Course Syllabi

Poetry
Synesthesia
Metaphor
Simile

Archetypes
The Hero
The Circle
Rites of Passage
Sign vs. Symbol
The Dragon

Senior Experience
Search Engines
Legitimate Sources

Links For Writers

Class Expectations

A Map to Experience

Why study The Hero's Journey? Why learn a pattern that dates from before recorded history?

The answer is simple: we should study it because it's the pattern of human experience, of our experience, and we will live it for the rest of our lives. In a sense, every challenge or change we face in life is a journey: every love found, every love lost, every birth or death, every move to a new job, school or city: every situation which confronts us with something new or which forces us to re-evaluate our thinking, behavior or perspective.

  The journey is a process of self-discovery and self-integration, of maintaining balance and harmony in our lives. As with any process of growth and change, a journey can be confusing and painful, but it brings opportunities to develop confidence, perspective and understanding. Understanding the Journey pattern can help us understand the literature we read, the movies we see, and the experiences that shape our lives. By recognizing the Journey's stages and how they function, we will develop a sense of the flow of our own experiences and be better able to make decisions and to solve problems. More importantly, we will begin to recognize our own rites of passage and respect the significance they have for us.