Decolonizing the Hero’s Journey: Collective Heroism and Afro-Diasporic Resistance in Children of Blood and Bone

Abstract

This article examines the structure and transformation of the Hero’s Journey in Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone, arguing that while Zélie Adebola’s quest initially aligns with Joseph Campbell’s monomythic framework, the novel reconfigures several of its central stages to articulate a distinctly Afro-fantastic, postcolonial model of heroism. Through a close reading of key narrative moments—including the call to restore magic, the fragmented mentor figure, and the communal stakes of the ordeal and return—the study demonstrates how Adeyemi resists Campbell’s emphasis on an isolated, individual protagonist. Instead, Children of Blood and Bone recasts the journey as a collective struggle for cultural memory, political liberation, and spiritual restoration. By situating Zélie’s arc within African cosmology and histories of oppression, the article shows that Adeyemi both utilizes and subverts the monomyth to foreground a reparative, community-centered narrative of healing and resistance.