Lesson Plan: The Call Refused

An excerpt from our teacher's guide

Copyright © 2007 by Reg Harris. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. Apart from properly cited quotes and short excerpts, no part of this article can be copied or used in any form without written permission from the author. For permission to use, please contact Reg Harris.

Note: This lesson plan introduces the unit on "The Call Refused" from The Hero's Journey: A Guide to Literature and Life (page 133 in the guide). The unit also includes the myth "Minos and the Minotaur" and the film Groundhog Day, each with its own lesson plan, handouts and teacher's notes. You can, however, substitute other myths or films. For example, you could use the film Finding Forrester, which contrasts an older man who has rejected his call with a young man who is trying to accept his. You also could also substitute any number of myths about running away from or rejecting challenges.

Introduction

The Call Refused is a crucial part of this [hero’s journey] curriculum because it shows what happens when we reject or avoid the Call to grow. The great tragedies in literature often deal with characters who have rejected, in one way or another, a Call: Macbeth, Willy Loman, Romeo and Juliet. Many of our students are in the process of avoiding Calls without realizing it. Understanding the consequences of refusing the Call can inspire students to look more deeply into literature and help them with the difficult choices they will face.

Key Concepts

• Refusing the call is a rejection of the natural process of growth and self-development.
• The adventure doesn't just go away because we reject it. It becomes a mirror, reflecting our weaknesses and fears, a source of bitterness and frustration.
• When we refuse a Call, we will find ourselves facing the same types of situations (i.e., the same as the one we rejected) again and again because if we don't confront our fears, needs and weaknesses, they will haunt everything we do.
• Much of our great literature and film deals with a character refusing a Call and then suffering the consequences or struggling to rectify the mistake.

Objectives

• Students will see that rejecting the Call is a choice to reject the natural, fulfilling process of growth.
• Students will be able to explain how many tragic characters in literature and film have, in some way or another, refused the call.

Suggested Approach

Read the introduction to the Call Refused (page 135) aloud in class. Then ask students to think about decisions by asking and discussing these questions related to Gawain, Buddha, Terrance Mann and Archie Graham (Field of Dreams). (Questions could also become writing assignments or journal entries.)

Gawain: How did Gawain grow by accepting his call? If he had rejected the challenge, how would he have felt? How would he have viewed life? How would his life have changed? How would Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table been different? What insights would they have lost?

Buddha: In the "Legend of Buddha," Siddhartha feels discontent with his princely life. What would have happened if he had rejected his Call to enlightenment? How would he have viewed his family and his life? What kind of ruler would he have been?

Archie Graham (Field of Dreams): Look at Archie Graham from Field of Dreams. Was playing professional baseball his true calling? What would have happened if he had kept playing? In the film, Archie faced the same choice he faced early in his life: play baseball or be a healer. Why did Archie step across the line? How would his "life" have been different if he had not accepted that Call?

Terrence Mann (Field of Dreams): In a sense, Terence Mann is a good study of a man who clearly refused his call in the past. He was seen as a great writer, thinker and leader, but he became disillusioned and dropped out. How did his life change when he rejected this call? What kind of person did he become. How does his apartment door (with its locks) symbolize the consequences of refusing his Call? Why does he go with Ray?

During the discussion, which could take most of the period, be sure to bring out the "Key Concepts" (listed above). Your students should be aware that if we don't deal with a weakness, fear or need when the opportunity (Call) presents itself, we will find ourselves facing situations that evoke or attack the weakness again and again. We create our own labyrinths, going around and around, seeing the same scenery, looking for an exit. The truth is, deep down inside we know where the exit is, if we can only find the help (an Ariadne, for example) and have the courage to take the risk.

We see the uninitiated all around us, trapped in frustrated, angry lives because they ignored or missed a call to growth:

• the martyr who can never say no and ends up living her life for others because of that weakness,
• the diffident man for whom every opportunity evokes fear, anger, bitterness and frustration;
• the cynic who is negative and bitter about all of life, who distrusts everyone, and who thinks only of herself;
• the innocent/novice who never accepted the Call to growth and self-responsibility, who looks for a "parent" in every situation to rescue and care for him,
• the warrior who sees every challenge as a personal crusade to be resolved with brute force and power.

With this introduction, you are ready for Groundhog Day, a film that illustrates metaphorically the trap we face when we refuse the calls in our lives. (See the lesson plan for Groundhog Day, page 136.)