Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The Hero's Journey- The Call to Adventure


All in one afternoon under a pear tree, Janie experiences her call to adventure. "She was stretched on her back...when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation" (11). At this moment, this revelation opens Janie's eyes about what a true marriage should include. She witnesses the mutual embrace between the bee and the flower, realizing that that is a true marriage - one with equality between both partners. It motivates her to find equality as a woman with men. Her life in the Ordinary World is ultimately disrupted. In that world, Janie grew up, raised under the protection of her Nanny as well as under the undying love from her Nanny's heart. She was raised to obey her Nanny and keep her Nanny satisfied. After experiencing her call to adventure, Janie is pulled away from the comfortable aspects of the Ordinary World in which her Nanny has filled with old traditions Janie has come to accept throughout her childhood. For example, one particular tradition states that the Black man has power over the woman as the Black woman is "de mule uh de world" (14). Back in the Ordinary World, Janie upholds this tradition when she marries Logan Killicks. However, their relationship is not like that of the bee and the flower. Instead, it lacks the equality essential to Janie. Because of her call to adventure, Janie cannot let herself remain in that marriage. She needs to go off on her own in search of a marriage that will meet her expectations. As a result, Janie finally breaks away from her Nanny and her Nanny's wishes. This can be seen when she crosses the threshold by eloping with Joe Starks.

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