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Wizard Of Oz Hero's Journey Essay

946 Words4 Pages

Similarities have always been found in adventure stories, but it was not until 1949 when Joseph Campbell published his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces, when his idea of a monomyth was proposed. All thought it may not seem like it, many stories in society today follow the idea of a similar hero’s journey. This being the basic understanding of a monomyth, that all adventures roughly follow the same guidelines. The first stage being departure, the second; initiation, and the third being return. The original 1939 production of Wizard of Oz follows Campbell’s Heroic Cycle closely, with a clear departure, initiation and return of Dorothy and her beloved dog Toto. The first stage in the Hero's Journey is the departure. The very beginning of …show more content…

They often occur in threes. In the case of The Wizard of Oz this is Dorothy's quest to the Emerald City down the yellow brick road. It is during this journey that she meets three companions, the Scarecrow without a brain, the Tin Man without a heart and the Lion without courage. It is during this trip with her three unlikely companions that she encounters many difficulties, having to deal with the Wicked Witch of the West. Dorothy’s meeting with the goddess was when she arrived in the Emerald City and meets the wizard. It is during this stage that Dorothy believes that Wizard is the only one to help her, that he is the only one that can help her return home. When Dorothy ventures to the Wicked Witch's castle, she abandons her primary quest in returning home to Kansas to retrieve the witches broomstick. One of the more prominent steps shown in The Wizard of Oz is the Atonement with the Father. this step is the center point of the journey, in this case when Dorothy meets the Wizard. This stage along with the Apotheosis stage after are similar in the movie. Meeting the Wizard was the ultimate goal for Dorothy, but pulling away the curtain gave Dorothy divine knowledge. This divine knowledge is that the Wizard who everyone saw as so powerful was just a man behind a curtain, fooling everyone. After Dorothy pulls away the curtain the …show more content…

During the movie, Dorothy is sad to leave her new friends behind, but it is Toto her dog that delays her journey home. After realizing that there is a certain safety in Kansas, and that home is always the best place to be, Dorothy begins her departure from the Emerald City, famously clicking together her ruby slippers and saying “There’s no place like home, there is no place like home”. It is in this stage of departure that Dorothy realizes where she is meant to be. With the help of Glinda the Good Witch, Dorothy returns to Kansas she is surrounded by people she loves, she learns from her adventure to the Emerald City and Munchkinland that the best place for her is at home, even if she doesn’t realize

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