{"id":32423,"date":"2021-04-09T20:56:34","date_gmt":"2021-04-10T00:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=32423"},"modified":"2021-04-20T19:36:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T23:36:00","slug":"every-trip-is-a-quest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/every-trip-is-a-quest\/","title":{"rendered":"The Quest Archetype: Every Trip is a Quest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are the most common quest archetypes? What should you look out for to know if a character is on a quest?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anytime a character begins a trip, you should be on the lookout for a quest narrative. Literary quests typically consist of five elements: a quester, a place to go, a reason, challenges along the way, and the character learning about themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn why every trip is a quest in literature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Know the Archetypes, Find Them Everywhere<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All literature exists as part of one big story. Nothing is really new. <\/strong>Although every piece of literature is different, it still interacts with every written work that came before it. In fact, even if an author attempts to avoid referencing any other novels, that avoidance is an interaction in itself. In this article, we cover the “every trip is a quest” archetype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the main benefits of the one big story is the emergence of archetypes. \u201cArchetype\u201d really just means \u201cpattern,\u201d or the original on which that pattern was based. <\/strong>No one knows the original use of archetypes, just like no one knows exactly where ancient myths began. They predate written history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t really matter where they come from, when they began, or how often they\u2019re used. Archetypes grow in strength with each use in literature.<\/strong> They create an aha! <\/em>moment for the reader\u2014a satisfying moment when we recognize a pattern between what we\u2019re reading now and what we\u2019ve read before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archetypes and common patterns are always with us, because they\u2019ve been a part of our collective consciousness<\/a> for so long. They help writers and readers understand each other because we share knowledge of these archetypes and their role in the one big story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every Trip Is a Quest in Literature<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Anytime a character begins a trip, you should be on the lookout for a quest narrative.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example: In The Crying of Lot 49<\/em> by Thomas Pynchon, a young woman named Oedipa travels from San Francisco to Southern California to execute the will of her former lover. Along the way, Oedipa meets a lot of strange and scary characters and ends up in a lot of dangerous situations. By the end, Oedipa has learned to rely on herself and trust her own self-knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this novel, Thomas Pynchon presents an example of a classic quest narrative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Structurally, every quest consists of <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • A quester: In this case, Oedipa, a young woman with many problems in her life <\/li>
  • A place to go: San Francisco<\/li>
  • A stated reason to go there: To execute a will<\/li>
  • Challenges along the way: Oedipa goes through a nightlong exploration, a dangerous visit to her therapist\u2019s office, and a mysterious postal conspiracy<\/li>
  • The real mission: The real reason behind any quest is the search for self-knowledge<\/strong> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The stated reason to go on a quest is often in search of a \u201choly grail.\u201d This can be as simple as going to the store to get a loaf of bread. Throughout the quest, the stated goal falls away and the real mission is revealed: the character learns about himself<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Questers are often young, inexperienced characters. This is because older characters would either already have self-knowledge or be too late to ever get it. In comparison, young characters have a lot of learning and development left to do. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What are the most common quest archetypes? What should you look out for to know if a character is on a quest? Anytime a character begins a trip, you should be on the lookout for a quest narrative. Literary quests typically consist of five elements: a quester, a place to go, a reason, challenges along the way, and the character learning about themselves. Keep reading to learn why every trip is a quest in literature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":32500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,15],"tags":[264],"class_list":["post-32423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-education","tag-how-to-read-literature-like-a-professor","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Quest Archetype: Every Trip is a Quest - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Literary quests typically consist of five elements: a quester, a place to go, a reason, challenges, and finding oneself along the way.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/every-trip-is-a-quest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Quest Archetype: Every Trip is a Quest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Literary quests typically consist of five elements: a quester, a place to go, a reason, challenges, and finding oneself along the way.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/every-trip-is-a-quest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-10T00:56:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-20T23:36:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/winding-road.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1136\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"616\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/every-trip-is-a-quest\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/every-trip-is-a-quest\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\"},\"headline\":\"The Quest Archetype: Every Trip is a Quest\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-10T00:56:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-20T23:36:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/every-trip-is-a-quest\/\"},\"wordCount\":576,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/every-trip-is-a-quest\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/winding-road.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"How to Read Literature Like a Professor\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/every-trip-is-a-quest\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/every-trip-is-a-quest\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/every-trip-is-a-quest\/\",\"name\":\"The Quest Archetype: Every Trip is a Quest - 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