Initiation journeys in Literature
An initiatory journey is a story, tale and in various instances, an experience , in which an individual finds himself in hostile or adverse situations that will cause his personality to change, after he becomes aware of himself, of external reality or of have a mission in life, and see his character, spirit or experience modified to achieve an improvement in his person, after managing to overcome a series of difficult situations.
Universal literature has numerous examples, given how easy it is to narrate the purpose of the initiatory journey: to change the vital perspective of the protagonist. This change not only affects the way of seeing external events but also changes the protagonist. The Odyssey of Homer can be considered as the first initiatory journey of history. Faced with Ulysses' defiance of the gods, Poseidon condemns him to travel the seas. At the end of the epic Poseidon reminds Ulysses that intelligence is not the same as wisdom. Undoubtedly the best known example is the Spanish Don Quixote of Cervantes . In addition to others such as The Hobbit ofJRR Tolkien . Within the science fiction and fantasy there are a lot of interesting examples as Dune by Frank Herbert or most recent Hyperion of Dan Simmons are just a few works organized as a spiritual journey
The hero's journey
In narratology and comparative mythology, the hero's journey, or the monomyth, is the common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed.
Earlier figures had proposed similar concepts, including psychologist Otto Rank and amateur anthropologist Lord Raglan, who discuss hero narrative patterns in terms of Freudian psychoanalysis and ritualism. Eventually, hero myth pattern studies were popularized by Joseph Campbell, who was influenced by Carl Jung's analytical psychology. Campbell used the monomyth to deconstruct and compare religions. In his famous book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), he describes the narrative pattern as follows:
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.
Campbell's theories regarding the concept of a "monomyth" have been the subject of criticism from scholars, particularly folklorists (scholars active in folklore studies), who have dismissed the concept as a non-scholarly approach suffering from source-selection bias among other criticisms.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Sin-Leqi-Unninni
(2700-2900BC)
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh , king of Uruk, dating from the Third Dynasty of Uruk. The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as the "Old Babylonian" version, dates to the 18th century BC and is titled after its incipit, “Shūtur eli sharrī” . Only a few tablets of it have survived. The later Standard Babylonian version compiled by “Sîn-lēqi-unninni” dates from the 13th to the 10th centuries BC.
First Half
The first half of the story discusses Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, and Enkidu. Enkidu was a wild man created by the gods to stop Gilgamesh from oppressing the people of Uruk. After Enkidu becomes civilized through sexual initiation with a prostitute, he travels to Uruk, where he challenges Gilgamesh to a test of strength. Gilgamesh wins the contest, nonetheless, they become friends. Together, they make a six-day journey to the legendary Cedar Forest, where they plan to slay the Guardian, Humbaba the Terrible, and cut down the sacred Cedar. The goddess Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven to punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull of Heaven after which the gods decide to sentence Enkidu to death and kill him.
Second Half
In the second half of the epic, distress over Enkidu's death causes Gilgamesh to undertake a long and perilous journey to discover the secret of eternal life. He eventually learns that “Life, which you look for, you will never find. For when the gods created man, they let death be his share, and life withheld in their own hands”.
Homer - The Odyssey - Greece (800 BC)
The Odyssey does not follow a linear chronology. The reader begins in the middle of the tale, learning about previous events only through Odysseus’s retelling. The first four books set the scene in Ithaca. Penelope, Odysseus’s wife, and their young son, Telemachus, are powerless before her arrogant suitors as they despair of Odysseus’s return from the siege of Troy. Telemachus is searching for news of his father, who has not been heard from since he left for war nearly 20 years earlier. He journeys secretly to the Peloponnese and seeks out two men who fought with Odysseus in the war at Troy, Nestor and Menelaus, and discovers that his father is indeed still alive.
The second four books (V–VIII) introduce the main character, Odysseus, as he is being released from captivity by the nymph Calypso on the island of Ogygia. He suffers a shipwreck and lands on the shore of Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians. In Books IX–XII Odysseus tells the Phaeacians of the harrowing journey he and his crew endured as they tried to find their way home—including their encounters with the lotus-eaters, Laestrygonians, and the sorceress Circe, their narrow escape from the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, their ordeal navigating between Scylla and Charybdis, and the final shipwreck in which Odysseus is washed ashore on Ogygia alone.
Finally, Books XIII–XXIV, the second half of the poem, find Odysseus back in Ithaca, facing unexpected obstacles and danger. He meets with his protector-goddess Athena and reveals himself first to his faithful swineherd Eumaeus and then to Telemachus before developing a complicated plan to dispose of the suitors. During Odysseus’s absence, Penelope resisted the importuning of more than a hundred suitors—who have stayed in Odysseus’s house, eating, drinking, and carousing while waiting for her to decide among them. In order to reunite with his wife, Odysseus kills them all, with the aid of Telemachus, Eumaeus, and Philoetius (a servant and cowherd).
