Hero Journey of a Father Figure - Jason Baldanza

     In my lifetime, my family has gone through many changes. It is astonishing to reflect on certain events my family has been through in life. We are very fortunate to possess what we have but our lives each have their own journey. There are ups and downs in everyone's lives and the overall journey of the life one experiences can be related to the concept of a Hero Journey. In class this year, I learned about the details of a Hero Journey throughout 'Beowulf' and Joseph Cambell's seventeen stages in his Mono-myth. I can relate what I have learned about the Hero Journey and people that have a significant meaning in my life. 

    Although there are many people I can relate the hero journey to, in my eyes, my father is the most heroic figure in my life and the most compatible to the mono-myth. He is an extremely hard worker and makes sacrifices for his loved ones. He is there to support my brother and me in order to guide us to a successful career path as adults. He works 80+ hours per week in order to provide income for the family and remain financially stable. He always overthinks about events in order to make sure he is providing the right decision for others. He is a very admirable figure in terms of his work ethic, intelligence, and selflessness. I can relate certain events in his life to the Mono-myth of a hero journey.

    My father had a rough childhood in which his parents were divorced and he was constantly on the move from apartment to apartment with his mother. He was spoiled but always executed his required tasks for home and school. My father went to a private high-school where he met my mother. After he had graduated high-school, his true call to adventure in order to be a supplying male figure in the adult world was his decision to work for my mother's family business. My grandfather owned a banquet hall and my father decided to work there part time but after he had graduated from Rutgers University, he was promoted and began working full time. 

    My father's supernatural aid was my mother. She always supported him even though she knew he would be working long hours and she maintained her hope to stay with my father and have a family later. My father's experience of crossing the first threshold was his decision to marry my mother. He realized was happy with his life decisions and felt he was financially stable in order to get married and later have a family which was an unknown realm to him. My father's experience of belly of the whale was his decision to start a family in order to fulfill his life journey. This is because he was willing to undergo a metamorphosis and become a father figure. My father hasn't experienced the whole mono-myth yet because his life hasn't been completely fulfilled yet but his road of trials can relate to his working position. This is because his working position directly affects his role as a hero in life. These complications in relation to his job would lead to the Atonement with the Father Event in my father's life

    Three years ago, my grandfather decided to sell the banquet hall to another organization. Business wasn't booming as much as it used to be and the building was dated and would cost a fortune to renovate. This event left my father in a bad state because he had no clue what could happen to him in the job world. It also didn't help his mental health that his father had recently passed away and we had decided to move to a new home. Luckily, the organization that bought the banquet hall kept my father in the business and he is actually doing better than he would've if my grandfather kept the business. This is still the Atonement with the Father event because his working position holds the ultimate power in his life and he had no clue whether or not he would keep his job. 

    Overall, I'm very appreciative of my father. He truly is a hero considering all of the things he does for my family and others. He is a very good manager and keeps everything under control and running smoothly. I'm thankful to have such a good father that supports me and wants me to be the best version of myself. It is very interesting how I can relate his life journey to the Mono-myth because I really thought about which life events could relate to the categories. I'm happy to say I can identify my father as the most significant hero in my life.