The Hero With a Thousand Faces is a collection of theoretical essays exploring the idea of the hero in literature, myth, and other media. The book deals with the concept of heroism, with the idea of the Hero's Journey, and with various other staples of Western media. Its driving thesis is the idea of the archetypal hero as a repeating character, many iterations of essentially identical figures in varied settings.
Butler is a writer of great originality whose work does not fit neatly into categories Although she is usually referred to as a science fiction writer and Parable of the Sower was reviewed in the science fiction section of the New York Times Book Review there is in fact little science fiction in it Butler pays scant attention to the technological aspects of her near future society merely mentioning in passing Window Wall televisions and the newest multisensory entertainment systems that include