Lit. of Horror, Fantasy, Science -> Colson Engelberger

In “The Hobbit” , the main character, Bilbo, is whisked away by forces seemingly beyond his control and does not generally follow the elements of the classic journey of the hero. We do not learn much of his lineage, and around his small neighborhood, he does not have an intense reputation about him. However, another character Thorin, follows this journey more closely. Upon his introduction to the novel, we see that he has great expectations placed upon him by his surrounding company. Upon killing the Dragon known as Smaug that was guarding the treasure he deemed as rightfully his, Thorin begins to exhibit greatly selfish behavior. Through his journey, we see inklings of a fall from grace, however these suspicions are brought to the forefront when he flatly refuses to help those that he has negatively affected in his journey, even though they ask of him only the bare minimum. This goes in contrast with the archetype of the hero’s journey, that says that when the hero has his battle he w

    “Akata Witch” by Nnendi Okorafor, is a young adult novel set in Nigeria, that follows the story of a young girl named Sunny. One day, Sunny discovers that she belongs to a group of people known as “Leopard People”, people with supernatural abilities and powers. Through the course of the novel, she works to discover her true heritage and powers, while fighting against an evil that threatens the fate of the world.  As the novel progresses, the reader is able to see different archetypes of the “Witch” character and how they affect the life of the main character. Immediately, we see that Sunny is othered by her community for being a black albino woman. Her classmates sneer, belittle, and bully her for no other reason than the fact that she is different. Before even learning of her magical abilities, it is already widely rumored that because of the way she was born she must possess a type of great power, a fact backed up by the fact that when her friend ChiChi first begins to spri