In his 1948 book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell describes the archetype of the hero, which can be found in the mythology of every culture on the planet. This nuclear monomyth, as Campbell called it, has three parts, which Professor Pat Swenson calls, Separation, Penetration, and Return. These three acts are further divided into what are the 12 steps in the hero’s journey.

        1) The ordinary world
        2) Call to adventure
        3) Refusal of call/reluctant hero
        4) Meeting wise mentor
        5) The First Threshold
        6) Tests, Allies and Enemies
        7) Innermost Cave
        8) Supreme Ordeal
        9) Seizing the Sword (or prize)
       10) The Road back
       11) Resurrection
       12) Return with Elixir*

     But for the hero in Black literature, the hero’s return was not celebrated. It was, in fact, tragic most of the time because the hero was unable of communicating what he had learned to the people back home.
     This is part of the story of one such man, Ronald.

* See: “Nuclear Monomyth According to Joseph Campbell,” http://www.csun.edu/~pis44945/3641ect3.html, April 16, 2003; “Jospeh Campbell’s 12 Stages in the Hero’s Journey,” http://www.am-psychotherapists-new-york-city.com/Joseph-Campbell.html, April 16, 2003; “Star Wars Origins—Joseph Campbell and the Hero’s Journey,” http://www.jitterbug.com/origins/myth.html, April 16, 2003.