Musings

The Hero Journey in Literature and Life

Linda A. J. Johnson March 2012 (edited and tightened February 22, 2014)

‘When I come here on Tuesdays my head gets mixed up

because I’m trying to grip so many thoughts all at once.”

-Nolan O. age 8

I, as a teacher, have the constant privilege of sharing in these intimate processes of reflection and articulation that are integral to the mental experiences of young learners. Reflection begins, as with Nolan, when learners hear great ideas that provoke thought. Thoughts must be identified and hooked to prior knowledge. Questions are the glue; for gripping thoughts; the how and why and when questions that demand testing and proving to find possible connections between what is considered and what is known.

This process is called play; theories of connection are tested “by going up alleys to see if they are blind”. –Marston Bates

Here is where teachers supply the resources that make learners aware of what is available to learn. Play leads them to answers, to understanding, to an emergence of power over their own words. This is not an easy process for anyone; but the only way we come to own our own learning.

“Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the only one who

asked why.”-Bernard Barach

There was a great idea behind why that apple fell. If Newton had not ask questions and sought answers how much new knowledge would have been lost to the rest of the world?

As teacher my job description is simple: present learners with great ideas; with the truths of the ages; listen for their thoughts and questions that evidence the retrieval of prior knowledge, show them what is available to learn, and facilitate the process; from play to articulation, whereby they discover and present the answers to their own questions.

(Two warning thoughts right away; never force writing forms that are not available to the learner and always respect their conclusions. )

The Hero Journey model is a great idea for starting learning discussions; it can be successfully ‘taught’ using the words and illustrations of great picture books. (loosely based on the work of Joseph Campbell in The Hero With A Thousand Faces) My version uses the following steps:

1. A person receives a call, (an invitation, a reason, a challenge) to accept a certain mission to be of service.

2. Roadblocks immediately appear blocking preparations for the call. Busyness, lack of confidence, lack of money, fear and border bullies are samples of roadblocks. Border bullies are people who tell us what they think we can or can’t do; or what they think we should or should not do. They are discouragers.

3. Mentors are the parents, teachers, friends, family members, strangers, books. Etc.; that encourage us. They remind us of what we can do. They challenge us to stretch our abilities and give us the tools we need to succeed. They help us know when we are ready to commit to the journey.

4. When a person steps across the threshold of commitment there is no turning back; they take whatever life throws at them and learn the lessons that go with each experience. Traps and trials and tests of all kinds teach us the lessons we need to learn to gain the skills and the strength we need to fulfill our mission successfully and return home.

5. It may take years of enduring before the budding hero comes to a point where their skills are in place and they can mentor those coming behind on the path; when they know what to do, what to say; they cross the threshold to leadership. They realize they could do it and did do it, no excuses. With quiet confidence they head for home to teach others the lessons they need before they head out on their own journeys.

The first picture book I use to teach the Hero Journey is Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent, written and illustrated by Bill Peet. It starts with Cyrus wandering about the ocean looking for something to do when a “border bully” shark swims by and challenges him to “sink a ship and eat all the passengers”. Cyrus is appalled; so the bully shark calls him a sissy and makes him really mad, so he takes up the challenge. Cyrus heads for a local coastline and a harbor full of ships and waits under the docks for one of them to leave harbor. His wait is short; a ship called the “Primrose” is preparing to take people across the ocean to a new land of opportunity. - on their own ‘hero journey’.

As they load the ship and prepare to leave the voice of an old man – a nasty border bully- rises from the crowd on the wharf. He hurls warnings of doom over the whole idea. “You’ll never make it,’” he declares. Storms, pirates and the doldrums are among his predictions. Well, Cyrus experiences a profound change of heart; or, I like to suggest, the revelation of his true heart; all thoughts of eating the people depart and he becomes consumed with their safety and accepts his own ‘heart call’ to travel with the Primrose and see that the ship and its passengers make it safely to their destination. He crosses his ‘thresh-hold’ of commitment and follows the ship.

The first few days are uneventful and Cyrus stays a discreet distance behind the little ship, he doesn’t want to scare anyone, let alone eat them. On the third day out they run into the doldrums – not the slightest breeze is available to lift a sail.

