Brooke Green
10/20/08

CO 122: Analytic and Persuasive Writing
Annotated Bibliography # 7
Prof. Kathleen Robinson
Fall 2008


Vogler, Christopher. “Book Two: Stage Seven: Approach to the Inmost cave Stage Eight: The Ordeal. The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007. 143-173.

Summary:

In this chapter of the book Vogler shows us the inmost cave of the hero’s journey. This is where they face a lot of obstacles that they must pass before they get to the ordeal. As Vogler says this is the hero making the “final assault on the highest peak” (143). Usually there is a stalling or a pause before they make the final approach, even a romance can develop in the scenes right before the ordeal. On the other hand heroes may be the bold and aggressive type who go after a challenge whenever they can, and may charge right up ready for action. This approach is the last few moments that the hero has to gather everything together, and take everything he has learned thus far in preparation for the ordeal. During this time however heroes must be alert, and not fall for any of the illusions that enemies might have set up to throw them off course. It is important to focus on the goal, and not stray from is at all. Threshold guardians can also appear throughout this stage because this stage is all about testing the hero before his last ordeal. He must use the past experiences he has gained throughout the journey in order to get around all of these obstacles and threshold guardians. If that does not work, sometimes the hero must turn to emotions in order to connect with the guardian on a human level. This is another new special world, inside of the first new world, so the setting is flipped again. The hero then crosses another threshold in this stage. There can be impossible tests set for the heroes that make things too difficult to complete, or there may be setbacks in the hero’s journey because of difficult tasks at hand. The stakes are definitely higher in this stage, and more is at risk. Ultimately the hero has to face a life or death situation, and there is no escaping or running from it.

In the eight stage the ordeal, this is the final fight, and the final task before the hero will reach his goal… or not. The hero, in one sense or another, dies in this stage. He must die because he must be reborn into a new person that has learned from the journey. If he does not learn from the journey, then the journey was pointless, and must be done again. The journey is only completed and successful if the hero returns with that elixir. Vogler also talks about the placement of the ordeal, and how this is important to highlight main points in the story. Death is a big theme in this stage. The hero can appear to die, witness a death, cause a death, or really truly die. The hero and villain must come face to face in this stage and the hero must defeat the villain, or in some cases he can merely escape. This is when the greatest fear is realized, and presented to the hero. This causes a lot of breakdowns mentally and physically.

Reaction:

I like how Vogler talked about the villains, because we did not get to hear a lot about them through the stages, it was mostly about the hero. I like the fact that Vogler said that the villain is the hero of his own story, and that is very true. It is funny to look at it from both angles and see that on either side things are looked at as completely different.



Questions:

1. Have you ever watched a movie and found yourself siding with the villain more than the hero? What movie?

2. What do you think is more exciting the inmost cave building up to the final fight, or the ordeal when everything come to an end? Why?

3. Why do you think that the setting is changed again, and we are introduced to another new world?