The Call to Adventure/Separation from the Mother

For this ISP, I deliberately selected two books that I have been meaning to read but never gotten around to it. The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell and Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. I have read excerpts from them for various classes, but this is the first time I have sat down and read the books in their entirety. In addition I am reading The Heroine’s Journey by Maureen Murdock, at the behest of my sponsor. Since this is my first ISP, and every adventure has a beginning, that is where I am starting: the beginning of each book discussing how adventures begin.

What is different about the path of the heroine and the hero? Campbell’s work discusses the journey from an almost exclusively male point of view. In fact, in the first two chapters, female characters are primarily described in the section discussing the refusal of adventure. He speaks of the hero in terms of his inner, Freudian-inspired motives and drives. Estes, rather than specifically discussing the beginning of adventure, chooses to use the archetype of La Loba, or Wolf Woman, as the actual source of the call. Murdock takes the issue in yet another direction by emphasizing separation from the mother and reconciliation with the concept of the feminine as the critical first step. For Campbell, the mythologist, the call comes from the spiritual world. For Estes, the Jungian analyst, the call comes from archetype within, from the collective unconsciousness we share. For Murdock, also a Jungian psychotherapist, she finds the answer in the personal dynamic between the heroine and society’s expectations placed on women.

Campbell mentions The Herald, a figure who’s job it is to call the hero to his destiny and initiate the journey. This figure is often portrayed as grotesque or feared. Estes La Loba is certainly a fearsome figure, described as the Bone Woman who raises the dead, a feral and earthy creature. The Herald of the heroine’s journey seems to manifest in a friendlier but no less anxious way. We can see a different example of The Herald in The White Rabbit of Alice in Wonderland. Although few would argue that the bunny is grotesque, his preoccupation with time, authority, and death at the hands of the Queen certainly makes him a awesome figure for the adolescent Alice. He is Adulthood, he has obligations, his time is limited. Her decision to follow him is not reckless, it is her decision to heed the call of her own curiosity in spite her fears. Similarly, Toto from the Wizard of Oz is another Herald, although again of a far less frightening countenance than La Loba. In the film version of the tale, he is the reason Dorothy is caught outside in the tornado that carries her to Oz, and her motherly concern for his safety is the impetus for many different plot points in the journey. Toto is her child, another glimpse of impeding Adulthood leading her onward. Neither The White Rabbit nor Toto provides any guidance or advice as to how their heroines should proceed. While they share similarities, The Herald should not be confused with The Guide, which we will be discussing later in this class. The Herald’s only job is to beckon, not to inform. In some cases, the Herald will share the duties of the Guide, but they are not the same role.

This week’s films were Kevin Smith’s comedy Dogma and The Wachowski’s dystopian V for Vendetta. In both films, the heroine is called to service for a greater cause. In Dogma, the heroine Bethany is informed by The Metatron (voice of God, who appears as a pillar of flame initially, before douses him with a fire extinguisher, revealing him to be Alan Rickman) that she is the Last Scion, or descendant of Christ, and is the only one who can stop the apocalyptic actions of a pair of fallen angels, thus saving the world. She naturally refuses such a dangerous and terrifying responsibility, as most people would. She states that she is not worthy of such a task, due to her loss of faith over being incapable of having children. The Metatron informs her that she needs to put her resentments aside, as she is being offered the chance to become mother and protector to the entire world instead. Bethany eventually relents and sets off to New Jersey, which is where most apocalypses take place. But this act is what differentiates the hero/heroine from the rest of us. It isn’t bravery, strength, or magic powers. It is the willingness to follow The Herald, even if you aren’t certain of what lies ahead.

In V for Vendetta, the heroine Evey is pressed into service against a tyrannical British police state by a masked man who seems almost inhuman in his combat abilities and tolerance for pain. For the first half of the film, she refuses to do little more than the bare minimum to help his cause, although she expresses sympathy with his beliefs. She openly claims her fear, says she wishes she could be strong but she isn’t. After the masked man orchestrates her staged imprisonment and torture, she discovers the fortitude within herself to transcend her fear and follow The Herald. Although the movie is primarily concerned with her transformation into the heroine, her future trajectory as the heroine is implied by her actions as she takes place of the masked man after his death.

Interestingly, all of these women share something that Murdock alludes to in her book: the Absent Mother. Dorothy, Evey, and Bethany are orphans. Alice’s mother is unknown, and in fact a text search of the online version of the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland reveals not a single reference to the word “mother”. These are all girls on the cusp of puberty who have been separated from the mother, for better or for worse, and are on their way to discovering themselves as the future women they will become. This is, at least in part, at the core of the heroine’s journey: who will you be when you finally have to stand on your own?

In each of these examples, the heroine is called by The Herald to address an injustice (although in Alice’s case, her confrontation with the Queen is less motivated by the urging of others as it is her own impatience with the bully and self-preservation.) Her fear and reluctance may or may not be a clearly stated issue, but in the end she realizes she has to confront that fear to protect the weak and disenfranchised. She might refuse the call with an “it ain’t me” moment, like Evey and Bethany, before heeding The Herald. She might go willingly toward adventure out of curiosity and boredom with society’s restrictions on young girls, like Alice. She might go out of love and concern, like Dorothy. In the end, however, in order for us to have a journey, she has to put aside her fear and say yes to The Herald.

References

Smith, K. (Director). (1999). Dogma [Motion picture on DVD]. London: Cinema Club.

V for vendetta [Motion picture on DVD]. (2005). USA: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Baum, L. F., Denslow, W. W., & Hearn, M. P. (2000). The annotated Wizard of Oz: The wonderful Wizard of Oz. New York: Norton.

Carroll, L., Carroll, L., Gardner, M., & Tenniel, J. (1960). The annotated Alice: Alice’s adventures in Wonderland & Through the looking glass. New York: C.N. Potter.

Campbell, J. (1972). The hero with a thousand faces. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Murdock, M. (1990). The heroine’s journey. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Estés, C. P. (1992). Women who run with the wolves: Myths and stories of the wild woman archetype. New York: Ballantine Books.