He hears the despair of the people as this first test arrives; Cyrus stays awake all night trying to think up a solution. He does. Before morning he puffs his great breath into the sails and sets the ship steadily on its western course; but runs the Primrose into an even greater trial! They run smack into a squall! Oh, no! The doldrums demanded thought; this test requires desperate action; as the little ship is about to sink into the trough between two giant waves Cyrus wraps his giant serpent body around the it and becomes a life preserver. He keeps the Primrose afloat all through the tumultuous night; the captain is astonished in the morning, “I thought we were goners”, he cries.

The weary sea serpent falls asleep on the gently rocking waves while the little ship disappears in the west. When Cyrus wakes up the ship is nowhere in sight and he experiences the common problem; negative self talk. “I’ve done enough, they are better on their own, it doesn’t matter, I don’t know where they are anyway, I’ll just give up and go home,” etc, etc.

But Cyrus has a hero - heart and it reminds him of the dangers the Primrose might yet face and his concern grows and he heads west in search of the tiny ship. The ocean is a big place – a wilderness to be endured – for a long while all he sees is a passing pelican; then, on the distant horizon, a sail appears. “Yeah”, he thinks it’s the Primrose and heads for it only to discover it is a pirate ship pursuing the Primrose! He lands in the middle of the greatest tribulation yet.

Oh, no! He sees the pirate ships cannons blast the mast and sails right off the Primrose; he is furious. Cyrus takes his long serpent body down, down into the sea to build momentum when he turns and zooms like a rocket right into the hull of that pirate ship. “Ker-wham!” He splits it in two.

The people see him this time and now they are sure doom is imminent as the ship drifts lifeless with the sea current. “That old man was right”, the Captain feels defeated. “He predicted the voyage would end in disaster.” “Who could forhet him?” Cyrus wonders. “He was right about the storm and the pirates.” “But!” and here is the key line in the whole story: “But he didn’t figure on me. I just might prove him wrong”. And Cyrus steps (swims) over the threshold to leadership; he knows what to do to take the little ship the distance.

Cyrus has one last great idea; he pulls out the anchor chain with his huge

mouth and heads west with the ship in tow. It is still several days and nights of

Enduring before Cyrus is able to deposit the ship right on the shore of the new

world; near a large rock. As the weary serpent heads back to sea the grateful people

gather on the rock to give their sea serpent hero a rousing cheer. Their hero journey

could not have been completed without his courageous mentoring. He reflects on

the excitement of being a hero but he has had quite enough excitement for a while.

He takes a month long nap in the tops of some palm trees on the little Caribbean

Island.

Let’s look at the steps he experienced. First he recognized the call to service

from his very own heart. He quickly put the ‘border bully’ shark’s challenge behind

him because the words of the ‘border bully’ old man had such an impact on his

feelings. His true self was revealed; he was compelled to obey his own inner voice.

His own hero-heart was his greatest mentor.

Cyrus crossed the ‘threshold to commitment’ as soon as he slid from the

harbor behind the Primrose. The journey began; the lessons were soon in coming.

Doldrums proved to be nothing but a period of calm weather when the wind

stops blowing; but, if you are a wooden ship in the early days of sea travel, equipped only with sails, this can be a life or death problem. Cyrus had to look within himself for answers, no other mentors were available; using his own breath he created wind for the sails, he got the ship moving forward until it was out of the doldrums, but, as is so true in real life; the little company moved from a test to a trial; from a lack of wind to a full blown squall. As the terrified little group huddles in the storm-tossed belly of the Primrose, Cyrus thinks creatively and comes up with the perfect solution; inflates himself into a gigantic life preserver! After a long night

Cyrus is weary; making hero choices all the time can be hard on a body; he falls asleep on the gently rolling waves. Much later, when he reawakens, the ship is nowhere in sight and his own inner border bullies come to argue with his hero self. He almost convinces himself that he has done all he can, he doesn’t know where they are anyway, he might as well forget about them; but, once again the hero wins, there still could be great tribulation ahead; he’d better go find them. The tiny sail he spies on a distant horizon burns out to be a pirate ship and it is gaining on the Primrose! They are trapped, and the pirate ship fires off all its canons and blows the sails and masts right off the Primrose.

