Peeta and her new buddy Rue. We recognize the Careers as enemies before things even get going in the arena.

Approach to The Inmost Cave

The innermost cave is most definitely the Games themselves: an enclosed arena from which there's no escape.

Mutant wasps, evil Careers, poisonous berries, fire—you name it, and the arena has it, ready to push Katniss to the limit before she finally earns victory.

Reward (Seizing The Sword)

The reward comes when Cato is finally eaten alive, leaving Katniss and Peeta alone in the arena. They're both saved by the virtue of an eleventh-hour rules change letting them claim victory together instead of butchering each other for the pleasure of a live audience. Except….

The Road Back

The Capitol changes the rules again after they've won, forcing them to choose who gets to live. That's dirty pool, and it marks just one of a number of very bad tactical decisions on the Capitol's part.

Resurrection

Katniss and Peeta still have one trick up their sleeve. They can both eat the poison berries, denying the Capitol the sight of them killing each other; it could them into martyrs to a potential revolution. They mean it, and the Capitol backs down in the face of their self-sacrifice/blackmail.

Return With The Elixir

Peeta and Katniss survive, and now get to enjoy their reward: a life of privilege and luxury for as long as they refrain from drinking themselves to death. But in truth, the elixir is a lot more than that. By defying the Capitol and earning status as a beloved celebrity in the process, Katniss now becomes an example to stir the people's hearts. Do we sense a revolution brewing? The elixir might be that thing that Snow fears is dangerous in large doses: hope.

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W hy's T his F unny?

The Hero’s Journey: A Classic Story Structure

Writing a compelling story, especially if you’re new at this, can be grueling.  

Conflicting advice online can overwhelm you, making you want to quit before you’ve written a word.

But you know more than you think.

Stories saturate our lives. We talk, think, and communicate with story in music, on television, in video games, in books, and in movies.

Every story, regardless of genre or plot , features a main character who begins some adventure or quest, overcomes obstacles, and is transformed.

This is generically referred to as The Hero’s Journey, a broad story template popularized by Joseph Campbell in his The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).

In essence, every story ever told includes at least some of the seventeen stages he outlined .

In 1985, screenwriter Christopher Vogler wrote a memo for Disney titled The Practical Guide to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces that condensed the seventeen steps to twelve.

The Hero’s Journey template has influenced storytellers worldwide, most notably George Lucas (creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones ).

Vogler says of Campbell’s writings: “The ideas are older than the pyramids, older than Stonehenge, older than the earliest cave painting.”

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a prime example of The Hero’s Journey, so I use “she” inclusively to represent both genders.

• The 3 Hero’s Journey Stages

1. The Departure (Separation)

The hero is compelled to leave her ordinary world.

She may have misgivings about this compulsion, and this is where a mentor may come to encourage and guide her.

Example: Katniss Everdeen is a devoted sister, daughter, and friend. She’s an avid hunter, well acquainted with the forbidden forest outside District 12, where she and her friend Gale hunt to keep their families from starving. The Hunger Games, wherein only one winner survives,  loom, and she fears she or one of her friends will be chosen. 

2. Initiation

The hero crosses into the other world, where she faces obstacles.

Sometimes she’s alone, sometimes she’s joined by a companion. Maybe a few.

Here she must use the tools she’s been given in her ordinary life to overcome each obstacle. She’ll be rewarded, sometimes tangibly.

Eventually she must return to the ordinary world with her reward.

Example: District 12’s Representative and Stylist Effie Trinket arrives to choose the Tributes who will compete in The Hunger Games. 

Katniss and her family attend, and she breathlessly wills Effie not to draw her name. She gets her wish, but to her horror, her little sister Primrose is chosen. 

Peacekeepers shove Prim toward the stage before Katniss volunteers to take her place. She’s joined by the male tribute, the baker’s son Peeta. They are soon whisked away for training and then the competition. 

The hero crosses the threshold back into her ordinary world, which looks different now. She brings with her the rewards and uses them for good.

Example: Unexpectedly, Katniss and Peeta are told there can be two victors instead of one. But Katniss and Peeta, to the dismay of the Capitol, decide they’ll die together or emerge as victors together. They emerge not only as victors, but also as celebrities. They have changed in unimaginable ways. 

