Stage 12: The Return
The climax of your hero’s journey encompasses The Resurrection stage. And once they accomplish that, you can have your protagonist Return to their Ordinary World.

Here are three reasons why your hero should make that return.

To Have the Story Come Full Circle
The reader and audience are on this ride with your protagonist. They empathize with them. The story creates a cathartic reaction. We want to see the story resolved. We want to witness some closure so that we know the character’s journey has ended.

So what better way to accomplish that than letting them go back to their Ordinary World to either flaunt their success or show people that they’ve changed for the better?

At the beginning of Burning, Paul was primary caregiver to their child, Kaitrin. In the Return Stage Paul is reunited to Kaitrin and she is made whole by returning to the loving arms of her father but only after Paul faced, and overcame, the Ordeal Stage.


2. To Complete the Character Arc
When we follow a character for a long period of time, we want to see their character grow, change, or better themselves. It offers the reader and audience a sense of closure and catharsis.

When we put the protagonist back into their Ordinary World, it makes the reader and audience wonder how they’ll react.

Have they changed?

Will they fall into the same pattern that they were in when they were introduced within their Ordinary World?

Paul is wiser to the ways of the world after The Ordeal. The last line of the story concludes with how Paul is ready to parent Kaitrin in single parenting freedom. He is no longer subject to the restrictions of the Court, deceased wife, Serena the neighbor, or legal system. Paul is free.


3. To Allow the Reader and Audience to Live Vicariously

Because catharsis is so vital to the cinematic experience — that’s why people go to the movies — having the hero return to their Ordinary World triumphant offers the reader and audience a chance to feel the glory of that return. And if it’s not glory, it’s a sense of calm, knowing that everything is going to be okay for the character they’ve lived vicariously through.

The last song closing out the novel summarizes the journey Paul has been on. The Ian Hunter song intones we’ve been living in purgatory and anything’s better than this. Paul and Kaitrin united home are going to be fine. The Ordeal has been overcome, there is a tragic death but Paul will return Kaitrin to her Ordinary world of stability and love. All is calm.

Burning America: In the Best Interest of the Children?https://www.amazon.com/Burning-America-Best-Interest-Children/dp/1956353259/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Mick, The Doctor of Digital, Smith mick.smith@wsiworld.com
Burning America: In the Best Interest of the Children?
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Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/G-Mick-Smith/e/B0B59X5R79
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