For the last couple of weeks in English class, we’ve been studying the journey of the hero and reading The Odyssey. Discussions in class have been centered around the several stages that a hero goes through in a typical adventure, and how those apply to stories like The Odyssey or Shrek. Such tales of action and adventure can make average lives like ours seem extraordinarily ordinary.

However, many of us fail to realize that in a way, we are on some sort of a journey. Of course, our adventure is a little more mundane than we would like, but it does contain many of the stages from the journey of the hero. We generally do not have to deal with murderous singing mermaids or enraged sea gods, yet the phases are fairly similar.

There are a few stages that definitely do not apply to our little adventure. Obviously, one would be supernatural aid, because unlike in Shrek or all of Greek mythology, we don’t have talking donkeys or gods and goddesses with cool weapons to aid us in our journey.

The first stage in the journey of the hero is the call to adventure. This adventure can be anything from school to a new setting. For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to use school as an example. In the very beginning, you are called (by law) to attend your first major adventure: kindergarten.

The next stage is the refusal of the call. Continuing on with the school example, the refusal of the call would be the typical temper tantrum that many kindergarteners tend to throw on the first day of school.

Skipping supernatural aid, the main character must now cross the first threshold. At this point, we have stepped through the doorway of our new school. Then, we find ourselves overwhelmed by creepy Barbie dolls, plastic kitchen sets, and our snot-nosed classmates. We are swallowed by a new world of Legos and nap times. This, is the belly of the whale.

Following the belly of the whale, we must next face the road of trials. As students, we know this part all too well. The road of trials is every hardship we confront on the path to our resolution. This is the school bully, excessive homework, middle school locker rooms, exams, and so on.

After this, we have a meeting with a (metaphorical) goddess. As my English teacher emphasizes so extensively, this “goddess” does not have to be a goddess, or a girl for that matter. The meeting with the goddess represents when the main character experiences love. This love can be a middle school crush, first major relationship, or anything of that sort. This can also be related to the next stage: temptation. During this stage, we are tempted to abandon our mission, which in this case, is to survive school. The temptation is any person, object, or desire that lures us to leave our great quest.

Near the end of our highly action-packed adventure, there is the ultimate boon. As funny as the word “boon” is, this is the best part. This is the achievement of the goal. In the case of my example, this would be graduation. We have achieved the objective of our journey: to finish school.

However, there is more. Before the actual return, there is the refusal to return. This would be when we have trouble leaving behind our friends and the comfort of a known environment. Obviously, we can’t stay in school forever, so eventually, we have to return to the life we had before the adventure.

In the end, the hero becomes the master of two worlds. We are able to successfully balance our new lives and our old lives, taking the knowledge that we gain and applying it to our adult lives. Then, after everything, we reach the final stage: the freedom to live.