A hero's journey.
The last unit means the last action project in our humanities course, Stories. This one, however, requires that we analyze a fictional hero and a real life hero. The textbook definition of a hero is "a person who is admired or idolized for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities". This is essentially the definition we came to in our class. Though this may be true for some, I believe that a hero can be anyone as long as they embody the ideals and morals that you subscribe to. For some people, their heroes are in fact "villains". But because they resonate with the character so well, it’s their hero. Joseph Campbell was an American professor who taught literature at Sarah Lawrence College. He actually created the most common method for analyzing heroes, the hero's journey. The hero's journey has 8 steps that are essential for analyzing heroes and their ordeals.
This action project was one that required us to identify all eight steps of the hero's journey for not only our fictional character, but also our real life hero. The fictional character that I chose was Casey Bowman from the movie "Ninja: Shadow Of A Tear". I chose this character in particular because he embodies an interesting moral that most audiences could agree with. He's on a journey to get revenge for the murder of his wife. He proves, in the movie, that even if a person seeks revenge, they could still keep their humanity and get peace of mind. The real life hero I chose was my mom.I chose her because she manages to do everything for everyone in my family. She’s super strong and has taught me a lot. Because of that, she is my real life hero. I documented the eight steps of a hero's journey for both the fictional and real heroes. Both of the journeys are listed below.
THE CALL- The call to action for Casey in this specific movie was when his wife was murdered while he was at the grocery store. Of course if anyone's wife were assassinated while they were not around, they would be dedicated to finding the murderer and either getting answers as to why, or they would get revenge and kill them themselves. For Casey getting revenge what's his determine course of action. Emiko, his wife was all that he had in the world and he had to go retrieve his peace of mind. This is the point in the story where Casey deviates from his normal, sane, and human ways into the ways of an assassin.
AIDS/GUIDES- Nakabara was the sensei or the guide for Casey during his journey of grief and assassination He was the one that killed Namiko so that Casey could harbor a more killing mind set. So in the perspective of him being a mentor for positivity, he also was a mentor that harbored his killing intent from the shadows.
THE UNKNOWN WORLD- Casey knew that there was the world of assassination, but he didn't think that he would go so deep into that world with such a dark intent.
TRIALS- The main challenge for Casey was obtaining information on Goro, the alleged assassin. Other than that, you could also say that another really big challenge could be killing his sensei, because it's his sensei but at the same time, his wife’s killer.
ABYSS/DESPAIR- The complete abyss is when Casey finds out that he killed the wrong man, and the man who murdered his wife was in fact the same sensei, Nakabara that he cherished and followed so well.
REBIRTH/ATONEMENT- His rebirth finally occurs when he finally gets peace of mind through killing his sensei, he takes over the dojo and remakes it in his wife’s image. To atone for the killing that he did all to catch the wrong man he goes into self imposed exile in the jungle.
Q- What was your call to action. What point or event in your life pushed you to step into a “separate world” which changed who you were into who you are.
A- “I would describe myself as as did the person that I am today is my family is everything and my family has always been important to me, but the sort of selfless the selflessness developed at a certain point in my life and that was when I became pregnant with my first child and at that point I literally made the decision to grow up essentially. I'm pregnant with my first child and discover I realized that I had to do it all alone without a partner.”
Q- Who aided you during your journey? What mentors did you have that gave you advice and helped you to hone your skills to become who you are today?
A- “The biggest mentor I had in my family being everything to me was my dad he always used to say that family is everything. And when I became pregnant he nor my mother or anyone in my family judged me or looked down on me or said negative words to me about my being pregnant and doing it all alone by myself. It immediately made me feel like I had all the help in the world that I would ever need so I really wasn't alone I have my family. and so that was the biggest influence on me and this journey.”
Casey Bowman Hero's journey.
THE CALL- The call to action for Casey in this specific movie was when his wife was murdered while he was at the grocery store. Of course if anyone's wife were assassinated while they were not around, they would be dedicated to finding the murderer and either getting answers as to why, or they would get revenge and kill them themselves. For Casey getting revenge what's his determine course of action. Emiko, his wife was all that he had in the world and he had to go retrieve his peace of mind. This is the point in the story where Casey deviates from his normal, sane, and human ways into the ways of an assassin.
AIDS/GUIDES- Nakabara was the sensei or the guide for Casey during his journey of grief and assassination He was the one that killed Namiko so that Casey could harbor a more killing mind set. So in the perspective of him being a mentor for positivity, he also was a mentor that harbored his killing intent from the shadows.
