MYTHIC PATTERNS IN A MEDITAÇÃO SOBRE O TIETÊ

In his study The Hero With A Thousando Faces, Joseph Campbell outlines the monomyth unit, a pattern followed by every literary hero. Whether the protagonist of a fairy tale or a great epic, each hero pursues three basic steps. In the first stage of separation,, the hero ventures forth from the everyday world and enters a supernatural region. After this initial separation from the world, the hero begins the second major phase of initiation, in which he undergoes a series of trials which lead him to an enlightenment. In the final stage of the monomyth unit, the enlightened hero returns to society, hoping to share his knowledge with mankind. Campbell maintains that every hero, oriental, biblical, classical, or otherwise, follows the steps separation, initiation, and return.