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Ana K. Lopez
Mrs. Petty
ENG101
October 10, 2014

Neos Journey
Every hero is different and every one of them has to face different challenges. No hero is
born that way, they have to learn and accept who they are or what destiny prepared for them.
There is always refusal but there is also the awakening of great powerful heroes. Hero of a
thousand faces gives us great examples of a heros journey and everything they have to face to
revolutionize their power. Neo in The Matrix follows Joseph Campbells monomyth of the hero
by separation from The Matrix, initiation/fulfillment in discovering the difference between the
real world and the fake, and finally returning to real world.
Neo begins his journey in the call to adventure where he is contacted by Morpheus team.
He does not know whether to believe if what is happening is real or not but decided to go along
with it and meets Trinity at a bar. Campbell describes this as the call to adventure where the hero
is contacted by someone or something that is trying to present them with their destiny
(Campbell). Most heroes refuse to believe what they are being told at first referred to as the
refusal to the call happens when the hero refuses to accept their adventure and think they are
being fooled. Neo refuses to accept what Morpheus is telling him through the phone they sent to
his office, when he is offered to escape he refuses to do so and turns himself in to the agents.
The first encounter of the hero-journey is with a protective figure who provides the adventurer
with amulets (Campbell Pg. 63) this is known as the supernatural aid where the hero meets with

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his teacher or guidance. In the matrix this happens when Neo had to choose on whether he takes
the blue or red pill knowing that whatever pill he took there was no going back. Neo decided to
take the red pill that was going to show him nothing but the truth. Now that the hero has taken
the first step is known as the crossing of the threshold where now the hero will see how things
around him really work and who the real enemies are. Neo is seated and hooked up where he is
going to be sent in to the real world. He is now seen in the belly of the whale where he is
disconnected from all the machinery of the real world and is being taught how to breathe and
move his muscles. As Campbell explains the hero is seen as if he had died and been reborn,
returning to the world as a new person (Campbell, Pg. 85)
The next stage of a heroes journey its his real initiation as now a true hero. He is now up
against a road of trials where he has to learn all the physical and knowledge for his role. Tank
programs Neo to learn Kung Fu and karate he then is challenged by Morpheus to a fight, he is
also shown how the matrix really works. After his training Neo is taken to meet the goddess who
is the oracle, most of the time this figure is presented in the shape of a woman is comes to offer
great wisdom and knowledge to the hero. After meeting the oracle Neo is convinced that he is
not the one that will save the world. He believes that Morpheus has failed in choosing him. He
believes to know everything, this is known as the atonement with the father. It is in this ordeal
that the hero may derive hope and assurance from the helpful female figure, by whose magic he
is protected trough all the frightening experiences of the fathers ego shattering initiation
(Campbell, Pg. 122). Before any storm there is calm, the apotheosis in a story is the moment
right before a series of battles take place. It is the moment when the crew is arriving at the old
building to prepare and leave the matrix. Now everything seems to go according to plan, but the
ultimate boon comes when Neo has a dj vu moment, the crew realizes something has been

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changed. They are now surrounded and outnumbered by the police. As they are trying to escape
trough the wall they get caught this is when Morpheus decides to fight the police and tells the
crew to save Neo.
Even though it may seem as if the hero has escaped and is now safe, the return of the hero
just marks the true battle that is to come for the hero. Im going in, Morpheus did what he did
because he believed Im something Im not (The matrix). This is the return of the hero, where
he goes back to defend or save what he is fighting for. The characters have to learn themselves
that they already possess powers and the ability to be heroes they just to learn themselves
(Lawson, pg. 136). During battle the hero may seem to have been defeated and has to be aided
by someone else because he was not able to save himself (Pg. 192). When Neo was shot several
times by the agents he falls to the floor dying, trinity who kisses him and confesses her love to
him saves him. In the crossing the return of the threshold the hero faces the last round of the
battle, where he shows the real powers he has (Pg. 201). After being saved by Trinity Neo gets
up, when the agents see him they shoot at him again but now Neo proves he is stronger than ever
and stops the bullets and finally destroys one of the agents. With this the hero is now the master
of the two worlds. He has proved to be able to pass from world to world (Lawson, Pg. 137). Neo
is seen talking on the phone trying to recruit new people to show them the truth and jumps away.
That is how Neo went trough the process of discovering himself as something he never
thought he could be. Campbell describes each step that Neo had to take to become the one that
would save the world. It is easy to understand the phases the heroes go trough thanks to
Campbells essay, since it is explained in detailed with good examples on how to understand
every hero. One of the biggest examples is when Neo was called to adventure, he was not sure if
he should believe it or not. From there we see how Neo goes trough each of the stages to finally

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become the master of the two worlds.

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Works Cited

The Matrix. Dir. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999. DVD.
Campbell, Joseph. Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: Panthen Books, 1949. Print.
Lawson, Gerard. The Heros Journey as a Developmental Metaphor in Counseling. Vol. 44.
Virginia: Wiley Blackwell, 2005. Print.