A Hero’s Journey with Green Eggs and Ham

Anderson M
3 min readApr 12, 2016

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A Hero’s Journey with Green Eggs and Ham

Deeper Analysis — Archetypes

Black Hat Guy being offered the green eggs and ham

Everyone knows the story of Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess right? But does everyone see the underlying cliché of the typical hero’s journey? So with an 82% in grade 12 University English under my belt, I think it’s safe to allow me to analyze Green Eggs and Ham for everyone. As we all pieced together, Green Eggs and Ham is a story meant to symbolize the idea that everyone should try new things, or a cliché like “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Well let me shatter that illusion for you! Green Eggs and Ham is actually a tragic story of a “hero” who just wanted to live their life like a normal cat-like being and read the papers. The character can be summed up to typical hero story archetypes. Black Hat Guy can be classified as an Anti-Hero from the very beginning, he states to the reader he doesn’t like Sam-I-Am. Someone so quick to judge already shows non-admirable characteristics. Next we have the antagonist, Sam-I-Am, who is the shadow to Black Hat Guy since he is the one persuading him to eat the green eggs and ham. Sam-I-Am can also be seen as the Devil Figure, who offers the hero a good in return for a part of their soul. I’ll delve deeper into this later, though he is the Devil Figure, he is at the same time an Evil Figure with a Good Heart. Though Black Hat Guy doesn’t want the green eggs and ham, Sam-I-Am is really just trying to get him to eat his delicious breakfast he cooked up just for him.

Hero’s Journey

The moment where Black Hat Guy destroys part of his soul for the green eggs and ham

With the archetypes of the characters established, let’s move on to the Monomyth Cycle. Of course, since this is just a children’s book, it won’t hit all the aspects of this cycle. First we have the Call to Adventure, where Sam-I-Am offers Black Hat Guy green eggs and ham, but then Refuses the Call when he denies the offer. Moving onto Cross the first Threshold, Black Hat Guy and Sam-I-Am move away from their homes and travel into lands outside of their comfort zone, on a train, and floating in the ocean. With each weird environment they visit, Black Hat Guy is forced to face the Road of Trials, which is a series of tests set by the antagonist. These tests happen to be circumstances in which Black Hat Guy would eat the delicious meal, but staying true to his morals, he refuses them all. This then finally leads us into the Apotheosis where the protagonist dies in some way. While this is not a literal death, by giving in and finally eating the green eggs and ham, Black Hat Guy is giving away part of his soul, which is his morals and principles for the goods (green eggs and ham) that the Devil Figure was offering. In this sense, Black Hat Guy died a little bit inside. From here on, I believe that the story skips directly to the Freedom to Live where Sam-I-Am and Black Hat Guy leaves together and become friends, which is the end of the story.

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