The Hero’s Journey Project Reflection
Jackson Vaughn
11/10/17
Humanities
In this project I did a multitude of things, but it was all centered around one topic, the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey is a theory by a man named Joseph Campbell who theorised that every adventure story follows the same patterns and principles, and every hero in these stories are essentially the same person but their appearances have changed to fit the story, hence the nickname “a hero with a thousand faces”. In this project we read books like the Alchemist and Siddhartha, and we studied what the books had to do with the hero’s journey. After reading these books, and understanding their stories and lessons held within the pages, we decided that it was time to tell our own stories, but we couldn’t just stand up in front of people and tell stories from the tops of heads, we had to practice, and so we did. I chose a story about my adventures hunting with falcons in Ireland. And when we had told our stories to a computer, we transcribed them to paper where we added photographs and made it professional. Then Finally it was time for exhibition, so me and two classmates named Taylor and Delanie made a video to play in the background for the exhibition. And it seemed as soon as we had started working, we were already walking into the Animas City Theatre to tell everyone our stories.
I grew in this project in many ways. One of the most prominent ones for me was my confidence, especially in my ability to stand up infront of people and tell them stories. I think a big example of this was during the exhibition where towards the beginning of the event I prayed that my named would not be pulled out of that hat, but as the night grew older the more and more I wished that on the next slip, my name would be called. I think that I also grew in my advocacy once again, because I went and advocated for a grade or two I think was unjust. And that also boosted my confidence. One prime example of this is the time after my Siddhartha seminar, I was given a B and I had also found out an assignment I had thought I had turned in was missing and so, at lunch I stepped into the classroom and advocated for these items that I had done my very best on.
One of the greatest takeaways from this project is that a good story doesn’t necessarily have to be written by someone like Stephen King or Rick Riordan, but by someone who is passionate about telling someone an experience you’ve had. The stories don’t have to be funny or sad, as long as you can get someone to connect with that story on a personal level that is really all you need. Another one of my takeaways from this project is that stories sewn together by artists and writers all over the world can have their stories be all so similarly. An excellent example of this is the similarities between The Alchemist and Siddhartha which were each published over 60 years from each other had so many similarities in their stories and characters, like the protagonists who were each searching for something that they finally found at the end. I think that throughout history this style of storytelling will stay with us forever. And that is something every storyteller is striving to do.
Jackson Vaughn
11/10/17
Humanities
In this project I did a multitude of things, but it was all centered around one topic, the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey is a theory by a man named Joseph Campbell who theorised that every adventure story follows the same patterns and principles, and every hero in these stories are essentially the same person but their appearances have changed to fit the story, hence the nickname “a hero with a thousand faces”. In this project we read books like the Alchemist and Siddhartha, and we studied what the books had to do with the hero’s journey. After reading these books, and understanding their stories and lessons held within the pages, we decided that it was time to tell our own stories, but we couldn’t just stand up in front of people and tell stories from the tops of heads, we had to practice, and so we did. I chose a story about my adventures hunting with falcons in Ireland. And when we had told our stories to a computer, we transcribed them to paper where we added photographs and made it professional. Then Finally it was time for exhibition, so me and two classmates named Taylor and Delanie made a video to play in the background for the exhibition. And it seemed as soon as we had started working, we were already walking into the Animas City Theatre to tell everyone our stories.
I grew in this project in many ways. One of the most prominent ones for me was my confidence, especially in my ability to stand up infront of people and tell them stories. I think a big example of this was during the exhibition where towards the beginning of the event I prayed that my named would not be pulled out of that hat, but as the night grew older the more and more I wished that on the next slip, my name would be called. I think that I also grew in my advocacy once again, because I went and advocated for a grade or two I think was unjust. And that also boosted my confidence. One prime example of this is the time after my Siddhartha seminar, I was given a B and I had also found out an assignment I had thought I had turned in was missing and so, at lunch I stepped into the classroom and advocated for these items that I had done my very best on.
One of the greatest takeaways from this project is that a good story doesn’t necessarily have to be written by someone like Stephen King or Rick Riordan, but by someone who is passionate about telling someone an experience you’ve had. The stories don’t have to be funny or sad, as long as you can get someone to connect with that story on a personal level that is really all you need. Another one of my takeaways from this project is that stories sewn together by artists and writers all over the world can have their stories be all so similarly. An excellent example of this is the similarities between The Alchemist and Siddhartha which were each published over 60 years from each other had so many similarities in their stories and characters, like the protagonists who were each searching for something that they finally found at the end. I think that throughout history this style of storytelling will stay with us forever. And that is something every storyteller is striving to do.