Vougler 107-127
Summary: A refusal of the call is the most common reaction of a hero to their call to adventure. This is because the hero is being asked to say yes to a great unknown, to an adventure that will be exciting but also dangerous and even life-threatening. It wouldn't be a real adventure otherwise. It's understandable that the reaction would be hesitant because the hero is standing at a threshold of fear, fear of the unknown. It's natural for heroes to first react by trying to dodge the adventure. They also tend to make excuses why they shouldn't go on the ad venture, but a persistent refusal of the call can be disastrous. A hero may have more then one calls to adventure at a time and there may be some special cases where it's a good thing that the hero refuses the call. Some heros never refuse the call they are called willing heros. Heros usually violate limits set by mentors and threshold guardians due to what is called the law of the secret door. This is a symbol of human curiosity and the powerful drive to know all the hidden things or secrets. Meeting with the mentor is the second stage of the hero's journey in which the hero gains the supplies, knowledge and confidence needed to overcome fear and begin the adventure. The mentor is the source of wisdom. Mentor s in folklore are usually magical protectors. Chiron is a prototype for a wise old man or woman. The word mentor comes from the odysseys and his friend named mentor. Mentors act mainly on the mind of the hero. They can at times mislead the hero and if they become to attached it can be dangerous. The heros can also become dangerous to the mentors. Mentors can be regarded as hers wo have become experienced enough to teach others
Reaction: My initial reaction to the text was that I related the call to adventure to the call I received to come to Eckerd. I have never been away from home, and I've grown up in the same house in the same town all my life. When the prospect of leaving the state to go all the way to Florida came up I initially refused it. The other colleges I applied to were all much closer to home. It was my dad who functioned as the mentor on my journey. He convinced me that going to Eckerd was the best thing for me and that it was time I left home and really spread my wings. He has been supportive through the whole transition assuring me that this is the right place for me. He gives me knowledge and confidence I need to succeed here in this new environment. His role is that of the stereotypical mentor in the heroes journey
Questions:
Vougler states that in some stories there is no actual character performing the many functions of a mentor, but heroes almost always make contact with some source of wisdom weather it's looking inside themselves or learning from the past experiences of others. Can you think of a story that has no mentor character?
Can you think of a story where the hero found the wisdom he needed within himself rather then those around him?
Vougler also states that sometimes the hero mentor relationship can take a tragic of deadly turn if the hero is ungrateful. Can you think of a time when you were ungrateful to someone who has helped to mentor you?
4 comments:
One of the movies that I can think of, without an actual mentor character (where the hero finds wisdom within himself) is Mr.Brooks. The hero here is actually a villian who murders people because of an unsatiable psychological thirst for killing. He is 'mentored' by an imaginary friend of his, who guides him throughout the process but in the end all he is doing is talking himself through these murders/events. Kevin Costner gives a great performance in this movie, along with a cameo from Dane Cook.
When I was in elementary school, my dad would often help me almost every night with my math homework. He was a good mentor, but I would get frustrated with the math and then the frustration with the math would turn into frustration with my dad. Because of this I was ungrateful of his mentoring help, at the time at least. Looking back I am grateful for his help.
I have definitely experienced not being grateful to a mentor throughout my life. This is because sometimes a mentor will try to help you even though you don’t think you need help. There were times that I felt that I didn’t need to hear what anyone else had to say because I was content with who I was and didn’t feel like I needed to improve myself nor listen to anyone’s advise about how to live my life.
Examples for me would be my high school teachers who always told me I could do better than how I was doing. I felt that they were being annoying and just didn’t like me very much so felt the need to put me down. I was very ungrateful to them, however they were only giving me constructive criticism so that I could improve myself. If I had only listened and opened my eyes I would have seen that they were just noticing more potential in me than I myself was and they were trying to help me see that potential.
Another example would be my parents. When my parents would try to guide me and tell what to do and what not to do I would think that they were only doing that to make my life harder. In reality, they wanted to guide me so that I could make the right decisions when I was older and so that I would have the knowledge I needed to survive once I left the house and went off to college. At the time their lectures were exhausting and repetitive but now I am glad that they did them because I have learned so much from them.
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