Here is a link for the summary of the Hero's Journey ---> http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html


Yuriel Espinal
The Matrix: Neo’s “Hero’s Journey”

Neo, the main character in The Matrix, goes through the “hero’s journey” or “hero’s-quest”. In Scott R. Stroud’s Technology and Mythic Narrative: The Matrix as Technological Hero-Quest, it explains how the hero-quest theory works and how it applies to the film, The Matrix. Joseph Campbell’s monomyth theory, otherwise known as the hero’s journey or hero’s quest, is the theory in which he describes the basic outline of the way the hero’s life would play out in myths. In The Matrix, Neo’s life throughout the movie can be compared to Joseph Campbell’s monomyth theory.
In the monomyth theory, there are a series of steps that the hero must go through in order to finish his or her quest. In The Matrix, the equivalent to these steps is Neo’s training and his experience in the Nebuchadnezzar. He has to go through many obstacles in order to complete or fulfill his destiny, which ties back into the theory of the hero’s journey.
According to the article, Technology and Mythic Narrative: The Matrix as Technological Hero-Quest, there are seventeen steps to complete the hero’s quest, but not all of them are displayed in the first movie. The first twelve of them are displayed throughout the movie and the first of the twelve steps is the calling. The calling is the call to the adventure, when the hero is called to accept the journey. In the film, Neo wakes up to a computer screen which is essentially “talking” to him. It gives him instructions which point him in the direction of finding the truth about the Matrix. Neo is told to “follow the white rabbit” to the club, where he finds Trinity and she tells him about Morpheus and the crew. This is an intentional allusion to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
The following step in Campbell’s monomyth theory is the refusal of the call. This is the step where the hero, in this case Neo, refuses the calling of the previous step. In his office, Thomas Anderson (Neo), receives a phone call from Morpheus and is given directions to escape the Agents. Neo is given multiple instructions to get away from these Agents and he successfully accomplishes them all except for one. He is told to climb on to the scaffold to get to the roof, but he refuses because it is too risky and is eventually apprehended by the Agents. They take him in for interrogation and “bug” Neo with a device that tracks him wherever he goes.
Step three is the supernatural aid. The supernatural aid is someone that helps him throughout the journey, mainly in the beginning to guide the chosen one to his journey. At this point in the movie, Neo accepts the quest when he does not leave the car and is taken to meet his “supernatural aid”, which is Morpheus. Morpheus knows more about Neo than he does about himself. With Morpheus’s help, Neo finally accepts that the world he is in isn’t real. It is as Morpheus says, “the Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes, to blind you from the truth” (Wachowski)

The fourth step to the hero's journey is the crossing of the first threshold. In
the movie this is when Neo finally meets Morpheus and is confronted with the
decision that he has to make between the blue pill, where he stays in the matrix
or, the red pill and breaks away and goes into the real world. He
chooses the red pill and crosses the threshold between the matrix and the real
world. Here is when Neo actually enters the real world and is taken in by
Morpheus and the Nebuchadnezzar crew.

Step five, called the belly of the whale, is the time in the hero's adventure where the hero reaches one of the lowest points. Almost immediately after Neo is taken into the Nebuchadnezzar, he reaches this point and asks himself and Morpheus if his decision was a smart one. He begins to doubt that he is the one and wants to go back into the matrix, even though it isn’t possible. Another place that shows this is Neo's initial leap across the building because it shows that he is still attached to the world he lived in and the rules it had. When he lands on the floor, he is plugged out of the matrix and basically breaks down. But this can also be compared to the next step, the road of trials. The road of trials is when the hero is given a set of tasks to complete in order to complete his training. This is when Neo is tested with the jump from the roof to release all of the rules he believes is true in the matrix. He is also tested when Neo and Morpheus spar in the martial arts dojo to see if Neo can finally let go of the rules that apply to the matrix.

The seventh step is the meeting with the goddess. This step can be compared to
the part of the movie in which Neo and Morpheus go to see the oracle to see what
is to become of Neo. The eighth is the woman as the temptress. This is when Neo
and Trinity have a sort of heart to heart and one can infer that if the movie is
compared to the hero's quest, then Trinity is the temptress. She is the temptress because she is
what is keeping Neo from wanting to go back to the matrix. The ninth step is
the atonement with the father, but there doesn't seem to be any connection with
the movie.

