I have a firm belief that the best stories have at least one theme in common. The theme of going on a journey. Take a moment and think over all your favorite stories. Do the main characters stay in one place the whole time, or do they have to go from one place to another at some point in the tale, even if it is simply going to a friend's home? Some well-known journeys found within stories include Frodo Baggins' journey to Mount Doom in J.R.R.Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the Pevensie children's travel through Narnia in C. S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Huck and Jim's journey down the Mississippi in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Even as I write this post, I have begun to list out in my mind other stories I have read which include a journey somewhere in their pages, and I am sure that you have begun to compile your own list as well.
The reason I believe that the best stories all include a journey is for one simple reason. It's not the destination that matters or even the travelers' stated purposes for undertaking the journeys that they embark upon. It's the lessons the characters learn and the personal growth they experience while going on the journey which matter the most. There is a dialogue between Bilbo Baggins and the wizard Gandalf in the first part of Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, and MGM's adapation of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel (and prequel to his aforementioned trilogy) The Hobbit that hits on this issue beautifully. In their conversation, Gandalf reminds Bilbo, "You'll have a tale or two of your own to tell when you come back" to which Bilbo responds, "Can you promise that I will come back?" and Gandalf bluntly says, "No. And if you do...you will not be the same" (The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey, 2012). It is Gandalf's unspoken point that shows why a journey is so fundamental to a well-written story. Going on a journey is an automatic removal from one's comfort zone and opens them up to change occurring. The longer that a character is on a journey or the greater number of quests that they undertake, the more change will happen in their lives. This is why the greatest stories include journeys. It ensures that there will be some sort of change in one or more of the characters that will change not only how they view their world and the other characters in the story, but also change how we as the readers perceive them as a character in the story.
In closing, I will extend this challenge to you. Take note of whether there is a journey being undertaken in the next story that you read, and if there is, pay attention to the ways that the characters who go on the journey change as a result of it.