A.C.

(Student Sample)

Miss Fowler/Mrs. Fernandes/Mrs. Langone

English 9-2

5 November 2021

In the article “The Hero’s Journey: Using an Ancient Framework on Modern Stories” by

Matt Ragland, he illustrates how we are heroes even though we are trapped in our boring

mundane lives. A way that we live in a hero's journey is that we are stuck in conventional

slumber. We remain on the same safe route everyday. “The hero feels comfortable going through

motions even if they are good and admirable!” A further example of how we are living our own

hero’s journey is we eventually fall into the abyss. This is where we are overcome with worry,

regret and frustration. We are at the end of our rope and need to climb out. “Abyss brings us face

to face with the realization that we can’t bring everything with us on the journey. Something

must be left behind to die.” Ultimately we reach our turn and contribution. We come back into

the world enlightened. We have become a mentor and guide for others on their own journey. 

In the article “Not Everything Is A Hero’s Journey”, author Jim Hull details how not

every story should be considered a “hero’s journey” and how more often than not it's overused

and bland. Forcing the trope of the hero's journey onto every story erases the author's original

intention of the story. “One doesn’t need much more than a simple observation of the mental

gymnastics that aboud when a classic story doesn’t quite fit the paradigm.” Rather than the

unoriginal and cliche hero's journey, there's a main character and an impact character. When

these are present they fulfill the narrative that the need for a hero's journey is nonexistant.

“Stories are about solving problems, not mythical journeys of spiritual transendancts.”
Analysis Paragraph

Hull’s article is stronger because it has a more grounded temporal view as opposed to

Raglands unrealistic, washed out opinion. Ragland's article is weak since not everything is a

hero's journey. Making a claim that everything can be a hero's journey completely eradicates the

author's original intent for the story. This happy go lucky ideology is false and rarely if ever

exists in the real world. “In truth, lifes feels very meaningful and comfortable.” Life doesn't

always fit into the framework of “meaningful and comfortable.” In some cases the hero's journey

even ends in despair. For example, in the movie “Saving Private Ryan” the main character

Captain Miller goes on his own hero's journey to safely acquire private Ryan. However instead

of going back home to his “comfortable and meaningful life”, Miller dies in an attempt to be a

hero. Jim Hulls article has a strong argument since he writes from an average person's

perspective. Ragland almost seems like he's never stepped foot in the real world from how he

wrote his article. It seems as though he is living in a borderline child-like fantasy. Hull shows us

how realistically the hero's journey is an overused juvenile idea. “When it comes to constructing

a story, the specifics of the hero's journey are open to interpretation. This is not a plus. This does

not make the hero's journey more human. Instead it simply adds confusion and noise to the

author's original intent.” The way this quote supports the argument is due to the fact that it

discusses how the hero's journey is just a confusing dull trope. By the standard Ragland sets up,

anything can be a hero's journey. Would Hannibal Lector be a hero in his own story simply

trying to eat? No, stapling the label of heroes' journey onto everything creates a mess of what the

original intent for the story was. In the long run, we see how the hero's journey does nothing

more than act as the basis for a child's favorite movie and rarely exists in the real world and

modern literature.