The Steps Not Taken Monomyth Analysis

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In the story “The Steps Not Taken” by Paul D’Angelo, our narrator which is our hero undergoes a personal journey on how to respond to others suffering. In literature, this is known as the Monomyth Archetype. A Monomyth archetype is made up of three stages that our hero moves through and these stages are separation, struggle and return and reintegration. After the hero goes through his brief experience, it is now a defining moment where he experiences an epiphany that shapes his understanding and view on life and others. Even though the characteristics of this Monomyth are not obvious, it will be later on explained and be supported to better understand our hero’s quest. In the first stage, the separation stage, the narrator goes into an elevator to go to work, as he has done before as a routine. In the beginning there is nothing unordinary about the young man entering the elevator looking like a “typical junior executive material” The narrator also states that “There was nothing about him that seemed unusual. Nothing at all to indicate what was about to take place”, which tells us that the narrator is unaware that things in his perspective of life is going to change. The first stage is a call to adventure, where it starts when the young man burst into tears. The hero does not go to help the young man which means he has refused his quest. Typically a guide would appear to cause the hero to commit to the adventure but the guide is not another human being but it is himself and his self conscious that guides him throughout his journey. The narrator begins to say to himself. “Should I go up to the 15th floor and make sure he’s okay? Should I search him out from office to office?” asking himself these questions, he is committing himself to the quest to finding answers and leaves behind the comfortable state and social realm he was in. This is the final stage of

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