TRUE HERO'S JOURNEY
by Siddika Angle
Why is heroism defined by the soldier willing to kill and die when his government decides to wage wars in which millions of innocent civilians are the primary victims?
This view of the hero as one who dominates and conquers through force and violence is entrenched in the West’s mythology. The most popular movies are those featuring superheroes. Even when those heroes are women (Wonder Woman) or people of color (Black Panther) the “happy ending” is never achieved without combat and killing.
If there was ever a civilization in need of a new model of hero, it is the United States of America in the third decade of the 21st century.
In her novel Strands feminist philosopher S. Elise Peeples provides a powerful vision of a woman’s heroic journey into her authentic self. Emma’s quest is toward her own full humanity. Hers is a brave search too few women undertake because they have been blinded and brainwashed by a male-dominated world.
To the male gaze, Emma is an ideal woman. She has imbibed the message that the female is born to be a wife and mother and has set out to follow her “operating instructions” as perfectly as possible. Now that her children are grown, her job is to support and take care of her pastor husband and meet his needs.
At her 70th birthday party, Emma has a startling revelation that will send her far from her home and her stereotypical role into a distant country, both geographically and spirituality.
In the Ireland of her mysterious and lost mother, Emma will discover there are family stories passed down from generation to generation which conceal more than they reveal. Must these fabrications actually determine the shape of our lives?
Drawn to a weaving workshop where each woman learns to listen with her “third ear” to the truth within her that is longing to break free, Emma finds a way to uncover and express an inner reality she had hardly known existed. At the edge of a wild and beautiful sea, she is bequeathed surprising , even shocking, secrets of her mother line that further reunite her with her long lost spirit, opening up unimagined creativity and changing everything.
Emma’s moving pilgrimage is not just fiction. It is also an invitation to each of us to venture through the portals of our own histories and weave the strands we discover into imaginative and meaningful lives.
This is the true hero’s journey-- the path to our authentic selves which, gathered together in a fully-human community, can change and perhaps even save our world.
