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Ana K. Lopez
Mrs. Petty
ENG101
November 8 , 2014

Neos Journey
The Matrix film follows Joseph Campbells monomyth of Hero with a Thousand Faces:
Adventure of a Hero. The hero in The Matrix is Neo. In the beginning of the movie he was an
ordinary guy with a regular life and job. Neo had been searching for Morpheus and the matrix
even though he didnt really know what exactly they were but they intrigued him. Neos
computer gets hacked by Trinity when later on that night meets her for the first time and talked a
little about the matrix. Neo in The Matrix follows Joseph Campbells monomyth of the hero by
separation from the matrix and traveling in to the real world, initiation and fulfillment when Neo
starts to believe he is the one to save the world and finally returning to the real world and
continuing his journey as a hero.
The separation happens when Neo accepts to leave the matrix and be taken to the real
world. Neo begins his journey in the call to adventure where he is contacted by Morpheus team.
He does not know whether to believe if what was happening was real or not but decided to go
along with it and met Trinity at a bar. Campbell describes this as the call to adventure where the
hero is presented to someone or something that will show them their destiny (Campbell 48).
Most heroes refuse to believe what they are being told. This is referred to as the refusal to the
call, it happens when the hero refuses to accept their adventure and think they are being fooled.
Neo refuses to accept what Morpheus is telling him through the phone they sent to his office.

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When he is offered to escape he refuses to do so and turns himself in to the agents. The first
encounter of the hero-journey is with a protective figure who provides the adventurer with
amulets (Campbell 63). This is known as the supernatural aid where the hero meets with his
teacher or guidance. In The Matrix this happens when Neo had to choose on whether to take the
blue or red pill knowing that whatever pill he took there was no going back. Neo decided to take
the red pill, which was going to show him nothing but the truth. Now that the hero has taken the
first step is known as the crossing of the threshold where now the hero will see how things
around him really work and who the real enemies are. Neo is seated and hooked up to a chair
ready to be sent to the real world. The hero is seen as if he had died and been reborn, returning
to the world as a new person (Campbell 85) in the real world Neo is disconnected from all the
machinery and is taught how to breath and move his muscles. This is known as the belly of the
whale.
The next stage for Neos journey is his initiation as now a true hero. He was now up
against a road of trials where he has to learn all the physical and knowledge for his role. Tank
programs Neo to learn Kung Fu and Karate, and then is challenged by Morpheus to a fight. He
also showed Neo how the matrix really works. After his training, Neo is taken to meet the
goddess who is the oracle. Most of the time this figure is presented in the shape of a woman who
comes to offer great wisdom and knowledge to the hero. After meeting the oracle, Neo is
convinced that he is not the one that will save the world. He believes that Morpheus has failed in
choosing him. He believes to know everything, this is known as the atonement with the father.
It is in this ordeal that the hero may derive hope and assurance from the helpful female figure,
by whose magic he is protected trough all the frightening experiences of the fathers ego
shattering initiation (Campbell 122). Before any storm there is calm, the apotheosis in a story is

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the moment right before a series of battles take place. It is the moment when the crew is arriving
at the old building to prepare and leave the matrix. Now everything seems to go according to
plan, but the ultimate boon comes when Neo has a dj vu moment. The crew realizes something
has been changed. They are now surrounded and outnumbered by the police. As they are trying
to escape trough the wall they get caught this is when Morpheus decides to fight the police and
tells the crew to save Neo.
For Neo the return is when he finally discovers his abilities and accepts himself as a hero.
Even though it may seem as if the hero has escaped and is now safe, the return of the hero just
marks the true battle that is to come for the hero. Im going in, Morpheus did what he did
because he believed Im something Im not (The Matrix). This was the refusal of the return of
the hero, where he goes back to the matrix to defend and save Morpheus because he thought he
wasnt the one. After saving Morpheus Neo sends both Trinity and Morpheus back to the real
world. When Neo was shot several times by the agents, he falls to the floor dying. Trinity who
kisses him and confesses her love to him saves him. In the crossing the return of the threshold,
the hero faces the last round of the battle, where he shows the real powers he has (Lawson 201).
After being saved by Trinity, Neo gets up. When the agents see that he gets up again, they tried
shooting at him once again. The agents bullets did not do anything to Neo because he stopped
them with his hand. That is how Neo proved he was stronger than ever, by stopping the bullets
and killing one of the agents. Neo showed all he was capable of, causing fear in the two other
agents that shortly ran away from him. The hero was now the master of the two worlds. He has
proved to be able to pass from world to world (Lawson 137). It is exactly what Neo was seeing
do, and talking on the phone trying to recruit new people to show them the truth and jumps away.
That was how Neo went trough the process of discovering himself as something he never

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thought he could be. Although Morpheus had to help him through process of becoming a hero, at
the end it was all in him that led him to believe he was the one. Campbell describes each step
that Neo had to take to become the one that would save the world. One of the biggest examples is
when Neo was called to adventure, he was not sure if he should believe it or not. From there it
could be seen how Neo goes trough each of the stages to finally become the master of the two
worlds. Neo followed every of Joseph Campbells monomyth of the hero by departure from the
matrix that is Neos regular world to travel to the real world, initiation was when Neo starts to
believe he is the one that will save the world and return is when he goes back to the real world as
a true hero to continue his journey.

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Works Cited
Campbell, Joseph. Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: Panthen Books, 1949. Print.
Lawson, Gerard. The Heros Journey as a Developmental Metaphor in Counseling. Vol. 44.
Virginia: Wiley Blackwell, 2005. Print.
The Matrix. Dir. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999. DVD