Timed Writing

In Joseph Campbell’s book A Hero With A Thousand Faces he describes the composite of a hero. He explains the steps that a hero must face along his journey. According to Campbell, he addressed that there are three main stages that a hero enters: Departure, Separation, and Return. Within each of these topics, he breaks them down into separate categories. The topic called Departure explains how the hero is called to his or her adventure along with different people or amulets that help them along their path. This part of a hero’s journey is basically them jumping into the unknown. The Separation describes their journey and the trials that they encounter along the way. The final topic, is the Return when the hero has accomplished his or her call and seems to have resolved their problem. Campbell believes that all heroes and stories fit into his outline of a journey.
Flannery O’Conner wrote a story called “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”. This is a story about a family’s vacation that ended with the encounter of a murder. The story describes the grandmother’s adventure with her family. Her departure occurs when her family wants to visit Florida; she wants to go to Tennessee. Reluctantly, she embarks on her journey accompanied by her family and her cat. While they are traveling, the grandmother tells her grandchildren stories to pass the time. Eventually she tells the children of a house with hidden tunnels and suggests to her son that they stop by and see it. The son finally agrees to the detour, however they get into an accident. As they are broken down on the side of the road a car pulls up next to them to assist them. To their dismay, the grandmother points out that he is a serial killer. This is the part of the journey that is considered the separation. The ending of the story consists of the return. The grandmother tries to persuade the ‘Misfit’ that he is a good man, however he ends up killing the whole family in the end.
Another story that we discussed in class that can fit the outline that Campbell designed is the “Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemmingway. A boy begins his departure by traveling with his father, who is a doctor, and his uncle. His father tells him that there is a woman there who is very ill. The separation occurs when the three men attempt to help the woman in pain. They find that she is pregnant and about to give birth, the only problem is that the baby is breached. The husband of the woman is on the bunk above her unable to assist because he had an accident with an axe three days before. The doctor finally helps the woman give birth to the child with his son watching. The return occurs when they three men roll the husband over to find that he has slit his own throat. On the way back from the village the boy inquires as to why the man slit his throat. His father tells him that some people can’t stand to endure the some things. The boy spends the rest of the ride home thinking about how he was never going to dies no matter what.
As you can see, Campbell’s outline can be applied to anything. Not every stage must be used to describe a story, but there is a general flow that a story follows. In my own journey to Eckerd College, I went through the same trials. I received my call when an Eckerd College Representative first approached me. Eventually I decided to attend Eckerd and I entered into my separation stage when I left home. In the beginning of my education here at Eckerd there were many trials I faced like meeting knew people and playing on a team with new teammates. Eventually I returned home and it allowed me to see that Eckerd College was the best school for me. It has taught me so much and I feel that it will be the best place that will prepare me for the future.