Hemingway hero and the monomyth: An examination of the hero quest myth in the Nick Adams stories

The code hero is the foundation of Hemingway interpretation and central to an understanding of his ideology. The values, ideals and actions of many of Hemingway's greatest heroes fit within this framework, and the Hemingway hero is as firm a part of American literary myth as Melville's Great White Whale. Twain's Huckleberry Finn, or Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha county. I will use Joseph Campbell's work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, a study in which he details his conception of the monomyth---the basic underlying structure for all heroic myths---to show how the idea of the mythic hero links the Nick Adams stories together and also serves to reveal the character of Nick himself. Most importantly, however, it is my contention that Campbell's stages of the monomyth---the departure, the road of trials, and the return---can be utilized to describe and analyze the major themes found in the Nick Adam's stories.