Theory and Character

1. Theory and Character Using Campbell, Chickering, Marcia and Schlossberg to Analyze Literary Characters

2. Campell’s Model of the Hero’s Adventure • We have looked at how Campbell’s model reveals an underlying structure which focuses on: • what begins a hero’s journey • how the hero crosses the boundary into new experience • how tests (and helpers or guides) lead to self-defining choice • overcoming an ordeal • Returning with something of value or some knowledge the hero has earned

4. Tristran’s Story Fits the Model Well • Victoria’s challenge • Crossing the wall into Faerie • Meeting a series of tests (with various guides and helpers) • Surviving a climactic ordeal through courage and wit • Returning to Wall, but with a twist on Campbell’s model

6. Just as we have been applying developmental theories to literature, we might apply Campbell’s literary theory to your own experience

7. Campbell’s Model and the First Year College Experience • Call to Adventure – your decision to come here • Border Crossing – your initial experience of this new environment (e.g. move in day, first weeks, etc.) • Tests and Helpers or Guides – Aside from actual exams, tests would be all the things you have to deal with – a roommate, college classes, budgeting time, budgeting money, being away from home, family and friends, etc. Guides might be professors, advisors, new friends, etc. • The ordeal might be a single event or an accumulation of the various tests • Return home at the end of the semester or year with new knowledge and insights about yourself

9. Developmental Theory and Literary Characters • Chickering’s Vectors • Marcia’s Identity States • Schossberg’s Transition Theory • All of these theories, which focus on emerging adult development, can shed light on literary characters who find themselves in transition

10. Chickering • Developing Competence – Tristran discovers his ability to know where anything is in Faerie; he also discovers a good deal about his wit, courage and decency, and ultimately leadership • Managing Emotions -Tristran learns a crucial truth about his feelings for Victoria and Yvaine • Moving Through Autonomy to Interdependence – Tristran accepts and gives assistance • Developing Mature Relationships – Shift in relationship with Yvaine, Victoria

12. Marcia • Identity Foreclosure – Daisy and Dunstan embrace the values of Wall (qualified by Dunstan’s experience in Faerie) • Identity Diffusion – Victoria has no idea nor any interest in discovering who she is (until the end at any rate) • Identity Moratorium –Like all questing heroes, Tristran spends most of the novel in this state searching for his true identity (and shaping it through his choices) • Identity Achievement –Tristran and Yvaine become who they are through their quest, adventures and choices. Even in sorrow, Yvaine knows who she is.

14. Schlossberg’s Transition Theory • Moving In –Tristran crosses the wall into Faerie; Yvaine falls from the sky • Moving Through • Situation – a new environment with new challenges • Self – Tristran discovers abilities, wit, courage, decency • Support – from several characters: Dunstan, the little hairy man, the unicorn, the tree nymph, the captain, etc. • Strategies –risk-taking; forming a partnership with Yvaine

15. Moving Out • Tristran grows through experiences and choices • He goes from being marginal in Wall to mattering a great deal in Faerie

16. Of course you can also apply Chickering’s Vectors, Marcia’s Identity States and Schlossberg’s Transition Theory to you own adventures as a first year college student • The point is that theories help us to read literature and reflect upon our own experiences and development • Literature can help us see patterns of development in our own lives