The Sixth Stage Of The Hero's Journey

The sixth stage of the hero’s journey is the Approach. The hero is at at location where danger lies ahead or faced with an inner conflict. The hero also encounters The Belly of the Whale, “[...] the hero, instead of conquering or conciliating the power of the threshold, is swallowed into the unknown [...]” (Campbell 74). Susanna being in the hospital and with the other patients has caused her to have a battle with her identity. Susanna enters the belly of the whale, in not believing in her psychosis making it more difficult for her to listen to herself. Susanna is ambitious for her freedom however she is restrained from the hospital: “[...] We had nothing more to lose. Our privacy, our liberty, our dignity: All of this was gone and we were stripped down to the bare bones of our selves” (Kaysen 94). She puts herself in denial to in her psychosis and not believing that she is ill. She is not able to determine if her actions are right or
purely on selfishness. She acts out to what she feels is the best and that may or may not be the right choice: “I was trying to explain my situation to myself. My situation was that I was in pain and nobody knew it, even I had trouble knowing it. So I told myself, over and over, you are in pain. It was the only way I could get through to myself […]” (Kaysen 153). Susanna is swallowed by the negative ideas of herself and faces the inner conflict of who she is.
The seventh stage of the hero’s journey is The Road of Trials. The hero is then faced with more difficult obstacles in his or her way. The hero is also introduced to his or her Tests, Allies, and enemies.“The Hero needs to find out who can be trusted and who can't. He or she may earn allies and meet enemies who will, each in their own way, help prepare him or her for the greater ordeals yet to come” (Bronzite). Susanna is tested and faces a challenge of determining who she is. She battles with her mind in reality and a parallel universe. Having numerous questions or decisions and not able to decide or inability to make up a decision. The hero on his or her journey is meet with the allies. The allies help the hero face the obstacles of the journey. Susanna gets help from her inmates Georgina, Daisy, and Polly. Her allies provide Susanna with the kind of friendship Susanna needs to take on her destructive thinking. The hero then faces the enemies that puts the hero to a challenge. In this hero’s journey Susanna’s enemy is herself. She constantly plagues herself with dark thoughts of her life, “Emptiness and boredom: what an understatement. What I felt was complete desolation. Desolation, despair, and depression” (Kaysen 154). In this journey, Susanna’s enemy is herself. She struggles with accepting her condition and receiving the help she needs in order to achieve her ultimate boon.
The eighth stage of the hero’s journey is the Ordeal.
The ordeal may be a physical test or a deep inner crisis that the Hero must face in order to survive. Whether it be facing his or her greatest fear or a impact of a death; the hero must shows all of his or her skills and experiences gathered upon the path. Susanna experienced many ordeals that pushed her back in accepting her diagnosis. One of them is Daisy. Daisy’s death impacts Susann negatively in accepting her psychosis. When Lisa and Susanna went to Daisy’s room to trade valium for laxatives she had chicken carcasses in her room (Kaysen 34). They know Daisy is one of the severely ill patients among the rest of the patients since she arrives at Thanksgiving year and leaves end of Christmas. Susanna is reluctant in what to believe about the hospital. The disparity between the patients gives doubts to Susanna about her treatment. Daisy was not able to be treated properly which her actions led her to pain and suffering which negatively impacts Susanna form being treated
properly.