Heroism in Stephen King’s Fairy Tale: An Analysis Based on Christopher Vogler’s Theory

Feriyanti Elina Gultom (Universitas Negeri Medan)

Transform : Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning
Vol. 14 No. 4 (2025): December, 2025

The purpose of this study is to examine heroism in Stephen King’s Fairy Tale (2022) by using Christopher Vogler’s theory of the Hero’s Journey and Archetypes. This study employs a qualitative method, with data collected from reading the novel, taking notes, and analyzing them based on Vogler’s theory (2007). The findings show that Charlie Reade, the main character, experienced all twelve stages of the Hero’s Journey. Starting from the Ordinary World, Call to the Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting With the Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Test Allies, and Enemies, Approach to the inmost Cave, Ordeal, Reward, The Road Back, Resurrection and Return with Elixir. The study also identifies six of the eight archetypes in the novel based on Vogler’s theory, which are Hero, Mentor, Threshold Guardian, Herald, Shapeshipther, Shadow, and Ally.