Passing the toughest test yet; Cyrus gets into action by ramming the pirate ship with his hard head. The crew on the Primrose saw his attack and are frightened that they will have the same fate. But Cyrus has learned all he needs to know to cross the threshold to leadership; he grabs the anchor chain in his mouth and pulls the ship, for the final sprint to the finish, all the way to the new world.

When he awakens from his long nap in the Caribbean I expect he will never ‘wander’ again and border bullies will have little power over him. He will be quickly able to answer whatever call comes because of the power he gained in this hero journey. And my young students are already able to recognize the basic elements of the hero journey because of their experience with Cyrus.

The hero journey is a pattern for life and for every learning-growing experience along the way; it describes the ‘big picture ‘ and the very many ‘little episodes’ that we experience everyday. Through picture books my young students are able to understand and recognize and discuss each and every part of the journey and connect it to their own lives. Our discussions recently turned to theidea that border bullies can be villains and that they make villain choices; an eight year articulated the idea for the whole group one day. Then, discussions recently have evolved to include victims; how villain try to turn heroes into victims and is it still possible to make hero choices in victim situations.; but I am getting ahead of myself.

Back to the picture books.

It is very important to spend some quality discussion time developing an broad understanding of what mentoring looks like. Me and Mr. Mah serves this purpose perfectly. It is a beautiful book by Andrea Spalding; illustrations by Janet Wilson that teaches the children the gentle art of mentoring, and the positive power it can have over relationships. It is quite appropriately written from the perspective of Ian, the little boy whose life has been uprooted with the separation of his mother and his father; father is left behind on the farm, mother and Ian are in a rental house in the city by the sea.

Ian, lonely and lost; forced into a situation he did not feel ‘called’ to; carrying only the wounding of a terrible ‘road-block’ situation, feels trapped in the fenced in by a ‘moon-scape’ back yard. He peers through the fence into a lush garden carefully tended by an elderly Chinese fellow. When the gardening tools appear among the packing boxes he starts to dig up the earth along his side of the fence. Each day he watches and copies the actions of his neighbor; imitating the digging, the watering the weeding, as he takes care of his lush garden. One morning a package of sunflowers is wedged through a gap in the fence. Ian plants them like the man next door. The next day he peers through the fence into a dark eye and hears words; an invitation is extended.

“You like to visit Mr. Mah’s garden?” Mr. Mah welcomes to his garden and lets him “touch and nibble and smell (his) way up and down the rows of unfamiliar vegetables”. He let Ian BE who he was; acceptance as is; no judgement, an important trait of the mentor. Then Mr. Mah treated him to Chinese tea in tiny Chinese cups . He shared a real bit of who he was; genuine stuff, no pretense, heart to heart, friend to friend. They talked, sharing their hearts, building trust, telling the stories of the homes they left. As weeks passed they spent more and more time with each other; Mr. Mah showed Ian the Chinese cemetery and took him to Chinatown. One afternoon Ian shows Mr. Mah his special box holding mementoes of the prairie and dad. He opens a private corner of his heart to his mentor and friend. To Ian’s great surprise Mr. Mah also has a treasure box, and it is filled with precious memories. Ian realizes Mr. Mah, too, has had heart aches to overcome, but he now has his own family to love, his own place to call home. At the end of summer Mom has purchased a little house near Ian’s new school and they move away from Mr. Mah. Ian promises to visit; Mr. Mah gives him his ball within a ball as a gift.

Ian makes a new friend who teaches him to rollerblade; they join a soccer team. Life is working for Ian until one night mom takes him to a second hand store and tells him if he can find a small desk she will buy it. What he finds is Mr. Mah’s treasure box – empty. He is consumed with worry; they go home and he phones Mr. Mah’s number; it has been disconnected. He phones every Mah in the book until he find his daughter-in-law. Mr. Mah has broken his hip, he is in a nursing home. Mom takes Ian and Ian takes the black box and they go see Mr. Mah. They laugh together and tears fill their eyes.

