Not every story is the Hero’s Journey

 

Diversity

I am so over the Hero’s journey. Not every story is one of inner transformations. Since the popularization of Joseph Campbell’s work, the writing police have decreed that every story must have its protagonist undergo some defining inner struggle and subsequent transformation. I just ain’t so.  In fact, most stories are not stories of a protagonist’s inner struggles and neither should they be. Truthfully, I like Joseph Campbell’s work and his theories they just don’t define every or even most stories. And in the world of Anthropology many scholars differ with Campbell on his ideas about mythology and mythological patterns. He is probably way to narrow in his analysis of mythical heroes. But it seems that a variety of people who write books about writing have glommed onto Campbell, concocting their own (limited) interpretation of him. Then laid out their interpretation as a gospel dictating that every story needs to have the protagonist go through some psychological struggle and resulting epiphany.

Let’s take a closer look. Think about mysteries. Does Hercule Poirot ever change in any of the books Christie wrote about him? Nope, not one hair of his mustache. Neither does Miss Marple or Child’s Jack Reacher. Moving on to thrillers, does the protagonist ever undergo a soul-searching rebirth? Not really, they are usually too busy escaping from the bad guy out the window on the top floor of a twenty-story building. 

Let’s look at fairy tales. Does Cinderella undergo an epiphany, leave home and enroll in college? No, she does not. Neither do Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Jack from beanstalk land, the Frog Prince, or the Twelve Brothers. Fairy tale protagonists for the most part stay the same. They usually have magical help, are finally recognized for their virtue, or just get away with a lot of mischief which enables them to live happily ever after.

Is literary fiction full of tales of soul searching and moral or psychological struggle and re-generation?  Not often. Not unless your reading Dostoevsky and I would classify him as classic fiction not literary. Modern literary fiction is more about character analysis, not character change.

Speaking of classical fiction, does Hamlet change? No, he does not. He starts out indecisive, goes on being indecisive, worries about being indecisive, and basically dies being indecisive. Even his last duel is not initiated by him, but forced upon him by others. Does Othello change? No, he just acknowledges that “I am one who loved not wisely but too well.” In all of Shakespeare I can think of few characters that undergo a change of world view or a change of heart.  Many of them are shown to be miscreants and told to change or punished but not many are changing through a journey of the soul. And what about Henry V? He goes from a drunken bounder, Prince Hal, to war hero – “Cry, God for Harry, England, and Saint George!“. But Shakespeare suggests he planned it all and the drunkard was just an act.

Jane Austin’s heroines can be held up as Campbellian type heroines going on a soul quest. But not all of them. Elizabeth Bennet does undergo a profound self-reassessment, but Jane does not. In Sense and Sensibility Marianne’s personal crisis makes her physically ill and results also in a profound self-assessment but Eleanor does not. She remains as she started. Though her personal integrity is constantly challenged throughout the story, she remains unchanged, true to herself. 

Moving on to Jane Eyre. I’m going to say that Jane never changes. From her childhood she is fiercely individualistic and has a strict code of morals that she never wavers from. She is constantly assaulted by others to get her to change who she is. She is severely abused by her relatives and her educators. But she never changes her behavior to placate them. Her beloved angelic friend Helen Burns dies through neglect of her caretakers. Does that prompt Jane to try and be more like Helen? Nope. She is tempted by men (Rochester and Rivers) to give up her self-image and make herself over to satisfy their desires. But does she? Never. The whole book is a series of assaults and temptations testing whether she will remain true to herself. It is not a quest to discover her true self. 

All I am trying to say here is that not every story has to have the protagonist discover some hidden truth about themselves, have an epiphany of self-revelation, or learn something about themselves and be forever changed (probably for the better). In fact, most stories do not contain this element and neither should they. Some stories are just about adventure, or solving a mystery, defeating a bad guy, overcoming adversity (just as you are), figuring out a puzzle, rise in fortune or fall in fortune, funny chaos and love triumphs. Tons of things where no one learns more about themselves or changes for the better. 

It’s time for the writing police to give it a rest and stop trying to fit every story into one plot template.