Siddharta - Herman Hesse (563 BC)
The theme of the novel is the search for self-realization by a young Brahman, Siddhartha. Realizing the contradictions between reality and what he has been taught, he abandons his comfortable life to wander. His goal is to find the serenity that will enable him to defeat fear and to experience with equanimity the contrasts of life, including joy and sorrow, life and death. Asceticism, including fasting, does not prove satisfying, nor do wealth, sensuality, and the attentions of a lovely courtesan. Despairing of finding fulfillment, he goes to the river and there learns simply to listen. He discovers within himself a spirit of love and learns to accept human separateness. In the end, Siddhartha grasps the wholeness of life and achieves a state of bliss and highest wisdom.
As the son of a Brahmin, Siddhartha enjoys comfort and privilege while sequestered in his home village. However, as he grows older, his heart is moved by a burning desire to acquire wisdom and new experiences. Telling his father his intentions, Siddhartha and his childhood friend, Govinda, leave the safety of home to join the Samanas, a group of wandering ascetics.
Mahabharata - Vyasa (950-3000BC)
Shantanu, the king of Hastinapur, was married to Ganga (personification of the Ganges) with whom he had a son called Devavrat. Several years later, when Devavrat had grown up to be an accomplished prince, Shantanu fell in love with Satyavati. Her father refused to let her marry the king unless the king promised that Satyavati's son and descendants would inherit the throne. Unwilling to deny Devavrat his rights, Shantanu declined to do so but the prince, on coming to know of the matter, rode over to Satyavati's house, vowed to renounce the throne and to remain celibate throughout his life. The prince then took Satyavati home to the palace so that the king, his father, could marry her. On account of the terrible vow that he'd taken that day, Devavrat came to be known as Bheeshm. Shantanu was so pleased with his son that he granted to Devavrat the boon of choosing the time of his own death.
In time, Shantanu and Satyavati had two sons. Soon thereafter, Shantanu died. Satyavati's sons still being minors, the affairs of the kingdom were managed by Bheeshm and Satyavati. By the time these sons reached adulthood, the elder one had died in a skirmish with some gandharvas (heavenly beings) so the younger son, Vichitravirya, was enthroned. Bheeshm then abducted the three princesses of a neighbouring kingdom and brought them over to Hastinapur to be wedded to Vichitravirya. The eldest of these princesses declared that she was in love with someone else, so she was let go; the two other princesses were married to Vichitravirya who died soon afterwards, childless.
Ramakien - John Cadet (1767)
In short, the Ramakien is about Rama who spends 14 years in exile after being banished by his stepmother. There he lives with his consort Sita and his brother Lakshman. When Sita is abducted by the Demon King Ravana (Tosakanth) and taken to Lanka, Rama and his brother rescue her with the help of monkey warriors. There are also some entertaining facts about the 'Story of Rama'
Phra Aphai Mani - Sunthorn Phu (1822-1844)
48,700-line epic poem composed by Thai poet Sunthorn Phu Phra Aphai Mani since the age of 15 and went to study knowledge like other princes in Thai literature. But the subject that Phra Aphai Mani studied is not sorcery or knowledge about the governance of the country. Instead, it was a music study, which was playing the Thai flute, causing the father to get so angry that he drove him out of the city. The adventure of Phra Aphai Mani began then. He and his younger brother, Srisuwan, wandered until they met three brahmins. was captured by the sea butterfly and had a son named Sinsamut Mermaid's father helped her escape to Koh Kaew Phitsadan. He had another son with an undead, namely with a mermaid. had a son named Sudsakorn Later, Phra Aphai Mani received help from the ruler of Crystal and fell in love with the ruler's daughter, Mrs. Suwanmalee. But she already had a fiance with a foreigner of Lanka. This conflict led to a great war between Crystal and Lanka for many years. But eventually the war ended when Mrs. Lawengwanla Daughter of the King of Lanka, who later became a beautiful governor, He fell in love with Phra Aphai Mani himself. After the war, Phra Abhaimani settled on the uncertainty of the human world and became ordained. with two human wives, Mrs. Suwanmalee and Nang Laweng, ordained as well.
The Lord of the Ring - John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
(1937-1949)
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes in The Lord of the Rings, an epic set in the fictional world of Middle-earth. The Lord of the Rings is an entity named Sauron, the Dark Lord, who long ago lost the One Ring that contains much of his power. His overriding desire is to reclaim the Ring and use it to enslave all of Middle-earth.
