"Pay It Forward"

Did you know that all stories are one story? Well if you didn’t, it’s true! This theory was based off of Joseph Campbell, a pioneer in mythology. He referred that every story comes in many forms of steps. There are three stages, but seventeen steps. In the movie called “pay it forward” covers many of the steps.

                The first step the movie goes through is the call to adventure. A twelve year old boy Trevor McKinney received an extra credit assignment in social studies class. The assignment was; Think of something to change the world and put it into action. Trevor’s idea for the assignment was to do three good deeds to someone and they can “pay it forward” and so on for them to also do three good deeds to other people. Trevor didn’t just do the assignment he actually put his idea into action. This action he created started in Las Vegas and proceeded all the way to Las Angeles 

                This caused the second stage called the refusal of the call. After school he brought a homeless drug addict man to his house and he helped feed him and let him take a shower.  Not only did he do all this he also gave him his savings money. He told the man to use this money and start a new life and get back up on your feet, but not allowed to do drugs. Later on that week Trevor went to go check up on the homeless man and found out that he went back to his old life of drug abuse. This made Trevor believe that he will never be able to do this and just wanted to give up, because if he can’t pay it forward to anyone how will they continue to pay it forward.  

                After attempting to help him out he goes through the stage called the crossing of the first threshold. Trevor leaves his old world of not being able to pay it forward and letting his anger get a hold of him into a new world where he doesn’t give up and keeps trying to help two more people.  This leads to the next step of roads of trials, where his next person to help out is his mother and a classmate.

He helps out his mother by hooking her up with her teacher Mr. Simonet. He does this because he thinks that he will make her become a stronger person and stop drinking because he doesn’t drink. He also does this so his dad won’t come back and abuse his mom and maybe soon him too. The next trial was when he was riding his bike home he saw one of his classmates getting bullied, so he went to help. He rode his bike in between them to stop the bullying and then they stopped and went after them. Trevor quickly rode away with them fallowing them, but luckily he got away time… Trevor did this to also protect himself but he wasn’t going to stop to help him classmate from getting bullied.

The next step in the movie is called apotheosis. Trevor soon realizes that he is a hero by a reporter that has been searching for him all the way from Las Angeles. The reporter never thought just a young boy could start such a huge movement just through a social studies class. As he interviews Trevor he asks “Why don’t you think it was possible that you started such a thing?” Trevor says, “Because it's hard for people who are so used to things the way they are - even if they're bad - to change. 'Cause they kind of give up. And when they do, everybody kind of loses.” That’s why Trevor knows the people who our bullying his classmate aren’t going to stop, they are just going to keep going. So he knows he has to keep protecting him. This leads to the next step.

This step is the rescue from without. Right after Trevor’s interview he saw them pushing his classmate. Trevor ran to go help him, he went up and knocked the bully on the ground. He got up and as they were fighting and stabbed Trevor right in the stomach. How could this kid stab another kid in the stomach? Especially one trying to help another, to help pay it forward. Right after being recognized for what he started he lost his place in life, but he will never be forgotten.