“The Lady Hero’s Journey”

A whimsical take on a female iteration of the Hero’s Journey.

Over at McSweeney’s (“Daily humor almost every day since 1998”) recently featured a piece by Kathleen O’Mara. Here is an excerpt:

A woman tries to set out on The Hero’s Journey only to find that Joseph Campbell didn’t believe that women take The Hero’s Journey. She must instead embark on The Lady Hero’s Journey.

Crazy World

The Lady lives in a Crazy World. Why would she even want to go on The Hero’s Journey in the first place? She already has a lot to deal with at home. Slaying the Great Dragon of the North does not really seem like her thing. She’s more a Run a Homestead, Raise Her Younger Siblings, and Care for Her Ailing Father kind of Lady. There is already so much she needs to tackle before she has the luxury of answering The Call to Adventure.

Settling on The Call to Adventure

The Lady’s Call to Adventure is not really the one she wanted. Can she even manage to slay the dragon ravaging the countryside? She is pretty Crazy. She knows that if she doesn’t choose to slay this dragon, then they are going to give This Call to some Hero who is only twenty-two, went to a very fancy dragon-slaying school, and whose dad was a famous dragon slayer.

Apologizing

She’s sorry for complaining about her Adventure in the first place. She knows that a lot of Ladies not only deserve The Call, but would love to go on an Adventure. In fact, has Susan been called to slay the dragon? She’d be great at dragon-slaying.

Being Thankful

The Lady is very thankful for her Adventure. She’s very lucky. She can’t wait to slay this dragon. Thank you, thank you so much!

Begging for The Mentor

The Lady is finding it challenging to be a woman with an Adventure, so she seeks out a Mentor. She finds a wizard who knows quite a bit about dragon-slaying, but he insists that he has his own dragons to slay. He can’t help her with her Adventure. He’s pretty surprised she even has The Call to Adventure and suspects it might be some type of Diversity Thing.

It’s a funny piece and actually raises a legitimate point that Campbell’s articulation of the Hero’s Journey does not necessarily translate into a paradigm to which women can relate. I have delved into the subject of the Heroine’s Journey a few times in the decade I have hosted Go Into The Story. You can go here to read a four-part series I first wrote in 2012.

If you prefer to keep things on the lighter side and enjoy the rest of O’Mara’s humorous take on The Lady Hero’s Journey, go here.

For the McSweeney’s main site, go here.