Why is the Journey that denotes active individualism and physical maturity always coded male? Why is the one that connotes life’s wisdom cooperatively rooted within relational community invariably gendered as female? Why can’t we bring ourselves to say what they really are: steps in the progress of an ultimately human life? If the first steps…
I have a few other issues with this so-called Hero’s Journey, at least as laid out by Campbell. First of all, it stipulates a very rigidly segmented, gender-based world. Within the actual stories, there exists only the central character in the story, the useful but ultimately disposable sidekicks, and the monsters. Sadly, most people narrowly…
Conclusion In the process of writing this incredibly rambling Firestarter I was asked: why does this matter? Why have I spent all this time considering what a Heroine’s Journey might consist of? My answer lies in the beginning of this Firestarter. Remember the two books I found? One for boys that was exciting and fun…
I found at least one of these female villains curiously unsatisfying for a slightly different reason, oddly enough. She was depicted as a goddess of both life and death, and while it wasn’t an accurate reproduction of the actual Norse goddess, I found myself wondering: is the hero really surprised the goddess was working to…
I guess what I enjoyed most about the humor that worked for me was when it wasn’t strained, nor about humiliating and belittling others. Humor that made me sincerely laugh, that arose naturally from the situation, worked fantastically well. Mercy’s sly teasing, and Cassie’s unintentionally hilarious dialogue (especially while under fire), both were genuinely funny….
Mercy has two other elements in her story which I’m looking forward to seeing explored. First, she has at least one other person who is quite powerful, and who loves her romantically — but who knows she does not return his feelings. So far he seems fine with this, but it will be quite interesting…
Before we go on to discussion of my favorite heroine, here’s an example of a heroine where I wasn’t terribly impressed with the story’s sexual tension, although to be fair I’d have to say it was likely quite true to life for some women. Kat Richardson’s Greywalker series is about Harper Blaine — a woman…
In the end, it is true there may be folks associated with the allies of these female heroines who want these women dead. It’s also true that is similar to but not exactly the same as Harry’s murderous allies. This means the female heroines walk a different razor’s edge than does the male heroine Harry….
This collecting of unlikely allies into community — often in ways the various factions had never before envisioned — is nicely done in the Cassandra Palmer stories as well. Off the top of my head I remember one incident where Cassie had vampires, a ghost, some rogue White mages, three witches, and even some fae,…
I should note clearly here I’m not trying to show how Harry is “bad” and everyone else is “good” — because I think all four of the heroines I’m discussing extensively are good reads. What I’m trying to do with them, however, is clearly demonstrate, through comparison and contrast, what is to me a new…