• The 12 Hero’s Journey Steps (and How to Use Them)

1 — Ordinary  World

Before your hero is transported to another world, we want to see her in her ordinary world—who is she when no one is watching? What drives her?

This sets the stage for the rest of your story , so show her human side. Make her real and knowable.

But don’t wait long to plunge her into terrible trouble. Once you give your readers a reason to care, give them more to keep them turning the pages.

Example: Katniss Everdeen is introduced as a teenager for whom life isn’t easy. Her father is dead, her mother depressed, and Katniss will do anything to provide for her family and protect her little sister. 

2 — The Call to Adventure

This is the point at which your hero’s world can never be the same. A problem, a challenge, or an adventure arises—is she up to the challenge?

Example: The Reaping, where Katniss volunteers to take Prim’s place. 

3 — Refusal of the Call

Occasionally, a hero screeches to a halt before the adventure begins. When faced with adversity, she hesitates, unsure of herself.

She must face her greatest fears and forge ahead.

Example: There is no refusal of the call in The Hunger Games. Katniss eagerly steps forward. 

4 — Meeting With the Mentor

The mentor may be an older individual who offers wisdom, a friend, or even an object, like a letter or map.

Whatever the form, the mentor gives your hero the tools she needs for the journey—either by inspiring her, or pushing her in the direction she needs to go.

Example: Katniss is introduced to Haymitch the minute she reaches the stage to accept the challenge. He’s the only person from District 12 to have ever won The Hunger Games. She’s not initially impressed, but he eventually becomes her biggest ally. 

5 — Crossing the First Threshold

In the final step of the departure phase, your hero musters the courage to forge ahead, and the real adventure begins.

There’s no turning back.

By now, you’ve introduced your hero and given your readers a reason to care what happens to her. You should have also introduced the underlying theme of your story .

Why is it important for your hero to accomplish this task?

What are the stakes?

What drives her?

Example: Katniss is transported via train to the Capitol to begin training for The Hunger Games. She’s promised Prim she’ll do everything in her power to return home.

Your hero is laser focused, but this is the point at which she faces her first obstacle. She will meet her enemies and be forced to build alliances. She will be tested and challenged.

Can she do it?

What does she learn in this initiation phase?

Example: Katniss meets her competitors for the first time during training and is able to watch them to get a sense of what challenges lie ahead.  

6 — Tests, Allies, and Enemies

Things have shifted in the new world. Danger lies ahead. Alliances are formed, chaos ensues.

Your hero may fail tests she’s confronted with at first, but her transformation begins. She has the ability and knowledge to accomplish her tasks, but will she succeed?

Example: The Hunger Games begin. Tributes die. Katniss fights without water or a weapon. Her allies are Peeta and young Rue (the 12-year-old Tribute from District 11). The strongest players have illegally spent their young lives training for The Hunger Games and loom as her enemies from the start. 

7 — Approach to the Inmost Cave

Your hero approaches danger—often hidden, sometimes more mental than physical. She must face her greatest fears time again and may even be tempted to give up. She has to dig deep to find courage.

Example: Katniss is in the arena, the games underway. There’s no escape. She’s seen death, fears she may be next, and must find water and a weapon to survive. 

8 — The Ordeal

Your hero’s darkest moment and greatest challenge so far, in a fight for her life, she must find a way to endure to the end.

This may or may not be the climax of your story, but it is the climax of the initiation stage.

During this terrible ordeal, the steepest part of her character arc takes place.

Example: Katniss faces dying of thirst (if she’s not killed by another Tribute first) and faces every obstacle imaginable, including the death of Rue, before she finally wins the battle. 

9 — Reward (Seizing the Sword)

Against all odds, your hero survives. She’s defeated her enemies , slain her dragons—she has overcome and won the reward.

Whether her reward is tangible depends on the story. Regardless, your hero has undergone a total inward and outward transformation.

Example: Peeta and Katniss stand alone in the arena, told that because they are from the same district they can both claim the victory—or can they?

10 — The Road Back

As she begins to cross the threshold back into the ordinary world, she learns the battle isn’t finished.

She must face the consequences for her actions during the initiation stage.

She’s about to face her final obstacle.

Example: The Capitol reverses and announces that only one winner will be allowed. 

11 — The Resurrection

During this climax of your story, your hero faces her final, most threatening challenge.

She may even face death one more time.