The tenth step is apotheosis, defined as death in one's old self in
order to be deified. In Neo's case it was a literal death where the agents capture
Neo and kill him and after three minutes, he resurrects. In Neo-Christ: Jesus, The Matrix, and
Second Allegory as a Rhetorical Form, the author states that this part of the movie parallels the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Right away in the beginning of the movie, one can infer that Neo is almost like Jesus Christ. Neo’s customer Choi, who seems like a deadbeat or a junkie and seems like someone who needs assistance, says something that can confirm ones inference of Neo being like Jesus. Choi says “Hallelujah. You're my savior, man. My own personal Jesus Christ.” (Wachowski)
This is also the part where Neo finally accepts the different worlds and learns to differentiate between the two. He stops the seemingly endless amount of bullets fired at him when he resurrects and finally realizes he is the one. The eleventh step is related to this. The ultimate boon, or the reward is his discovery of the amount of power Neo at his possession and his ability to use them to his advantage.
The last step shown in the film, but not the last step of the hero's quest, is
the crossing of the return threshold. This is after Neo obtains his boon, he
returns to the matrix with his newly found abilities to find the truth. In the
following two films the steps continue and unfold gradually until his quest is complete.

In the third film, The Matrix Revolutions, Neo goes through the last two stages which are
master of the two worlds and freedom to live. Neo actually begins to fly in the real world, not the
matrix. This happens because Neo has finally become comfortable in both the matrix and in the
real world. And Neo goes through the freedom to live, the last step. In this step Neo is finally
free to live, or in other terms becomes immortal because he now has no fear of death.



Works Cited

Milford, Mike. "Neo-Christ: Jesus, The Matrix, and Secondary Allegory as a Rhetorical Form." Southern Communication Journal 75.1 (2010): 17-34. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 23 May 2011.
Stroud, Scott R. "Technology and Mythic Narrative: The Matrix as Technological Hero-Quest." Western Journal of Communication 65.4 (2001): 416. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web.
The Matrix. Dir. Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski. Writ. Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss. 31 March. 1999. DVD.
The Matrix Revolutions. Dir. Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski. Writ. Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss. 5 November. 2003. DVD.

Technology and Mythic Narrative: The Matrix as Technological Hero-Quest

This article is mainly about the similarities that Joseph Campbell's idea of the "monomyth", otherwise known as Hero's Quest or Hero's Journey,and how it relates to the film "The Matrix" in regards to the technology shown in the movie. The monomyth idea is that one person is chosen from an ordinary world to enter an unknown world with different powers and abilities. The person chosen has to face many obstacles and at the end finally has the choice to return to their place of origin, in which they would use what they have learned to face different challenges that might arise. It speaks about how the Matrix follows Campbell's hero-quest but that Neo experiences seperation on two axes. Campbells hero-quest theory only states the seperation of one axes, existential. But Neo experiences existential an ontological. In other words he feels seperated from the idea of things existing or not.

Dorian Gray Rough Draft

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, one might say that this book is overflowing with different signs of a man with an overactive imagination. This character, despite the other characters that show an intense amount of imagination, is Dorian Gray. Another character whose imagination seems to take over so much that it is his reality is Lord Henry. Lord Henry actually propelled Dorian Gray into using his imagination more often. Not in a positive way but in a way in which Dorian sees things only as beauty and art. In a way that is only to please the senses and nothing more. The main reason for Dorian Grays sinful actions and the initial force that caused Dorian participate in all these immoral ways of living, is indeed Lord Henry’s first speech.
Dorian first met Lord Henry when Basil, the artist, makes a portrait of Dorian. At this part of this story, one can infer almost immediately that Lord Henry is very imaginative and manipulative in the way he arranges his words in order to change Dorian’s way of viewing life. Henry uses a combination of compliments and philosophic analogies to somehow get inside of Dorian’s head and manipulate him into thinking the way he wants. Henry’s imagination works in a way where he exaggerates the truth in order to get what he wants. When Lord Henry and Dorian are sitting in the garden, Lord Henry tells Dorian that if he gets sun burnt he will become very “spoiled and Basil will never paint him again”. This is both a sort of compliment because what he is saying is that he is so good looking that if he were to get burnt, his beauty would be no more. But at the same time he is also saying that his beauty is all he has, and that he needs to keep that because it is the most important thing to have. In this way, Lord Henry uses his imagination to find the way that works to manipulate Dorian Gray.
Lord Henry becomes successful in influencing Dorian into becoming a sinful man. The first time we see this is when Dorian Gray falls in love with an amazing actress named Sybil Vane. Dorian falls in love with Sybil’s acting, because of its grace and beauty. This shows that Dorian’s imagination had been tainted by Henry because his morals prior to meeting Henry was not anything like what they are now. Dorian’s imagination is now only about the beauty and the pleasure of the senses, whether the way he goes about is by sinning or not.
Dorian finds creative and imaginative ways for him to please his senses, by sinning excessively.

