A Comparative Study of the Myth of the Hero's Journey in Children's Fiction Based on the Model by Carol-Pearson and Hugh K. Marr

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor of Translation Studies, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

Abstract

The journey of the hero is one of the fascinating topics of world fiction. Children's literature is no exception. The present article has a comparative study of the stages of the hero's journey in the two stories of the Little Black Fish and the Flying Mouse. For a comparative study of the stages of the journey of the original character in two works, the model of Pearson and the and Mar (2014) was used, which includes twelve stages: innocent, orphan, warrior, patron, seeker, lover, destroyer, creator, ruler, Wizard, sage, and clown. The two stories deal with the category of mythical journey and perfectionism in simple and childish language. Despite the fact that these two stories belong to two different eras and cultures, there are many similarities between them. Among them, the following points can be mentioned: common genre, the same audience, the hero's disgust with everyday life, breaking the hero's norms and arousing the opposition of his contemporaries, the hero's solo journey, the hero's determination and will not give up in the face of challenges, the hero's hope , Seeking help from a mentor and guide, questioning and perfectionism, and the presence of negative and positive characters in both stories. The root of similarity and adaptability of the two works can be considered as common human concerns in drawing the path of perfectionism, truth-seeking and achieving the utopia.

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References

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