4. Crossing the Threshold

The stage of the journey that represents the hero's commitment to the journey is the CROSSING THE THRESHOLD. It is at this moment in the hero's story where the hero is compelled to physically, emotionally or spiritually leave the comfort of their ordinary world and start their journey.

To open your response, find an image or symbol that you believe represents the hero's commitment to the call to adventure. (You may also want to put an image of the cover of the novel you wish to use for this post as well.)

YOUR TASK:
Which important life lessons can be learned from how one of your characters has successfully or unsuccessfully navigated the call to adventure and crossed the threshold into the special world?

Be sure that you use at least one direct quotation in your response. Follow each direct quotation with an in text citation (Author, Novel Title page) that tells your reader WHERE it came from.

Choose a direct quotation that helps to show your reader that the character has crossed a threshold into a new world, or a quotation that helps to reveal the lesson you have learned about human characteristics, human nature or behaviour from the character successfully or unsuccessfully navigating the stage.

HERE ARE SOME STUDENT SAMPLES:

STUDENT ONE:

          The moment that I believe Seraphina, from the novel Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, crossed the threshold happened even before the book started. I believe that Seraphina crossed the threshold when she accepted the job of Assistant Music Mistress and entered the castle on her first day of work. She left behind her ordinary world and took a risk to enter a new world.  The following quotation was said by Seraphina’s father to Seraphina, “Under no circumstances are you to draw attention to yourself. If you won’t think of your own safety, at least remember all I have to lose. “ (Hartman, Seraphina 8)  It shows both components of her ordinary world and her new world. Her ordinary world was too confining to stay in but these reasons for being confined still exist, she still can’t totally be free to do as she wishes.
 I will be writing about the threshold that Seraphina crosses in the white pine novel 

             This shows the lesson that if someone feels too confined and like they aren’t as free as they want to be, they will take chances to change that. Seraphina was unhappy with her ordinary world and decided that it was time to cross the threshold, despite the risks she knew that she would face every day. This proves the theory that if someone is unhappy somewhere, they are often willing to take the risks necessary to gain the world they want to live in.  The character realizes that living in the world that they want to live in is worth the risk. - A. McP. 2016

STUDENT TWO:

The crossing of the threshold is the stage in which the hero crosses over from the ordinary world into the unfamiliar, special world.  In the case of Jacob in Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, he does not cross the threshold knowingly.  Jacob is exploring the ruins of the old house, trying to get answers about his grandfather's childhood.  He sees a mysterious girl watching him, and follows her through the cairn.  This transports him back in time to September third, 1940.  Jacob can leave the time loop and go back to the present whenever he pleases, but he chooses to go back into the loop every day.  During his time in and out of the loop, he faces challenges, which I why I believe that Jacob crossed the threshold into the special world when he began visiting the loop.

    One lesson we can learn about human nature from how Jacob navigated this stage is that human beings will do almost anything to find acceptance.  When Jacob crossed the threshold he found people there who were accepting of him and valued what he had to say.  Additionally, these were supposedly young people, which hit home for Jacob since he never had many friends growing up.  This caused Jacob to continue to go into the time loop, even though it is incredibly dangerous and it is not a place he truly belongs. The people in the time loop are trapped there; unable to escape to the present. They are also being treated like children despite all being over seventy years old. The time loop is not the paradise it seems like to Jacob. Evidence of Jacob's growing attachment to being in the time loop is when he says: "I sparked with excitement-not only at her touch, but at the thought of the day ahead, full of endless possibility." (Riggs 184). This proves that Jacob sees the time loop as a place where he can be his authentic self, despite how unreal and dark the situation truly is. R.W. 2017