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Alice Walker: Redefining the hero

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Date Issued:
1998
Summary:
In Meridian, The Temple of My Familiar, and Possessing the Secret of Joy, Alice Walker places women in the traditionally male role of hero. As an artist, her goal is to provide stories with role models who will help women transcend the gender stereotyping inherent in patriarchal cultures and enable them to envision themselves as capable of completing the stages of the hero's journey. The novels are compared to the three stages of the hero's journey as it is defined by Joseph Campbell to demonstrate how the women successfully master the hero pattern. The simple act of replacing the mythical male hero with a female initiates the shift in consciousness or the "key archetypal" event that Campbell insists is necessary for a change in world ideology. By redefining the role of the hero, Walker changes society's perceptions about women and becomes the arbiter of myth that will encourage women's potential.
Title: Alice Walker: Redefining the hero.
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Name(s): Campbell, Nicole.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Pearce, Howard D., Thesis advisor
Peyton, Ann, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1998
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 60 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: In Meridian, The Temple of My Familiar, and Possessing the Secret of Joy, Alice Walker places women in the traditionally male role of hero. As an artist, her goal is to provide stories with role models who will help women transcend the gender stereotyping inherent in patriarchal cultures and enable them to envision themselves as capable of completing the stages of the hero's journey. The novels are compared to the three stages of the hero's journey as it is defined by Joseph Campbell to demonstrate how the women successfully master the hero pattern. The simple act of replacing the mythical male hero with a female initiates the shift in consciousness or the "key archetypal" event that Campbell insists is necessary for a change in world ideology. By redefining the role of the hero, Walker changes society's perceptions about women and becomes the arbiter of myth that will encourage women's potential.
Identifier: 9780591927979 (isbn), 15557 (digitool), FADT15557 (IID), fau:12317 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1998.
Subject(s): Walker, Alice,--1944---Criticism and interpretation
Women heroes
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15557
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.