THE UNKNOWN WORLD- Casey knew that there was the world of assassination, but he didn't think that he would go so deep into that world with such a dark intent.
TRIALS- The main challenge for Casey was obtaining information on Goro, the alleged assassin. Other than that, you could also say that another really big challenge could be killing his sensei, because it's his sensei but at the same time, his wife’s killer.
ABYSS/DESPAIR- The complete abyss is when Casey finds out that he killed the wrong man, and the man who murdered his wife was in fact the same sensei, Nakabara that he cherished and followed so well.
REBIRTH/ATONEMENT- His rebirth finally occurs when he finally gets peace of mind through killing his sensei, he takes over the dojo and remakes it in his wife’s image. To atone for the killing that he did all to catch the wrong man he goes into self imposed exile in the jungle.
Mom's hero's journey transcript from interview
A- “I would describe myself as as did the person that I am today is my family is everything and my family has always been important to me, but the sort of selfless the selflessness developed at a certain point in my life and that was when I became pregnant with my first child and at that point I literally made the decision to grow up essentially. I'm pregnant with my first child and discover I realized that I had to do it all alone without a partner.”
Q- Who aided you during your journey? What mentors did you have that gave you advice and helped you to hone your skills to become who you are today?
A- “The biggest mentor I had in my family being everything to me was my dad he always used to say that family is everything. And when I became pregnant he nor my mother or anyone in my family judged me or looked down on me or said negative words to me about my being pregnant and doing it all alone by myself. It immediately made me feel like I had all the help in the world that I would ever need so I really wasn't alone I have my family. and so that was the biggest influence on me and this journey.”
Q- How does the journey and destination you went through relate to every other person’s journey and hardships?
A- “I don't think that there was anything extraordinarily challenging about my journey. I think just like other challenging Journeys everyone's always going to have external challenges. the difference is in how you handle them and what resources you may have to deal with them. because I was influenced by, family being everything, that influence was something that I could tap into to work through the difficult times that perhaps other people don't have. some of the same external challenges are there it's just that I drew my strength upon what I envisioned as the support beneath me which was my family and so then I was able to draw upon that strength to help me through and to Triumph at the so-called end which is really not the end but the continuation to this very day.”
Q- What were some challenges and/or roadblocks that you faced on your journey as you were maturing into your current self?
A- “Challenges that I've faced as I have to come my current self um…... well there have been many on this road no more than anyone else would face. people hey you come across negative people and you run far away from them. I don't deal with negative people anymore than I have to; especially when they come around my family my children my husband, parents. I stay away from negativity. Financial……. you pick and choose and decide what is priority and everything else can wait in line. societal……... you pick and choose what is a priority to establish your vision for. the help you reach your everything else it's rendered useless for my children been a priority for their their education has been a priority guiding them to become Global Citizens full of Integrity is a priority teaching them that family is everything is a priority helping them become the best version of themselves has been a priority clearly there been challenges and moving forward to accomplish all of that but you keep your eye on the prize and do the best that you can do.”
Q- What was the lowest point in your journey and how did you bounce back and atone or fix your mistakes? How did your rebirth transpire?
A- “There have been many low points on my journey this journey I'm just kind of be topical with it. Death, marital conflict, extreme financial hardship and illness. In dealing with these low points what has gotten me past them has been support of family, realizing that I am not in control. When I say not in control I mean that they're literally just aren't there are situations that you cannot control you have to sort of let them take their course naturally because many times there are lessons and how certain things unfold that you just can't control and you have to go through the process in order to learn lesson even if it's something that you don't like. Anyway, one of the things that have gotten me past it are Keeping in mind the end game. what and that is a way to get back on track or get past certain low Point even if it takes a long time.”
WORK CITED:
H,T. Personal Interview. 13, November, 2019
White, David N, et al. “Ninja: Shadow of a Tear.” IMDb, 27 Dec. 2013, www.imdb.com/title/tt2458106/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019.
White, David N, et al. “Ninja: Shadow of a Tear.” IMDb, 27 Dec. 2013, www.imdb.com/title/tt2458106/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019.
“Watch Ninja: Shadow of a Tear | Prime Video.” Amazon.Com, 2019, www.amazon.com/Ninja-Shadow-Tear-Scott-Adkins/dp/B07FLHZRPH. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019.
Wikipedia Contributors. “File:Ninja II - Shadow of a Tear.Jpg.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 May 2014, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ninja_II_-_Shadow_of_a_Tear.jpg. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019.
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