Ian’s get well card is the first treasure to go back in the box. They have made memories together. They are still friends.

My young students have helped me create this list of characteristics of a great mentor: 1. A mentor sets a good example by just being the best of who they are.

2. They listen from the heart. 3. They share their own experiences that illustrate/teach to the need of the learner. 4. They share feelings, memories and experiences of their own life and growth; challenges and overcoming. 5. They share information that adds to the learners power to make informed decisions. 6. They challenge the learner to stretch. 7. They show interest in and concern for the learner; they accept them as they are; never critical. 8. They can be trusted. 9. Like Mr. Mah, they LET things happen: they let learners “touch, nibble and smell” their way ‘ through the garden” of life. 10. They provide tools for the journey; they encourage learners onward on their hero paths.

And, a thought from recent studies, one good mentor can be all it takes to keep a person on the right track, be they child or adult. Mentoring is an important gift.

Great-grandma Grace is a mentor for Brandon in Brandon’s Nap by Linda A. J. Johnson. She accepts him for who he is and the feelings of frustration he has at that particular moment; he does not want a nap, he wants to run away. Great–grandma Grace is happy to run away also and takes him on a great adventure of shared imagining. She allows him to determine when he is ready for napping. She is not critical; they share time to just BE, to trust, and Brandon retains control over his own emotions. Great-grandma’s friend Moon Mouse is used to her visits; he accommodates Brandon’s needs providing treats and space to play and Brandon’s choice when to nap. He thanks them for coming and welcomes their return at anytime.

The feeling of Being and being allowed even when the mentor is older and knows what is best; receiving tools and opportunity , that is what it takes to be successful.

Scuffy the Tugboat is our next discussion. It is a wonderful Golden Book by Gertrude Crampton, last published in 1974. I ask the students to figure out what part of the Hero Journey this story illustrates.

Scuffy is a high minded little tugboat, dissatisfied with life in a toy store and sailing limited to the bathtub at home. The Toy man and his little boy take him to a local brook for a sail. Scuffy is delighted but the spring water is high from melting snow in the mountains and soon Scuffy is whisked off to experience a variety of tests, and trials that grow ever more frightening as the days go by. He is jostled by the noses of cows in a stream. He is bumped by logs floating in a river. He is nearly overcome by flooding in an even bigger rive. He is terrified as he sees the vast approaching ocean. His anxiety grows as the time passes and he begins to realize maybe he had been a little prematurely anxious to leave the bathtub. As he is about to pass the last point of land, he is overjoyed and relieved to feel the hand of the Toy man lifting him to safely, and his little boy coming to his rescue. Scuffy is returned to the bathtub where he is contented to stay – at least for now.

And I ask, “What did Scuffy forget to do?” “He forgot to do his homework,” a ten-year boy old tells me. “He didn’t have his tools,” from a seven-year old girl. “He forgot to take the time to learn from mentors;” the group summarizes, “to gather the tools they offered to help him face the big world alone”. He went off on a hero journey without being called and prepared. And, we learn that we must be happy where and when we are; we must take the time to grow up and learn what we need to learn so we can be successful on our own hero journeys. Scuffy was lucky, he got to go home and get a second chance. In real life we may not get a second chance. The hero journey cannot be rushed.

The Story of Ferdinand is the book I like to do next. The Story is by Munro Leaf and the drawings are by Robert Lawson. First published in 1936 this simple story is still widely enjoyed today. Ferdinand is a little bull with a big lesson for us all.

This little bull lives in a beautiful pasture in Spain. He is expected to join the rough play of the other little bulls in preparing to fight in the bullring. He is a bull, after all and that is what bulls do. But, all Ferdi likes to do is sit in the shade of the cork tree and smell the flowers. On the day men come from Madrid to pick the prize bull, Ferdi heads for his cork tree because he has no interest in the competition; but, fate has something different in store; as Ferdi sits down he lands on a huge bumble bee who stings him hard on his tender behind. Screaming in pain Ferdi flings himself around the pasture like a crazy thing and the excited men haul him off to Madrid to fight in the bull ring. The fighting men in their fancy clothes parade into the arena trembling with the fear of the great beast; but, timid Ferdi won’t come out - until he smells all the wonderful flowers tat the ladies in the audience are wearing. He parades to the center of the areas and sits down to smell the flowers. Well, the fighters are angry but he doesn’t care; the men take him back to his pasture and he happily heads for his Cork tree.