Article B)

The article Alice, Huck, Pinocchio and the Blue Fairy: Bodies Real and Imagined by M.L. Rosenthal is about the relevance between each book and their author’s life, specifically their childhood memories. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at first glance, according to Rosenthal, is a children’s book about a young girl trying to learn more about life. However, after interpreting it, Rosenthal states that the details in the story suggest "a grown man's nightmare of symbolic sexual failure rather more than they do a little girl's frustrated effort to learn more about life". The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a story in which the character, Huckleberry or "Huck" is the exact portrayal of the author, Samuel Langhorne Clemens or Mark Twain which is his "pen name". In the article it says that Mark Twains character, Huck, is the best example of his own life. Huck is the perfect character to describe Mark Twain during his childhood. Pinocchio is another story whose main character depicts the author. This article states that each author has a significant relevance to each character because essentially it is the author.

1st draft

Yuriel Espinal

In Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, one can diagnose the character, White Rabbit, with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). As one of the first characters we meet in the story, the White Rabbit, sets a certain tone and gives the reader an idea of the different characters that Alice, and the reader, will soon meet. If one looks deeper into the characters and their actions it is easy to determine that the majority of them have some sort of psychological disorders. The White Rabbit is just one example.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), or General Anxiety, is essentially the constant anxiety over almost everything. Symptoms include being restless or “on edge” , irritability, being socially uncomfortable, and a few more. This is also commonly mistaken as the stage before a panic attack, which is a completely different form of anxiety altogether. The White Rabbit shows these tree symptoms very often throughout the novel.
When we first meet the White Rabbit, he is very restless and jumpy. On page 7, it reads “and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it.” We still do not know why he is hurrying but it seems as though he is very nervous. On page 17 it reads “he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself…” Clues from the text leads me to believe that he was very wound up, so much so he began to mutter to himself. Also, when he began to mutter, it made Alice desperate enough to ask to help. I can infer from the reading that he was so jumpy it made Alice want to help immediately.
The White Rabbit also displays an immense amount of irritability. He is a lot more assertive with people that are “inferior” to him. He is a lot more stern with his slaves and workers. He gets irritated very easily with them as well. On page 49 it says “Sure, I don’t like it, yer honor, at all at all. Do as I tell you, you coward!”. This shows that he gets upset extremely easy. He is irritated with the simplest things. The anxiety kicks in at this point in which he begins to scream and order around all of his workers. His irritability is taken up a notch when he decides that the only way to get Alice out of his house is to “burn the house down!” (pg 52).
Early on, the White Rabbit shows signs of being socially awkward as well. He seems to be very nervous around people he has never met before. It seems that way because on page 18, the narrator states “The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, and scurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go.” When he had first seen Alice, he immediately drops everything and runs as fast as his legs could take him. This is evidence that he is socially uncomfortable, especially around people he has never met or seen before.
In Lewis Carroll’s Alice on the Stage he states “And the White Rabbit, what of him? Was he framed on the ‘Alice’ lines, or meant as a contrast?”. According to Carroll, it is unclear to the reader whether or not the White Rabbit was intended to be portrayed the way he is. Lewis goes on to say “I’m sure his voice should quaver, and his knees quiver, and his whole air suggest a total inability to say ‘Boo’ to a goose!” Lewis Carroll clears it up and essentially tell us that the White Rabbit was meant to be the way people portray him to be.
Evidence in Alice in Wonderland can lead us to believe that the characters have some sort of psychological problem. Each of them act differently, so to put all of them under one title would be irrelevant. This shows that there is more psychological meaning to this story than it just being a kids book. Everything in this story is significant, and has more meaning than what it seems.

Proposal

I am going to write about hysteria and other disorders and how Alice might be suffering from them. Also, Alice is very close to the Mad Hatter and I believe that the reason is because they share similar mental states of mind. I think that she has hysteria or some other mental disorder and that is why her and the Mad Hatter are so close. She often talks to herself and even says that she scolds herself to the point of crying. The Mad Hatter also babbles to himself and becomes mad from time to time. I believe that the connection between Alice and the Mad Hatter is more significant and is more than just a coincidence. Another character that seems to be very important to Alice is the Cheshire Cat. The significane of the cat could be that it is also another hysteric. It is always grinning, almost maniacly. Also it comes and goes as it pleases. That could signify the typical actions of a hysteric. Always coming and going, mentally. Her constant growth and shrinking could be a symbol for her mental state of mind. Another form of mental disorder that Alice might have is bipolar disorder. She is always jumping back and forth frombeing either very excited to sad. According to the texbook, bipolar disorder is defined as the alternation between mania and depression. She shows these signs in the beginning when she is in the rabbit hole. She starts to scold herself and makes herself cry. A few pages later, she is perfectly fine, then goes back to crying. I think that shows a mental unbalance in Alice.

Alice in Wonderland

I think that so far this book is very interesting the second time around. Especially since we have some knowledge of psychology. It is a lot more interesting thinking about this book in a psychological way and thinking more about it then to just read it. Its better now that I'm analyzing what different things can mean in the story.