Example: Katniss and Peeta decide that if they can’t win together, there will be no winner. They decide to call the Capitol’s bluff and threaten to die together. As they are about to eat poison berries, the Capitol is forced to allow two winners. 

12 — Return With the Elixir

Your hero finally crosses the threshold back into her ordinary life, triumphant. Only things aren’t so ordinary anymore.

She’s been changed by her adventure. She brings with her rewards, sometimes tangible items she can share, sometimes insight or wisdom. Regardless, this all impacts her life in ways she never imagined.

Example: Katniss and Peeta return home celebrities. They’re given new homes, plenty of food to share, and assistants who tend to their needs. Katniss learns that her defiance of the Capitol has sparked a revolution in the hearts of residents all across Panem. 

• Hero’s Journey Examples

You may recognize The Hero’s Journey in many famous stories, including Greek Mythology and even the Bible. Other examples:

• Sleeping Beauty
• Lord of the Rings
• Indiana Jones
• Sherlock Holmes
• Pilgrim’s Progress
• The Wizard of Oz
• Should You Use The Hero’s Journey Story Structure?

Structure is necessary to a story , regardless which you choose. Because the Hero’s Journey serves as a template under which all story structures fall, each bears some variation of it.

For fiction or nonfiction, your story structure determines how effectively you employ drama, intrigue, and tension to grab readers from the start and keep them to the end.

For more on story structure, visit my blog post 7 Story Structures Any Writer Can Use .

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How to Teach the Hero’s Journey: Engaging Students with the Monomyth Story Structure

Looking for advice on how to teach the Hero’s Journey in your secondary ELA class? Between a unit outline, a list of teachable titles, and engaging activities, this post is just what you need to get started.

What defines a hero?

That’s the simple question I love to open with when teaching the Hero’s Journey in secondary ELA. The best part? As students partake in an engaging discussion about their favorite heroes and the qualities that make them so great, they are unknowingly laying the foundation for your lesson. Because what your students might not realize is that all heroes, no matter who they are, where they come from, or what heroic quest they complete, all have something in common.

And that, my teacher friend, is the essence of the Hero’s Journey.

Keep reading to learn more about teaching the Hero’s Journey and my best tips for making it an engaging voyage for your students.

What Is the Hero’s Journey and Why Is It Important?

The Hero’s Journey is a classic narrative pattern that traces the transformative trek of a protagonist from their ordinary world into the unknown. During this journey, the character sets out on some form of adventure, meets mentors along the way, faces various obstacles, and overcomes challenges. In the end, they return home a hero equipped with newfound knowledge, perspective, or a physical object for the greater good.

This archetypal structure is as old as time and can be found in myths, legends, and stories throughout history. However, it’s widely used in modern literature and cinema as well. Luke Skywalker? Hero. Katniss Everdeen? Hero. The same can be said for characters ranging from Harry Potter to Spiderman. The Hero’s Journey can be traced throughout movies like Finding Nemo , The Lion King , The Wizard of Oz , Moana , Frozen , and even Shrek . I mean the list goes on and on.

Why Teach the Hero’s Journey?

By exploring this archetypal pattern, students can recognize and analyze the deeper meaning behind a wide variety of narratives, fostering critical thinking, empathy, and a deeper appreciation for storytelling. However, the importance of The Hero’s Journey extends beyond literature—and that’s really why it’s important.

The Hero’s Journey is a reflection of a universal human experience of growth and self-discovery. (What teenager can’t relate to that?) Therefore, students can apply the monomyth to their own lives. They can take what they learned and use it to see their inner hero as they answer their own calls to adventures, face challenges, conquer their fears, and come out on the other side with newfound insights and knowledge.

It’s this real-life connection that gives the Hero’s Journey its true power and explains why the literary framework has stood the test of time.

What Are the 12 Stages of the Hero’s Journey?

