Over the last several years I've taken a few storytelling and memoir writing classes (okay, maybe more than a few) and have become very interested in the role of narrative in shaping our thoughts and feelings. Therapists often talk about rewriting a script or re-framing an event, for instance. Basically they are asking you to change the plot line of the story, imagine different motivations for the characters.
I never took a real literature class in my formal studies, so the idea of the "hero's journey" was something new for me as I started exploring narratives. (Which also may tell you something about the flaws in my educational journey. How could such a basic concept be missed?) There are different ways to think about it or describe it, but the simplest is there is a departure, a challenge, and a return. It can have many other layers and there is a wide body of scholarship on the difference between the male hero and the female, the nature of the challenge, and the type of transformation. You can add mentors along the way, there can be refusal of the journey at first, supernatural forces or intervention, etc. Think about Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, most fairy tales, and Harry Potter.
In storytelling this is often discussed as a good story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. A key element stressed is that a personal story should show change or growth. "First I was this way, then something happened, now I'm different." I can think of many stories in my own life that fit this model.
But, what about stories that don't work that way. What if a person faces a challenge in relationships, health, career, or some other aspect of life and DOESN'T CHANGE! Was there no journey? Is there no hero? Is it a meaningless blip in life? Is the lack of change itself the transformation? How do we explain or describe that journey?
