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The Monomyth of Harry Potter Essay Example

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The Monomyth of Harry Potter Essay Example
THE MONOMYTH OF HARRY POTTER The heroic monomyth (also known as the Hero's Journey) describes the common stages of a hero's journey found in many stories. Joseph Campbell first described the monomyth in 1949 in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”. Although the nature of the monomyth may not be appealing to everyone, it is very interesting to those who actually take the time to learn about it and how it applies to stories and movies in today's modern world. Take for example, popular movies, stories, and comics such as the Matrix, Star Wars, the Ender's Game, and the Lord of the Rings. The protagonists in these movies go through the same stages: Departure, Initiation, and Return. This essay will discuss the five stages of monomyth in Harry Potter; ”The Call to Adventure”, “Belly of The Whale”, “Atonement with the Father”, “The Ultimate Boon” and “Freedom to Live”. First of all from the “Separation” part, “Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone” discuss ”The Call to Adventure”. The hero’s journey starts with a call and the hero has o leave from his/her home. In “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, shortly before Harry's eleventh birthday, the letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry comes to Harry, but Uncle Vernon destroys it before Harry can read it. The series of the same letter are sent Dusley’s house by magic or owls. Finally Vernon decides to move to another place to get away from the letters. Vernon takes the family to a small island. As they are settling in, Hagrid bursts through the door to tell Harry what the Dursleys have kept him from finding out: Harry is a wizard and has been accepted at Hogwarts. In this letter, the headmaster of school, Dumbledore, says that Harry has special powers. He is pleased to inform Harry that Harry has been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is very surprised, because he thinks that he isn’t special. Harry’s normal life with his relatives isn’t happy, for this reason
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