This is probably the #1 fear and set back for most of all heroes. In fact, this fear has provoked motivation and risk with, as a result, has created survival and instinct to live. This has another outcome though. A less positive outcome and one that people face.
In every hero's story there must be a turning point for that hero to have the chance to become something great. This is the point where they much choose: good or evil. Let's look at the classic comic book hero: Batman.
Alright so as we can see above. Batman is having a hard time deciding if he wants to fight crime or eat cookies. This is not what we are going to analyze but I thought it was a funny gif to make. So, as all comic book/ superhero enthusiasts know, Batman's parents where killed when he was a child. This of course has created that "fear of the unknown" that we talked about. Batman, from this point on, has a choice. Good? Or evil? Does he fight crime and protect others so they don't have to endure the same pain? Or does he stay at home and eat cookies, while wasting all of his parents money?
This superhero choose the road less traveled by and decided to fight crime. Back to that other outcome. What if Bruce Wayne (Batman's real name -Shh! Don't tell anyone-) had decided to run his parents business and never become the Batman? This is a road that I feel more people choose. The fear of the unknown tends to get to people. And because of that, they become an empty shell.
We have covered the two polar opposites: springing into action or running away from the unknown. Let's take a look at a story that has a more similar scenario to Enrique's Journey. The book is called The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.
In this story, there is a young boy named Perseus Jackson (or Percy Jackson) who fall into the world of Greek mythology thrown into modern day when he finds out that he is the son of Poseidon. When his mother goes missing, along Zeus' famous lightning bolt, Percy, his best friend Grover and a fast thinking daughter of Athena (Annabeth Chase) go on an adventure to retrieve his mother from the underworld and get the lightning bolt back before an all out war between the Gods erupts from the sky down onto Earth. Now this is an example of the third effect that an unknown fear can have on someone. They simply fall into adventure and are forced to go forward. Percy didn't chose who his parents were and as a result he is constantly fighting mythical monsters in modern day.
Now, how do these things all relate to Enrique's Journey?
The T-chart above just shows a brief description of each of the stories plot lines and compares them at the same time. As you can see, Enrique's Journey and The Lighting Thief have a lot more to do with one another. But they all deal with the same obstacle: fear of the unknown.
Now that we know what the obstacle is and we have applied it to other scenarios, next time we will explore how the obstacle was actually overcome in Enrique's Journey.
Thanks for reading! *^-^*
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