Joseph Campbell's Mono Myth Analysis

Joseph Campbell’s, “The Hero With a Thousand Faces”, outlines the fundamental components of all hero stories. With his mono myth, departure, initiation and return, Campbell is able to demonstrate the repetitive cycles that occur in any major hero story. He lays out the journey every hero must endure in order to fully develop into the hero they’re destined to be. One of the most contemporary myths that alludes to the mono myth is the 1999 film, The Matrix. Here, Thomas Anderson or Neo, the protagonist, is separated from the reality he’s always known and awakens to the truth of human existence. Through Campbell’s mono myth it becomes evident just how much they intertwine. In the commencement of a hero’s quest, Campbell states the hero is …show more content…
Here, his/her strength and ability is tested resulting in a learning experience for the hero to mature. This is the moment where the hero touches rock bottom and faces possibility of death in order to be resurrected. Neo, in The Matrix, is completely blown away by the truth of the real world. He doesn’t want to accept that humans are bred for energy and demands to go back to reality. At this point Neo hits a all time low and makes the decision of not continuing on with life knowing this stunning truth. He then starts his initiation process where Morpheus challenged Neo to hit him during a training exercise. Although at first Neo fails, eventually he ends up hitting Morpheus. Neo continues his journey where he realizes he has to save Morpheus from the Agents. Neo at this point develops skills and abilities that let him manipulate the Matrix where he readies himself for the mission to save Morpheus. Once Neo saves Morpheus from the Agents, the Agents truly realize that Neo is the “One.” This in turn gives Neo a god-like figure thus signifying his growth as the hero. Neo also encounters another threshold where he is forced to save Trinity from a helicopter that is about to crash. When Neo sees this, he instantly learns that he can do far more with the Matrix than he thought. After saving Trinity, she becomes Neo’s ultimate boon companion. All of these thresholds, …show more content…
With his mono myth(departure,initiation,return) it is clear that this is truly the basis for modern and ancient myths. In The Matrix, Neo departs to his journey in which he is first reluctant. During his quest he gained knowledge and skills that help him get over his fears and on the road to defeating the autonomous Agents. Once he defeated them, Neo made his way safely back to the real world where he brought hope and faith to the people, that defeating the machines, isn’t as impossible as they