Naomi: The Modern Hero’s Journey

 According to Alan Noble, author of “You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World” the modern hero’s journey emphasizes leaving home but not returning to it. In the first chapter Noble writes that “In a traditional hero’s journey, the hero returns home after a period of testing and growth so that he can liberate or cure his home” (pg. 34). This is consistent with Campbell’s discussion of the hero’s journey and with what we have discussed in class so far. Noble explains that leaving home to follow a vision of a “good” life is something we value in modern society and support individuals in; however, we do not place an importance on returning home and sharing that life with those we left behind. This is due to individualism and the idea that we belong to ourselves and our lives are solely our own, and therefore we have a responsibility to create meaning and choose the right path. Noble also states that “self-discovery is our contemporary hero’s journey” to show that we not only leave home to build a “good” life but to discover ourselves (pg. 22). Belonging to ourselves means that we decide who we are tied to and who we are not tied to. This includes family. If an individual is convinced or determined enough to leave their family behind and not belong to them anymore, then they can make that choice. And a lot of people do make that choice, contributing to the traditional hero’s journey. They leave home in search of a better, more true life or self, go through numerous trials, and yet never return to share with those they left all that they have learned. Can this modern hero’s journey still be called a hero’s journey if it is missing the last element? Can the cycle be completed if the hero does not return back to their roots? And if we belong solely to ourselves, do we even have a responsibility to complete this journey/cycle and share what we have learned with those we left?


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