The Hero’s Journey can be broken down into 12 main phases. While not all heroes experience every stage in the same way, it goes a little something like this:

• The Ordinary World:  An introduction to the protagonist’s everyday life, relationships, and any challenges or limitations they face are first introduced.
• The Call to Adventure:  The protagonist receives a compelling invitation or challenge that initiates the on the heroic journey.
• Refusal of the Call:  The protagonist resists the call to adventure due to fear, doubt, or a sense of inadequacy.
• Meeting the Mentor:  The protagonist encounters a mentor figure who provides guidance, advice, and assistance needed for the journey.
• Crossing the Threshold:  The protagonist leaves the familiar and ordinary world behind and enters the unknown.
• Tests, Allies, and Enemies:  The protagonist encounters various obstacles,enemies, and allies that test their will, determination and character.
• Approach to the Inmost Cave:  The protagonist prepares for a significant challenge or confrontation, symbolizing their innermost fears, doubts, or weaknesses.
• Ordeal:  The protagonist is pushed to their limits when faced with their greatest challenge, undergoing a transformative experience.
• Reward:  After overcoming the ordeal, the protagonist is rewarded with something, often knowledge, that empowers them to continue their journey.
• The Road Back:  The protagonist begins a journey back to the ordinary world.
• Resurrection:  They face a final challenge, where they must apply everything they have learned and experienced.
• Return with the Elixir:  The protagonist returns and is reunited with the ordinary world, having been transformed by “the elixir”—an object, knowledge, or insight—for the greater good.

How to Teach the Hero’s Journey

Want to maintain student engagement throughout the trek of teaching the Hero’s Journey? Read through the steps below for an easy-to-follow outline to bring the narrative pattern to life in your classroom.

Step 1: Begin with a Conversation

Before formally introducing the concept, get students thinking (and engaged) with a simple conversation. Consider your essential questions for the unit and let them guide your initial discussion. Have students reflect on the heroes in their lives, asking them to work together to define what makes a hero in the first place. Here are a few questions you can use to get started:

• What does it mean to be a hero?
• Who do you consider as heroes in your life?
• Do all heroes share certain traits?
• Are heroes born or made?
• How can an individual change by taking heroic action?
• Do heroes have responsibilities to themselves? To others? To Society?
• What draws us to stories about heroes, real or fiction?

Step 2: Introduce the Concept

Next, provide students with a clear definition of the Hero’s Journey and explain its 12 stages. It’s helpful to use visual aids such as diagrams or infographics to help students visualize the structure as a full circle and transformative journey. Additionally, you can incorporate brief videos, like this TED-Ed , to provide an overview of the journey, too.

Step 3: Start with Low-Stakes Application

Once students understand what the Hero’s Journey is, have them work together to think of relevant examples of characters or plotlines that follow the pattern. As a class, create a list of familiar characters in popular movies and books that they believe represent the Hero’s Journey. This is a low-stakes way to get them to start applying the concept. Note: You do not need to dive into deep analysis here. Don’t worry, that comes next.

Step 3: Analyze Examples

Before diving into a more complex text, check for understanding using examples from well-known stories or films. Analyze a popular movie plot, working as a class to identify each stage of the Hero’s Journey. Pause to discuss the significance of key moments and check for comprehension. Encourage students to share their observations and interpretations of the Hero’s Journey along the way.

Strive to incorporate modern examples of the Hero’s Journey that resonate with your students’ interests and experiences. This will heighten student engagement and help them see the relevance of the Hero’s Journey in their own lives.

Step 4: Bring in the Literature

Whether you decide to teach the Hero’s Journey using short stories or a novel, select texts that provide clear examples of the narrative pattern. If this is the first time your students are working with the Hero’s Journey, analyze the selected literature together to ensure understanding along the way. Scaffold the analysis by using a mix of read-alouds, turn and talks, group work, class discussions, comprehension questions, and quick writes. Additionally, have students track the progress of the Hero’s journey in their notes or using a graphic organizer.

Step 5: Apply Student Knowledge

Provide students with various opportunities to apply their knowledge of the Hero’s Journey through writing assignments, creative projects , or group presentations. Start with simple tasks, such as identifying the stages in a short story, and gradually move towards more complex projects, like crafting their own Hero’s Journey narratives or writing a literary analysis essay .

What to Read When Teaching the Hero’s Journey?

Whether you’re looking to pull excerpts or to dive into full-length texts, here are some engaging titles you can use in your secondary classroom when teaching the Hero’s Journey:

● The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien ● Life of Pi by Yann Martel ● To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee ● The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain ● Lord of the Flies by William Golding ● The Odyssey by Homer ● The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho ● The Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum ● The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ● The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan ● Holes by Louis Sachar ● Divergent by Veronica Roth ● Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling

On the other hand, if you’re looking for short stories for teaching the Hero’s Journey, read this post here.  

