Hero’s Journey Project

Homer’s The Odyssey and Hanna-Barbara’s Scooby Doo

Jack H.

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Homer’s The Odyssey

Supernatural Aid

Supernatural AidOdysseus begins his epic tale by setting course to home on Ithaca. His journey is one with countless challenges, which requires the help of gods and goddesses. “The story of Odysseus begins with the goddess Athena’s appealing to Zeus to help Odysseus, who has been wandering for ten years on the seas to find his way home, to his family on Ithaca” (Book 1, 18-20). Athena asking for Zeus to assist Odysseus is a direct example of supernatural aid; the immortal gods and goddesses are helping out Odysseus in his extensive journey home.

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Homer’s The Odyssey

The Meeting with a Goddess

The Meeting with the Goddess In the midst of all the action, Odysseus travels all

through the Mediterranean Sea and comes across the Goddess Calypso. “For seven of the ten years Odysseus has spent wandering the Mediterranean Sea, he has been held captive by the Goddess Calypso” (Book 5, summary 1). Odysseus stumbles upon this island, and ends up meeting Calypso, the goddess of the sea. This is where she holds him captive, preventing him from continuing his journey home to Ithaca. Zeus must intervene and tell Calypso to only build him a raft to assist him in his journey to Ithaca.

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Homer’s The Odyssey

The crossing of the return threshold

The crossing of the return thresholdOdysseus is now faced with a final challenge; to defeat the suitors that have ravaged his manor. “You yellow dogs, you thought I’d never make it home from the land of Troy…You dared bid for my wife while I was still alive…Your last hour has come. You die in blood” (Book 22, 34-35, 36-37, 40). So basically Odysseus is saying that it’s game over. The suitors are matched up against Odysseus and some gods, so the odds aren’t exactly in favor of the suitors. It’s going to be a total blood bath in the hall, and this will be Odysseus’ final test to finally meet up with his babe.

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Hanna-Barbara’s Scooby Doo

Refusal of the Call

Refusal of the CallScooby and the gang come across a guard in this episode, who is unconscious. The guard awakens and passes them a note. This note sparks adventure and mystery solving within the gang except for the cowardly Scooby and Shaggy. The crazy duo are once again refusing the call of their heroic task of saving the day due to their fear of any monster. The creeper is clearly a powerful creature capable of harm, which keeps Scooby from fulfilling his task. But of course the supernatural aid of Scooby Snacks will come to the rescue of the pair of cowardly heroes.

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Hanna-Barbara’s Scooby Doo

Apotheosis

ApotheosisNow that Scooby and the gang have discovered what needs to be done to prevent the creeper from committing more crimes and robberies, it is only of matter of time before they have a face to face showdown of guts and wits. This period of time that they have is used to rest for the events about to unfold and also for the preparation for a trap to capture the creeper alive. Apotheosis can also be considered as the period of time the great Escoobus must take to meditate in order to defeat the villains.

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Hanna-Barbara’s Scooby Doo

Freedom to live

Freedom to Live

Mr. Rustin

Now that Scooby has saved the day as usual, what can he do? Well a hero deserves a day of rest and maybe some more Scooby snacks. The hero Scooby now has the freedom to live, but more mysteries are likely to follow as Scooby’s crime solving days will never come to an end.

Works Cited• "Scoobypedia - Scooby Doo characters, episodes, movies, and tons more!."

Scoobypedia - Scooby Doo characters, episodes, movies, and tons more!. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. <http://scoobydoo.wikia.com/wiki/Scoobypedia>.

• Wikipedia contributors. "Scooby-Doo." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2 Feb. 2012. Web. 5 Feb. 2012.

• Wikipedia contributors. "Scrappy-Doo." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 28 Jan. 2012. Web. 5 Feb. 2012.

• Allen, Janet. "The Odyssey." Holt McDougal Literature: Texas Grade 9. Texas ed. Evanston, Ill.: Holt McDougal, a division of Houghton Mifflin

Harcourt, 2010. 1185-1288. Print.