A couple months ago, I was shot in the side. The medic, Rat Kiley, helped me out and I was off to Japan for treatment. I was surprised though because I kept waiting for the pain to hit and it never did. I got out about a month later and I found out that Rat was gone; he shot himself in the foot, so he could get out of this forsaken place. Everyone says he was going crazy and no one blamed him.
I was shot again recently. It was a rough battle , gunshots everywhere. All of a sudden, I found myself down, with a gunshot to the butt. It’s pretty embarrassing to say, but the experience was not pleasant.When I was shot, the speed of the bullet knocked me clean over. I could feel the heat of my own blood spill over me, even smell my own stench. It felt like I had been waiting a year for help. And I know he saw me, that Bobby Jorgenson. I almost died! Died of shock from waiting so long for him to show up to help! I remember passing out and then waking up. "I wanted to yell, 'You jerk, it's shock- I'm dying!' but all I could do was a whinny squeal" (191). In so many ways though, I’m happy to be alive so I can actually retell that story now.
"More Ordeal" is the second part of the eighth stage in the Hero Journey; it isn't a stage itself. In this part, Tim explains how he was shot and almost killed in a firefight. This part is very important to the Ordeal stage because it represents his ultimate test; facing and beating death who is the enemy in the journey.
ReplyDeleteOrdeal is separated into two parts because one part is not directly connected to the other part but both are needed to connect the Ordeal to the rest of the journey. The Ordeal is when the hero confronts his most difficult challenge. It was a challenge for O'Brien to lose Kiowa and other fellow soldiers and it was also a challenge for him when he had to face death himself. O’Brien had to rise above Kiowa’s loss and his almost fatal experience to learn from them and earn his reward .