“Stupidity is one of the two things we see most clearly in retrospect. The other is missed chances," Jake says. For Jake, this statement is an important moment of characterization. He feels that stupid decisions one has made in the past are easy to look back on with shock and horror. In his mind, the other is the chance that people missed doing something. This quote inspires Jake to take up Al's offer to travel to the past and stop President John F. Kennedy's assassination. After speaking with Al at his diner, where he also houses the time machine that will allow Jake to go back to 1963, Jake discovers that by preventing Kennedy's assassination, he could potentially make the world a better place.
Jake's journey on 11/22/63 is analogous to the hero's journey described by Joseph Campbell in his seminal work A Hero With a Thousand Faces. The first step in Jake's hero's journey is what Campbell dubbed "the call to adventure." Here, Jake is introduced to the time portal in Al's diner and convinced to stop the assassination from occurring. Al had long wanted to go on the mission himself. However, he developed terminal cancer overnight and became too ill to complete the mission, with implications far beyond herself.
As Jake travels through the portal and ventures into the past, he navigates through what Campbell called "the Unknown," where he faces trials from people and things alike (especially Lee Harvey Oswald himself). From here, Jake does what Campbell says is "crossing the threshold" and "the road of trials." During these steps, he also meets allies like Sadie, whom he falls in love with and who helps him on his mission. Perhaps most importantly, though, he confronts his adversaries--namely, Oswald and his wife.
Next, Jake confronts and reconciles with forces greater than himself. The climactic confrontation at the Texas School Book Depository, where Oswald has decided to kill Kennedy, signifies the "ultimate boon" step of his journey. He accomplishes his goal but loses the love of his life, Sadie, in the process.
His mission accomplished, Jake returns to 2011, hoping that the world is a better place. However, he quickly discovers that it isn't. A nuclear war has destroyed vast swaths of the Earth. From here, he does what Campbell describes as a "refusal to return." He is forced to grapple with the consequences of his decision and ultimately decides to return to the past and allow Kennedy's assassination to take place, saving the world. Jake succeeds in his mission, making him what Campbell called the "master of two worlds," allowing him to return to a 2011 which he recognizes.
