This reading assignment was based on an excerpt of The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Volger. I've selected key quotes to comment on that highlight important context within the article.
"The experiences of the preceding stages have led us, the audience, to identify with the hero and her fate. What happens to the hero happens to us. We are encouraged to experience the brink-of-death moment with her. Our emotions are temporarily depressed so that they can be revived by the hero's return from death. The result of this revival is a feeling of elation and exhilaration."
This quote speaks to the audience’s emotional engagement in a story. When a character undergoes a profound transformative experience, the audience also experiences it. Prior to this stage of the narrative, the audience becomes emotionally involved in the hero’s journey, and therefore cares about their fate. The struggles the hero goes through resonate with the audience, and from this, real meaning can be drawn from a story. Seeing a character have a near death response allows the audience to later experience the renewal of hope. The audience can feel a sense of catharsis upon the hero’s return from the abyss, providing both entertainment and potentially causing the audience to draw meaning from the narrative to their personal lives.
"Jung suggested that these archetypes reflect different aspects of the human mind — that our personalities divide themselves into these characters to play out the drama of our lives. He noticed a strong correspondence between his patients' dream figures and the common archetypes of mythology. He suggested that both were coming from a deeper source, in the collective unconscious of the human race."
Jung’s perspective on these archetypes is an interesting exploration of the connection between storytelling and the human psyche. The suggestion that archetypes mirror patients “dream figures” speaks volumes to the universality of storytelling, especially when this also mirrors the archetypes found in mythology. The collective unconscious shared by humanity is a very interesting topic that these storylines bring massive insight to. Storytelling acts as a universal bridge where we can link our personal experiences to timeless myths. The characters in the myths are deeply rooted in our shared human experiences. Drawing people to universally resonate with characters enriches stories and helps an audience explore the complexities of being human.
"He found that all storytelling, consciously or not, follows the ancient patterns of myth and that all stories, from the crudest jokes to the highest flights of literature, can be understood in terms of the Hero's Journey: the "monomyth" whose principles he lays out in the book."
It’s interesting to me that “consciously or not” was included in this sentence. The fact that people can unconsciously and largely weave narratives into the Hero’s Journey shows a lot of insight into the way the human brain works. Storytelling is timeless and instinctive, and ultimately a way for people to make sense of themselves, their experiences, and others. This idea recontextualizes storytelling from being just a form of communication to it being a deeply valuable method for communication and understanding. Storytelling is a powerful way to forge connections, build empathy, and ultimately find common ground with people from any walk of life.