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  1. (quotes from you in quotation marks)
    “Now in the end, we’ve gone completely beyond storytelling, and we’re really more talking about the way life is.”
    Well, isn’t that a major point of mythologizing — to discuss life in all its wonderful and myriad permutations?

    Yes, I was exaggerating for effect regarding old women. Sorry, should have been more precise. ;)

    “If your Heroine’s Journey is only about achieving fame and adulation and wealth, then yes, these things will seem very hollow after a time, because the high never lasts.”
    Here I disagree somewhat with your wording: I would call the pursuit of fame and adulation a part of the classic Hero’s Journey — not the Heroine’s.

    “People could learn something from that: our stories don’t end either. There’s always new challenges awaiting, if you only reach out to meet them.”
    Yes, exactly. This is, in fact, precisely what I’m tentatively labeling the Heroine’s Journey: the constant process of continuing to grow and learn.

    Thank you! I’m glad you found this fascinating. I was a bit worried it would be all disjointed and rambly, since I was writing it on the run, so to speak — only a day or two before it appeared. Guess it worked out okay! ;)

  2. Interesting. Now in the end, we’ve gone completely beyond storytelling, and we’re really more talking about the way life is.

    First off…no question, agree there’s a better way for men and women. Let’s put that to one side.

    Second: just a quick note. It’s a little unfair to say that the only role of old women is to die to promote a hero’s cause. YMMV – I get that. You had a far different experience growing up. But as far as my personal experience goes, old women are just as capable of providing wisdom as old men…. and as far as my literary experience goes, old men are just as capable of being cannon fodder for the Hero’s Journey. :} So are young women, and children… although young men, not so much.

    (Although, in the most recent book I’m plowing through, the protagonist is a woman, with her and her children rallying first in response to their husband’s death, and then to save him, when they find out that he might still be alive. That turns your head, hmm? The wife and kids rescuing the husband? But I digress…)

    But as far as the modern Heroine’s journey… well, it’s definitely complicated. People love heroic tales – not just of success, but of goals that matter – and if they themselves accomplish goals that matter, then that can be satisfying long after the adulation has died down. It doesn’t even have to be rescuing people from danger, like your traditional heroine. It could be working towards civil rights, or passing important, life-changing legislation, or helping to save someone from an unjust accusation, or building low-income housing. Or something as simple as giving blood (which I did today, hooray!)

    That assumes, of course, that you have some selflessness in you, and that you are renewed and replenished by these acts. If your Heroine’s Journey is only about achieving fame and adulation and wealth, then yes, these things will seem very hollow after a time, because the high never lasts. Good works can fill the void in you that money cannot. And fame…well, fame, is fleeting, often, and not always an easily renewable resource.

    On the other hand, modern Heroine’s Journeys acknowledge, more and more, that stories don’t just end. The very fact that most of the books you read were part of an ongoing series is proof of that. When you are good at being a heroine, often situations arise where you must go once more to the breach to help others. And if you are true in being a heroine, it’s something you do, if not gladly, then with the resolve knowing that you must act.

    People could learn something from that: our stories don’t end either. There’s always new challenges awaiting, if you only reach out to meet them.

    This post is fairly fascinating, but at this point, I feel like my brain is having a hard time deschipering ideas and thoughts that have come up as a result of it. So I will leave it here, for the moment, and see if I can be more coherant later.

    Of course, feedback on my feedback might speed up this process! ;)

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