The Hero Myth

One topic which I casually mention in my How to Teach a Novel workshop that stirs a lot of interest is the Hero Myth as described in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

According to Campbell’s introduction,

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

Described in greater detail, the journey of the hero typically includes most, if not all, of the following stages:

• call to adventure: the character leaves his ordinary, exceedingly common life to enter an unusual and often supernatural world;
• road of trials: there he encounters a number of tribulations, and often one exceedingly difficult challenge (he is often trained or advised by an older, wiser mentor);
• the goal or book: a reward the hero receives as aa result of his trials, usually accompanied by a new knowledge of self;
• the return to the ordinary world: the hero must consciously decide to return to his world, knowing what he now knows;
• the application of the boon: the hero applies his new skills, powers, and understandings to somehow make his world a better place, or to right a wrong which he was previously under-equipped to face.

Sound familiar?

It’s the plot line of hundreds of books and movies, most easily recognized in Star Wars, Gladiator, the Matrix (see my cool post over at the Teaching that Sticks blog), and the Odyssey.

Less obvious is its appearance in The Lion King, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and Dirty Dancing.

Dirty Dancing? Absolutely. Our heroine Frances, so naive to the ways of the world that she’s called Baby, enters the strange and sexy world of the Catskills resort employees. Arriving wide-eyed and innocent at the steamy after-hours dance carrying watermelons (I’ll leave you to analyze that), Baby suddenly realizes that the world she thinks she knows is just a facade. She is indoctrinated into this brave new world by street-wise and somewhat jaded Johnny Castle, who helps her discover herself in many ways, both G and PG-13. She returns to her world (and Daddy) with new knowledge about herself, and the ability to stand up for what is right.

Isn’t it nice to find that your guilty little pleasure is following in the footsteps of the Hero Myth?

Teaching students about this literary pattern really opens their eyes to just how many stories utilize its conventions. Student writers may also find that it’s useful for identifying weak points in their own stories.

A great place to start exploring more about the Hero Myth (or Hero’s Journey as it is alternately called) is by checking out the collected sites and activities at The Web English Teacher. And of course, for you purists, nothing beats the book.

How NOT to Teach a Novel

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Some teachers, with all the best intentions, treat novels like pinatas, beating them with sticks until every last piece of sweet candy falls out. Those of you who caught my How to Teach a Novel session at the New England League of Middle Schools (NELMS) Conference know I use that metaphor frequently. For good reason, trust me.

As Kelly Gallagher points out in his recent book Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Readig and What You Can Do About It, teachers underteach books; that is, they assign chapters in extremely difficult books for independent reading, and students either choose not to read the selection, or they read it with little understanding. On the other end of the spectrum, however, are those teachers who overteach novels; they’re not satisfied until the pages have been wrung out like dish rags, emptied of every teachable vocabulary word, allusion, metaphor, and simile.

In my How to Teach a Novel sessions I encourage teachers to read and reread novels with pencil in hand in order to decide, “What’s worth our attention?” or, more practically, “What’s worth teaching?” (see How to Teach a Novel for a synopsis of this topic). That does not mean, however, that the teacher needs to teach it all!

Imagine that you’re listening to the Motown classic My Girl on the radio. How frustrating would it be if every twenty seconds the DJ interrupted the song to examine its language, or to “enlighten you” with some background information which places the song or group into a historical context?

I’ve got sunshine, on a cloudy day

(Does the singer literally have sunshine? Is this an oxymoron alone, or is it meant to, in some way, be metaphorical?)

When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May

(Who knows the origin of the name Motown? Right, it’s related to the fact that Gordon Berry established his record label in Detroit, which is also known as the Motor City. But who can tell me the nickname Berry gave to Motown Records itself? Why don’t we continue to pause the song while our listeners look that up?)

I guess you’d say, “What can make me feel this way?”

(Note the use of sentence variety here, and the way in which the singer directly addresses his audience. Is he expecting an answer? What do we call a question in which the speaker does not expect to receive an answer?)

I think you get the idea. When it comes to teaching novels, I wish everyone did.

(This is a repost from my Teaching that Sticks blog).

Welcome to How to Teach a Novel

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Welcome to my new blog! Some of you may have arrived here from my Teach with Picture Books blog, others may have arrived here from Teaching that Sticks, and still others may have found this blog through my many Squidoo sites such as Interactive Reading Sites, Interactive Math Sites, and, of course, How to Teach a Novel (the static version).

So why another blog?

Well, it seems that when you begin sharing advice about how to teach a novel, you suddenly become a lightning rod for suggestions, sites, and resources on that topic. So why keep all this good stuff to myself?

If you’re just starting out on this road to teaching novels successfully, I’d recommend that you first jump over to my How to Teach a Novel lens at Squidoo.com. There you’ll find an abbreviated version of the workshop I’ve presented numerous times. It’s a great jumping off point, with lots of sites to explore.

Have a suggestion for a site, teaching resource, or publication on the use of novels? Email me! I’d also be happy to link to your related site.

Top Ten YouTube Videos for the Classroom

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Tara Seale has compiled a nice list of the Top Ten YouTube Videos for the Classroom over at her Enhanced English Teacher blog. If you’re a middle or high school English teacher, you’ll find some great resources and insights there.

For example, those of you who have had the immense pleasure of attending my Teaching that Sticks workshop or my How to Teach a Novel workshop have heard me mention Joseph Campbell’s “Hero Myth.” The clip below features a discussion of the Hero Myth as it appears in The Matrix. Christopher Vogler, author of The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writersand Using Myth to Power Your Story takes over where Joseph Campbell left off. This snippet of video serves to set up this topic up for classroom discussion.

Thanks for the list, Tara! Visit her site and give her some suggestions for building it to a Top Twenty!

(Missed my How to Teach a Novel workshop? Visit my How to Teach a Novellens over at Squidoo.com for an abbreviated run-down).