NOT just a pleasure-read!

           A friend and I were talking the other day about my YA Literature class, and the book I’m focusing my final project on: Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima. “Why are you using that book? It’s just a pleasure-read, isn’t it?” she asked, as she turned away to go to her class, leaving me gasping there on the sidewalk. Just a pleasure-read?!  Oh, my goodness, no! It’s not just a pleasure-read—it’s so much more!

            In what way is it more, you ask? Well, let’s discuss. Over a series of several posts, I’ll present different ways and methods of looking at Warrior Heir that go beyond the basic pleasure-read. These methods can be applied to any novel, whether YA Literature or Adult Literature, whether the book is modern,  or a classic.

To begin with, I present you with a question: Have you ever heard of the Hero’s Journey Monomyth? No? Allow me to share what I’ve learned, and then I’ll demonstrate how it applies to Warrior Heir.

The Hero’s Journey Monomyth was developed by Joseph Campbell. In his research on world myths, Campbell discovered that a lot of similar patterns appeared in the hero myths and stories from cultures the world over. He noticed that there seemed to be a series of basic steps that almost every hero-quest story went through, no matter where the story or myth originated. Campbell shared his findings in a book entitled The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and he called this series of steps The Hero’s Journey Monomyth. The Monomyth can be very complex, but at its core are a series of 8 basic steps:

1. The Call to Adventure

 2. Acceptance or Refusal of the Call

3. Crossing the Threshold

4. Supernatural Aid / Talisman

5. Allies / Helpers

6. Tests and Trials

7. Belly of the Whale

8. Reward / Journey Home
Click here to find out more about Joseph Campbell:
http://www.jcf.org/       (Don't skip the intro; I think it's worth the wait.)
I’ll leave it here for tonight, and I’ll apply the Monomyth to Warrior Heir in the next post.

Happy Reading!
Tru