“Out of the given life comes a new life”

Reflections on the Protagonist’s psychological journey from ‘death’ to ‘life’.

Yesterday a member of the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group Rebecca Maslen Sapolsky posted this:

Was reading the chapter “The Hero’s Adventure” in Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth on my lunch break today. Came across this quote, which reinforced something Scott Myers said in our workshop over the summer about my story that’s i’m plugging away on now. Just adds a deeper level of understanding to what he was getting so excited about in my story. Sharing it here for others to possibly gleam some wisdom from (emphasis mine):

Bill Moyers: Don’t many of the heroes in mythology die to the world? They suffer, they’re crucified.

Campbell: Many of them give their lives. BUT THEN THE MYTH ALSO SAYS THAT OUT OF THE GIVEN LIFE COMES A NEW LIFE. It may not be the hero’s life, but it’s a new life, a new way of being or becoming.

My response:

Rebecca, thanks for sharing. If you will recall from our Prep workshop, we talked about how in establishing the Protagonist’s Old World / Ordinary World, a key part of what we generally explore in Act One is the characters Old Ways of Being, the life they have cobbled together before we type FADE IN. Their beliefs and behaviors, defense mechanisms and coping skills. As Campbell says, “The Hero is just making do… they need to change.” Using psychological language, that Old Life is an Inauthentic Existence. The Protagonist is called toward a New Life, “a new way of being”.

When we think about Story from this perspective, we can look at ALL the events of the Plotline and ALL of the relationships between characters, particularly those connected with the Protagonist, as servicing and supporting the Protagonist’s transformation from Old Life to New Life:

* The Nemesis provides persistent opposition to the Protagonist in the pursuit of their Conscious Goal

* The Attractor and Mentor provide emotional and intellectual wisdom to facilitate the Protagonist’s growth

* The Trickster shapeshifts from ally to enemy, enemy to ally and in so doing tests the Protagonist’s will and emerging skills

All of this feeds the Protagonist’s transformation which is, as Campbell asserts, the whole point of the Hero’s Journey.

Sometimes the Hero dies, an act of selflessness and in that act finds meaning / redemption. More often it’s the Protagonist’s Old Life which ‘dies’ giving birth to their New Life.

Key point: The foundation for their New Life exists within the Protagonist already, even at the beginning of the story.

“The seeds of change lie within.” — Ovid

“The Hero’s journey is not one of attainment, but reattainment.” — J. Campbell

“Dorothy, you had the power to go home all along.” — Glinda in The Wizard of Oz

The Old Life / Old Ways of Being have stifled the Protagonist’s Authentic Nature / True Self / Core Essence. Their journey from Disunity — > Deconstruction — > Reconstruction — > Unity (if the nature of their transformation is a positive one) causes the Protagonist to set aside the Old Ways which allows their Core Of Being to emerge into the light of consciousness, and once embraced becomes the cornerstone of their New Life / New Way of Being.

“I was a better man as a woman than I was as a man.” — Michael Dorsey in “Tootsie”

“I’m a mensch.” — C.C. Baxter in “The Apartment”

“There’s no place like home.” — Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz”

The Protagonist cannot get to that level of consciousness unless they go through the events of their Story which — as noted — service and support their transformation.

Takeaway: When we, as writers, look at a story — its characters, plot occurrences — think about how each functions to put to ‘death’ the Protagonist’s Old Ways of Being and enables the Protagonist to embrace their New Ways of Being…

And emerge a New Self.

A good story is a marriage between the Physical Journey of the External World and the Psychological Journey of the Internal World. Every character, every scene, every moment connected… and for a purpose: To engender and facilitate the process of transformation on its characters, most notably the Protagonist.

The video series “The Power of Myth” is a must-watch. Of if you prefer, you may listen to the six part series.