I ask the children what they think this bull teaches us about the hero journey,

and they tell me. The men tried to impose a call upon Ferdinand and he wouldn’t let them. He stayed true to his own voice; to his own vision of his own destiny. We are not all alike; we all have different ways to give service. We must be careful not to be

persuaded onto the wrong path for us to take. We must be true to ourselves.

I am constantly awed by the depth of perception and insight expressed by these young children. Every picture book I have tried out has had a message in it. There must be many stories waiting for discovery.

Chrysanthemum is a wonderful book that takes our thinking another direction. It was written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes.

The first day we talk about where our names came from and stories of arrival in our own families. I read the story carefully and slowly enough to allow for comments and digressions. And then we learn of the love this little mouse experienced when she was born to loving mouse parents . She was fed and clothed and cared for lovingly; growing in confidence and strength of character. And then she went to school and got her first exposure to border bullies. Her name won’t even fit on her nametag and she is teased unmercifully. She goes home in great distress to be reassured by her parents that she and her name are both perfect.

The story illustrates the fact that life can daily swing us between mentor and border bully experiences. This can occur in endless variety throughout life. The attitude of the bullies shifts when a new teacher reveals she also has a long flower name. And if her baby is a girl she will name her Chrysanthemum. Information changes perspective. Suddenly Chrysanthemum is important and popular. People are so easily swayed by outward appearances; once again we learn how important it is to be true to yourself; by setting a strong example we help others understand that they can be true to themselves and lose the need for bullying. An ongoing thought question: How can we turn bullies into friends?

The Whingdingdilly is another creation by author/illustrator Bill Peet.

This marvelous story is about an old farm dog named Scamp who is not satisfied with his lot in life; he wants to be marvelous like the Percheron stallion down the road. Orvie laughs at his antics and the humiliated Scamp runs away. He meets up with Zeldy, little witch that lives in a dark wood at the far edge of the farmland. And Zeldy unleashes her powers onto Scamp turning him into a mixture of zebra-elephant-camel-giraffe-reindeer and rhinoceros parts. Now he is special but not happy, no one recognizes him; not even Orvie when he tries to go home. He runs away again and tries to find Zeldy but she is gone and he is soon hunted by the local farmers and discovered and captured by C.J. Pringles and taken to Pringle’s Palace of living wonders” in the city, to be part of a freak show.

Zeldy come home and discovers her tulips flattened and knows Scamp did it. She zaps him with her magic wand while he is on display in the far away city and he turns back into himself. Pringle throws Scamp out of the show and he hurries back h to Orvie. Scamp learns a huge lesson and is fina;ly satisfied with BEing just who he is. Are you satisfied with your mission in life? If you wish for things you do not need they may bring you more grief than joy.

The Architect of the Moon is the next book on my list. It is by author Tim Wynn Jones; illustrated by Ian Wallace. This is the perfect story to show what a life looks like when the hero choices have been made that prepared the hero to serve when called.

Preparation is the keyword; the hero needs to have at least one strong mentor that provides him/her with the right tools for his journey. the hero will have spent time practicing the use of his tools through the use of his imagination; he will be experienced in hero choices before the time comes to make the big one, He knows and sees and understands needs and plans how to meet them. When the call comes he is on time and gets right to work, he stays busy and diligent and sees the call through to completion. And, most important of all, he returns home to regular life, not expecting the honor and praise of the world.

This is precisely the path taken by “brave block-builder, David Finebloom” when he receives the message from the moon. He does not hesitate. He gather the blocks and tools he needs to repair the waning moon, tells his mother not to wait up, sets the launching pad up in his room, turns the dial and “zoom” he is off. As soon as he arrives at the moon he gets to work; no need for permission or instruction, all his tools are in place and his confidence is high. He works hard all night then heads home to join his mother for a “five-minute egg on the porch”. He has no need for the accolades of the world; he knows the world didn’t notice; the power gained from making hero choices brings its own satisfaction.

