Simon Birch

Simon Birch

For my English homework I chose to do Simon Birch as an example of the hero’s journey. The ordinary world is just a normal life for Joe who lives with his mom and grandmother. His mom dates her new boyfriend Ben. His real dad is unknown because his mom keeps it a secret and will tell him when she thinks the time is right. Joe has a best friend named Simon Birch who is very different from all the other kids he is tiny and small because he has morquio syndrome. Joe and Simon always hang out together like going to the pond swimming. They also play on the same baseball team. Simon is usually  made fun of and his parents don’t care about him because they think he is some kind of monster so they let him do whatever he wants. Simon and Joe go to church were the church minister is very mean. The call to adventure is when Jo’s mom dies by Simon’s flying baseball that hits her on the head. Now Joe is determined to find who his father is since he is only living with his grandmother and knows she is going to leave him soon. His grandmother doesn’t know. So know he figures out that who ever took the baseball that hit his mother must be his dad. The refusal of the call is when Joe and Simon break up after What Simon did to his mother but soon Joe forgives Simon and they are both determined to go on this adventure and find Joe’s dad. The Mentor is the boyfriend of Joe’s mom he helps them telling them what to do and how to handle things. Crossing the first threshold  is when Joe and Simon decide to break into the swimming teacher’s office to try to figure out if he is Joe’s dad. They find a baseball but it isn’t the same baseball that hit joe’s mom. They get caught  trying to do that and are sent to the police station and then they get picked up by Ben the boyfriend of Joe’s mom.  A Test is when Simon gets really sick and Joe needs to go on a skating trip to help the little kids. Joe does leave Simon and goes on the trip. While Joe is on the trip with the church minster Simon decides to break into the church minster’s office to get his hockey cards that were taken away from him because of his behavior in church. While looking for his cards Simon finds the baseball that hit Joe’s mom so he realizes that the church council must be Joe’s dad. Approach to the inmost cave is when Simon tells Joe who his father is and the secret is revealed. The Supreme ordeal is when Joe fins out who his father is and he is in shock because he never thought that the church minster who had been so mean to them especially Simon would be his father but he decides to stay with Ben his mom’s boyfriend. The Reward is that now Joe knows who his real father is. The road back is very tragic because the school bus crashes into the lake and the school bus driver runs away and the church minster is unconscious so Joe and Simon make an incredible effort to save all the kids on the bus. Resurrection the hero is back home but now knows who his real father is but he loses his best friend Simon because of his disease. The hero is back at home but his life has changed he has figured out who is his father but he also lost his best friend Simon.

Quote

“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”
-Frank Outlaw