The story of The Lord of the Rings begins with several events that take place in The Hobbit. While wandering lost in a deep cave, Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit—one of a small, kindly race about half the size of Men—stumbles upon a ring and takes it back with him to the Shire, the part of Middle-earth that is the Hobbits’ home. All Bilbo knows of his ring is that wearing it causes him to become invisible. He is unaware that it is the One Ring, and is therefore oblivious to its significance and to the fact that Sauron has been searching for it.
The Fellowship of the Ring opens with a party for Bilbo’s 111th birthday. Bilbo gives his ring to his heir, his cousin Frodo Baggins. When the time comes to part with the ring, however, Bilbo becomes strangely reluctant to do so. He gives up the ring only at the determined urging of his friend, Gandalf the Grey, a great Wizard. Gandalf suspects that the ring is indeed the One Ring of legend. After confirming his suspicions, he tells Frodo that the Ring must be taken away from the Shire, as Sauron’s power is growing once again.
Frodo sets out from the Shire with three of his Hobbit friends—Sam, Merry, and Pippin. Along the way, they are pursued by the nine Ringwraiths, servants of Sauron who take the form of terrifying Black Riders. The hobbits spend a night in the company of wandering Elves, who promise to send word ahead to friends who will protect the hobbits. Barely out of the Shire, the hobbits get lost in the Old Forest, where they have to be rescued from a malevolent willow tree, which swallows up Merry and Pippin, and then from an evil tomb ghost. The hobbits’ rescuer is Tom Bombadil, a strange, jovial entity with great powers who is the oldest creature in Middle-earth.
The hobbits make it to the town of Bree, where they meet Aragorn, a Ranger who roams the wilderness and who is the heir of the Kings of the ancient Men of Westernesse. Those who do not know Aragorn’s true name call him Strider. Frodo tries to keep a low profile at the inn in Bree, but he ends up causing a scene when while taking part in a rollicking rendition of a song he falls, accidentally slips the Ring onto his finger, and vanishes.
That night, Aragorn advises the hobbits not to sleep in their rooms at the inn. In doing so, he saves their lives—for the first of many times. A letter Gandalf left at the inn months before advises the group to head for Rivendell, a realm of the Elves. Aragorn sets out with the hobbits the next day, and with his help they avoid the Black Riders for some time. However, at the top of the hill Weathertop, the Company is forced to defend itself against the attacking Riders. Frodo is wounded during the skirmish.
Frodo’s wound, made by a weapon of a servant of Sauron, plagues the hobbit as the Company makes its way eastward. Aragorn is greatly concerned about the power the wound might exert over Frodo. Near Rivendell they meet the Elf-lord Glorfindel, who has been out looking for them. At the last ford before Rivendell, Frodo, riding Glorfindel’s horse, outruns the ambushing Black Riders, who are swept away in a flood created by Elrond, the master of Rivendell.
Elrond heals Frodo and then holds a meeting to discuss what to do about the Ring. During this Council, Frodo learns the full history of the Ring. Frodo accepts the burden of taking the Ring to the only place it can be destroyed—the place where it was forged. It promises to be a long, nearly impossible journey, as the Ring was forged in the Cracks of Doom, part of the fiery mountain Orodruin in the very heart of Sauron’s realm of Mordor.
At the end of the meeting, the Council creates a group to help Frodo in his quest. In addition to Frodo, the Fellowship of the Ring includes Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, an Elf named Legolas, a Dwarf named Gimli, and a Man from the south named Boromir.
The Fellowship heads south and attempts to pass over the Misty Mountains via the pass of Caradhras. Their way is blocked by snow and rock slides, and they are forced to divert their path through the Mines of Moria—the ancient, underground realm of the Dwarves. During the journey through Moria, Gandalf falls into the chasm of Khazad-dûm while protecting the Company from a Balrog, a terrible demon.
The rest of the party continues on to Lórien, the forest of the Galadrim Elves, where the Lady Galadriel tests their hearts and gives them gifts to help them on the quest. Frodo, spellbound by Galadriel’s power and wisdom, offers her the Ring. She refuses, however, saying that, despite her intentions, the Ring would corrupt her; ultimately, she would only replace Sauron.
Leaving Lórien, the Fellowship travels by boat down the Great River, Anduin. At night, they spot Gollum—a deformed creature that had once owned the Ring but then lost it to Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit—following them. When they reach the Falls of Rauros, the Fellowship must decide whether to head toward Mordor on the east or toward the safety of the city of Minas Tirith to the west.
Boromir, overcome by the Ring’s power and desiring the Ring for himself, confronts Frodo. Frodo fends off Boromir and decides that he must go on to Mordor rather than to the safety of Minas Tirith. However, Frodo cannot bear the thought of imperiling his friends on the dangerous journey or allowing the Ring to corrupt them, so he attempts to leave secretly and continue the quest alone. Frodo does not, however, manage to elude Sam, so the two of them set out together for Mordor.