The Wednesday Surprise is a lovely story on mentoring by Eve Bunting, with beautiful watercolor illustrations by Donald Carrick. Grandma comes to babysit Anna every Wednesday evening while her Mom works late at the office and her brother Sam goes to basketball practice; Dad is a truck driver. Grandma and Anna work together through the story to prepare a wonderful surprise for Dad’s birthday. The story line leads the reader to believe Grandma is mentoring Anna, giving her some important new ‘tool’, in the end it is revealed that Anna was the mentor; I will not reveal how in this writing. In our follow-up discussion; many learners are surprised that such a reversal of roles could take place, Mentors don’t always have to be older, we discover, very often young children have great insight that answer the needs of those much older.

I absolutely love picture books. They are works of art by which young children can explore their world. My Grandson Lew is another great example; It is by Charlotte Zolotow, pictures by William Pene du Bois. It was published in 1974. It is an example of how great stories from all ages and themes can come together to illustrate the hero journey. Lew wakes up in the middle of the night and calls for his mom because he is missing his Grandfather. Mom and Lew sit on the bed and reminisce together about her father who died when Lew was only two, now he is six. Mother is surprised that Lew can remember so much. Mother shares her own memories and they find comfort in remembering together instead of remembering alone. This lead into a discussion of the many mentors in our families that may not live close or may even be alive any more and we may only know their example through stories. How important it is to share stories.

We draw our hero journey study to a close with a focus on how people who make hero choices impact the world. Mental, physical and spiritual freedoms are preserved when people make hero choices. Mattie Stipanek is my first example:

(In discussion with older students about more complex books we have talked our way into understanding that mental and spiritual freedoms can be maintained through hero choices even when those about us are victimizing us with their villain choices. One great example is the autobiography of Esther Rodomin Hartzaug in The Endless Steppe. We also watched The Inn of 6^th Happiness, and The Courageous Life of Irena Sendler and Astronaut farmer. We read The House of 60 Fathers, The Cay, and Bread Winner.)

Mattie Stepanik was a very real boy who lived a whole hero journey in 14 short years. (1990-2004) He suffered form a rare form of muscular dystrophy that finally took his life, but not before writing, illustrating and publishing much beautiful and inspiring poetry. I have only one of his books in my possession: Heartsongs. I share these poems slowly, allowing the children to ‘taste’ Mattie’s words and visualize his images. We talk about illness and disability and the power and influence of hero choices. Discussions are free-ranging; other heroes are often discussed; ie. Terry Fox, and Rick Hanson.

I finish the picture book introduction to the concept of a Hero Journey by reading Oridinary Mary’s extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson, illustrated by Fumi Kosaka. By making one simple hero choice, that is doing one kind deed: picking blueberries and sharing them with her neighbor, Mary started a ripple effect of good deeds that spread kindness to every person around the whole world in just 15 days. Learners are always impressed with the math projection at the end of the book showing how the deeds multiplied till they passed six billion and the realization that they could make such a difference.

The Hero Journey is internalized in each young mind and becomes an integral part of the thinking processes for all follow-up studies and for how they interpret the scriptures, the news, family relations, etc. The body of Picture books I use have been ‘found’ as our studies progressed. The revelation of the hero journey aspects of each book has come independent of all others and joined itself to this body of great literature. I challenge all teachers, all parents, all learners to continue this search and add to this list.

The bottom line principles learned from picture books:

*There is a hero journey,

*road blocks are common,

*bullies must overcome,

*mentors are necessary,

*trials of every kind and duration follow us along on the path of life,

*life’s experiences teach us the lessons we need to learn;

* and give us the power to make hero choices.

*and the knowledge we need to mentor those coming behind us..

Musings

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

"Play" and the Learning Journey

Monday, April 14, 2014

sharing words, the power of shared words

Saturday, February 22, 2014

The Hero Journey in Literature and Life

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Previous idea-catcher and doodling thoughts refined and added to...

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Idea-catching, doodling, stitching new info to prior knowledge