This week in class we had the writing prompt about how the chapter Dying in Room could be seen as a hero’s journey in itself. At first I didn’t really have much to say but after I went back to the handout we got at the beginning of the semester, I realized that this one chapter clearly filled every single one of Joseph Campbell’s basic elements in order. This is different than the other books we have read, which might have done the same but not in this explicit way. We start off in The Ordinary World, which for Jack is Room which he believes to be the only thing that is real. There he has the objects that he is familiar with and a regular schedule that he follows every day. Soon after Jack turns five, he gets The Call to Adventure, and he is pulled away from the ordinary world. Ma tries to explain to him that Room is not everything and that there is so much more out there to see. Jack doesn’t want to believe it and Refuses the Call. Ma tries to reason with him but he doesn’t want to listen. Jack finally Accepts the Call when he looks out of Skylight and sees a plane and gradually starts to believe what Ma is saying. Jack then faces his first Test when Ma tells him of her plan to escape. Jack has his first Ally in the form of Ma being his mentor and guiding him step-by-step. Although it does not going exactly according to plan, Jack passes the Test and he Enters the Unknown World. Jack faces more tests in wriggling out of the rug, jumping down, and getting someone to call the police. Through all of these, he has the Supernatural Aid of Ma’s voice in his head reminding him of the plan and helping him get through the new experience. He also has a Talisman in the form of Ma’s tooth that he carries with him in his sock for comfort and to remind him that she is with him. Then, Jack has to face what I saw as The Supreme Ordeal: communicating with the police officers. First he loses the note, then gets so scared he is incapable of speaking. When he finally is able to talk, it’s like the police are speaking a different language and communication between them is almost impossible. Luckily he has another ally in the form of Officer Oh who actually puts in the effort to try to understand him by relating to his love of stories. There is also more supernatural aid in the GPS satellite images that magically show them where Ma is. Finally there is The Return Home, which Jack sees as the return to Room, but the reader sees that it is also the return to Ma.
Hmm, so interesting! I really like your analysis. It was really helpful and clear to have it all laid out like this! I think that I would add a lot of variation to what some of the "steps" could be, adding a few possibilities but that would definitely just muddy up the post so I appreciated how concise yours was!! One thing I would challenge though is if we ever get a clear acceptance of the call from Jack, he seems really unhappy to be on his journey the whole time and really just wants to go home. Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteOne central tenet of the Campbell hero's journey paradigm is that the movement across the threshold from "ordinary world" to the realm of adventure entails a profound and transformative "journey of consciousness." Given how limited Jack's consciousness is at the start of the novel, which has few analogs in common experience, we have perhaps our most profound and significant example of a journey entailing a total shift in consciousness. As we're seeing in the second half of the novel, this is a long journey in itself, and isn't fully complete at the moment when Jack "returns home" at the conclusion of "Dying."
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