Thinking about Maureen Murdock's version of the Heroine's journey

 Maureen Murdock's heroines journey seemed to receive a very negative reaction from our class. Some people complained that the heroines journey focused too much on the protagonist's gender compared to the hero's journey; a journey actually focused on the hero being heroic. Others criticized it by saying that the focus on gender actually contributes to the sexism within storytelling. Men are allowed to go off on heroic journeys but women are required to constantly consider their gender and how it effects him. Many more of the steps of the heroine's journey are explicitly gendered while the hero's journey allows for more creativity and freedom for it's protagonist. But while I do agree with some of these criticisms, I think that Maureen Murdock's version of the Heroine's journey is more tailored to the generation before us.  

In Maureen Murdock's book The Heroine's Journey: Woman's Quest for Wholeness, she lists examples of how woman growing up in the 60-80s experienced a divide between themselves and their mothers. The women did not relate to their mother's role as a domestic housewife, and identified more with their working father. They felt as if they had to reject anything that was associated with their feminine mother if they wanted to survive in the more masculine workplace. This disassociation would come to be problematic for these women in their future's when they became dissatisfied even when they found success in their career. They felt as if they had nothing else to reach for in this masculine space, and begin to look towards more traditionally feminine things to satisfy them. For a practical example in Murdock's book, A 30 year old woman has already secured a high-paying corporate job at the cost of most of her social life. On a whim she joins a gardening club and discovers a new passion along side a new group of friends. 

A few generations ago, a high-class working man partaking in a traditionally feminine hobby like cooking or gardening would be something that his colleagues would mock him for. And since this first generation of working women don't identify with their mothers or the women around them, they look to these high-class males as role models. And since the norm for these men is to not associate with these traditionally feminine hobbies, the women naturally do the same. This gender stereotype hurts both genders, but specifically for these women, Murdock mentions how it can be difficult for them to connect with their daughters, as they are often working and are socially pressured to not associate with things little girls like. While nowadays it is commonplace to see fathers play with their young daughters, back then they would have been laughed at. Murdock proposes the idea of reconnecting with the feminine as a way to heal both the relationship with their mothers and prevent a rift from forming with their future daughters. While people in class focused on the literary aspect of Murdock's journey, I feel as if she created it mainly to explain the stories of real women. While it makes less sense for a hero battling a dragon to contemplate her femininity mid battle, It is something that working women have to deal with as they become unsatisfied with just the success they earn in the work place.

Although it may be less necessary today to hear about young people questioning their gender and how they act and are perceived in society. Working women 2-3 generations ago particularly had to think about this since they had very few if any female role models. People in class mentioned that they didn't think as much about how their gender relates to their opportunities for their future career. The first thing they reacted to when they read Murdock's heroine's journey is how it differs from the "masculine" hero's journey. But I think that Murdock emphasized this difference to point out the additional struggles women have to deal with as "hero's." Campbell tried to create a narrative focused on fictional heroism while Murdock tried to voice the experiences of real women in order to help real women. While Maureen Murdock's heroines journey may be less applicable to today, I think that it was more designed to fit a previous generation's story and problems.