Exciting Activities to Engage Students with the Hero’s Journey

Whether you’re looking for formative check-ins or summative assessments, here are some engaging activities that give your students an opportunity to shine as the Hero in their learning journey:

• Hero’s Journey Roadmap: Play up the “adventure” element by encouraging students to design a creative roadmap to express the various stages of the Hero’s Journey. Adapt this activity to reflect the 12 stages or the narrative structure in general or map out a specific character’s experience. Either way, encourage students to use images, quotes, and symbols to enhance this visual representation.
• Everyday Heroes: While we associate the term “hero” with characters from comic books and movies, there are plenty of heroes among us. Therefore, this activity encourages students to take a closer look at the essential question, “What makes a hero?” Have students identify real-life heroes and present what their real-life version of this journey looks like. These figures can include historical figures, athletes, changemakers, activists, or even everyday people in their own community.
• Hero’s Journey Comparative Analysis: Assign students two texts, characters, or films that follow the Hero’s Journey. The twist? The plotlines should differ in genre, time period, or cultural context. Ask students to write a comparative analysis essay, exploring how the stages are portrayed in each text while highlighting that heroes come in all different shapes and sizes. To set students up for success, encourage them to start with a simple Venn diagram before translating the information into more thorough writing.
• Hero’s Journey in the Twitterverse : Students these days document everything on social media. So, why not document their learning? After reading a text, have students represent the character’s Hero’s Journey through a series of Tweets (or Instagram posts). Each post should highlight a specific stage in the journey. By the end, students should present 12 posts that showcase the character’s heroic transformation from start to finish. You can have students create dummy accounts or complete the activity using social media post templates.
• A Multigenre Monomyth: Rather than completing a classic character analysis, challenge students to create a multi-genre representation of a character’s Hero’s Journey. Whether students analyze a hero from a classroom text or from pop culture, have them explore said character’s journey through various genres. Each stage of the Hero’s Journey should be represented and analyzed through a different genre. In the end, they’ll have a multigenre representation of how the character undergoes transformation and overcomes challenges throughout the story.

Examples of genres include poetry, journal entries, abstract recipes, formal analysis, song lyrics, artwork, comic strips, maps, news articles, and more.

• Create Your Own Hero’s Journey: Encourage students to write their own Hero’s Journey stories. They can create original characters, outline the stages, and craft a compelling narrative that follows the pattern. Students can share their stories with the class or in small groups. As an alternative, have your students create the outline or story map for a short story that would follow the hero’s journey.

The activities above provide diverse ways for students to showcase their understanding of this narrative structure. Whichever activities you choose, your students are sure to showcase creativity, critical thinking, and engagement.

Final Thoughts on Teaching the Hero’s Journey

Before you begin your own heroic journey of teaching this beloved narrative pattern, remember that the Hero’s Journey is about much more than literature itself. Use the Hero’s Journey to engage students in the power of storytelling and self-discovery. Talk about real-world application!

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Hero's Journey — The Hero’s Journey: A Short Story

The Hero's Journey: a Short Story

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The epic poem Beowulf, which is believed to have been written in the late 10th century, tells the story of a great Scandinavian warrior named Beowulf who comes to the aid of King Hrothgar of the Danes. The poem is filled with [...]

In Toni Morrison's novel Beloved, the character of Sethe can be seen as a hero, although her actions may not fit the traditional image of a hero. Sethe's journey throughout the novel is one of survival, redemption, and [...]

In the beloved animated film, The Lion King, audiences are taken on a thrilling journey through the eyes of Simba, the young lion prince destined for greatness. As Simba navigates the challenges of his hero's journey, he must [...]

The concept of the hero has been a prevalent and enduring theme. Heroes are often portrayed as individuals who exhibit courage, strength, and selflessness in the face of adversity. One such hero who has captured the hearts and [...]

In the Disney movie Toy Story, Woodie, Andy’s cowboy toy, is an example of an universal hero who follows the twelves steps of The Hero’s Journey. The journey all begins with the introduction of the ordinary world, the toys’ life [...]

Archetypes are universal symbols or patterns that have been present in literature, art, and mythology for centuries. They serve as the building blocks of storytelling, representing fundamental human experiences and emotions. [...]

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