Minutes of the Meeting

We got our essays back and continued the Heroic Archetype lecture. Here are the notes, mind you I'm not the best note-taker, so you may want to stay after if you were absent.

Mythic Hero #6
-there is a guide
-once hero passes some sort of test or trial, the guide shows up
--usually revered but unlikely person
-things will be offered ambiguously, meaning not spelled out
-hero will not be warned of danger, obviously
-hero must use common sense and knowledge to grow and mature
-guides usually have some unknown connection to opposing forces
-guides tend to have great power, but they lack power to fight in their old age (guides are commonly older, more frail people)

Mythic Hero #7
-there is a "descent into darkness"

EXAMPLES OF DESCENTS:
Finn deciding to rescue Jim and risk going to hell
Pinocchio in the belly of the whale
Holden Caulfield coming out of the mummy crypt in the museum

--is always figurative, but can be literal
---always preys on fears of the hero
---hero must face this conflict alone
-victory of hero is symbolized by a return to the light, cleansed and reborn in a sense
-heroes don't tend to destroy evil, evil destroys evil
ie: Vader kills the emperor, not Luke
ie: Gollum throws the ring into the fires of Mt. Doom, not Frodo

Mythic Hero #8
-something is different about the hero after the journey
--hero possesses some sort of new wisdom or maturity that was not part of the original quest
--other characters don't fully understand new knowledge or that the original "goal" was just a symbol

Mythic Hero #9
-Hero suffers physical wound
-hero may be wounded or killed to achieve goal
ie: Beowulf
-suffering is not as important as new knowledge or greatness
ie: 300

Mythic Hero #10
-the new knowledge of the hero is brought back to the hero's community somehow so that the hero, if he or she survives, becomes the guide of the next generation's hero

That's about it. Like I said, not the best note-taker, so you may want to stay after and get some help from Mr. Lazarow with this stuff.

~Ken