The Portal to Self-Actualization: Coraline and The Hobbit as Adaptations of the Monomyth
Date
2-13-2024
Faculty Mentor
Susan Dean, English
Files
Submission Type
Book
Location
8:15-8:25am | Houston Cole Library, 11th Floor
Description
NOTE: Video of this presentation is not available.
This paper examines the differences between Joseph Campbell’s concept of the hero’s journey, originating in Campbell’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces, and a more contemporary approach to the hero’s journey that focuses on a young, female heroine with steps coined by Deborah Duff in Individuation in Children’s Literature: The Child Hero’s Journey and Coming-of-Age. The comparison of the two texts acts as a bridge between J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, two seminal works of children’s literature that tell stories of very similar heroes embarking on vastly different journeys.In both Coraline and The Hobbit, the readers observe as the protagonists cross the threshold out of their world and into a world beyond their imaginations, which Kristen McQueen explores in “Liminal Space and Personal Identity in The Hobbit and Coraline”. As Coraline and Bilbo venture out on their missions they have the ultimate, unspoken goal of self-discovery wherein the concept of the hero’s journey works as a machine for a coming-of-age story, as explored by Peter Bray’s “The Hero-Journey, Hamlet, and Positive Psychological Transformation”.
When comparing Duff’s text against Campbell’s text in conjunction with readings of both The Hobbit and Coraline, a clear relationship emerges-- both Campbell’s concept of the hero’s journey and Duff’s amended hero’s journey concept that outlines the journey of young female heroines reveal deep truths about gender bias as a mechanism for tropes in coming-of-age literature.
Keywords
student research, English, literature
Rights
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Recommended Citation
Chuang, Zoe, "The Portal to Self-Actualization: Coraline and The Hobbit as Adaptations of the Monomyth" (2024). JSU Student Symposium 2024. 66.
https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/ce_jsustudentsymp_2024/66