@salima,
Holiday20310401;106026 wrote:
First off, is there any literature you'd recommend which provides an example (perhaps archetypically) of the heroin?
Perhaps there is nothing feminine to distinguish about woman, but maybe there is a distinction between man and woman, the hero and the heroin.
I think, though I may be wrong, anecdotes would come in handy here. What was the most noble encounter you've had with woman? I'm not talking about humility, I'm not talking about pride, those qualities by themselves cannot make up the hero, so is it wrong of me to say they cannot make up the heroin?
Hi
Without working around too much, let me say that you may be wrong, somewhere.
The topic of womanhood is one thing that has engaged my devouring intellect for a quite a while now....... though, frustratingly, I find myself not making much progress on this front.
But the little that it did, does indicate to me that woman are as heroic as anyone can be. To look into history for examples would be diabolic, because of the simple reason hat history was never written by woman - until the 20th century, perhaps only in the latter part of th elast century, i guess.
Talking about literature, of which i am not a great enthusiat, i would take up the mythological story of the genesis, wherein the mother of all grandmothers, Eve defied the dictates of God. This according to me, is a great act of heroism, although labeled immoral from theological perspective. Acts of defiance (and disobedience) are acts of courage. Mankind has never seen a greater rebel than eve.
Aedes;107987 wrote:
My point in the end is that whatever intrinsic differences exist between man and woman are very much subordinated to whatever else happens in their lives, and whatever choices they make. All of the above -- being a political leader, being a humanitarian, etc, are neither unique to women nor men.
salima;108055 wrote:
for some strange reason there has been a separate gender based word for heroes and heroines whereas there is no separation for other words, like millionaire, philanthropist, cannibal, baker. both a man and a woman would portray any of these roles in ways as far as they are capable of doing so, each in their own way. in some cases a woman could make a point better than a man and in other cases aman would be able to carry out a heroic act better than a woman. both are needed.
I think both salima and aedes are in sync, as you have also pointed out (from an earlier reference?) and i agree with them.
Holiday20310401;108040 wrote:
But I think the first thing that needs to be done is figuring out how the concept of heroism (would you agree it is somewhat innate?) comes about. How does it manifest itself in the human mind, at what point does the nobility or divinity of one's actions become heroic?
Hero's or hero worshipping is a manifestation of human wants and needs. It does appear to be universal, based conceptually, on its mental construction as an extension of basic human desires. A trait or quality of man or woman which makes the other person lesser, giving value to that uniqueness, is perhaps the psychological reasons for hero worshipping. Hero worshipping according to me preceded the Deity or God worshipping.
Holiday20310401;108040 wrote:
Literature has been written from man's perspective, and because of this, it is hard to get a grasp of the opportunities the heroine archetypes have to act heroic. It is difficult in reading the literature to get that intuition of those archetypes, would you agree, because of how fewer opportunities seem to present themselves of the heroine being unveiled.
There is something aesthetically pleasing about an archetype. Why is it that the hero archetypes are discernable, but the heroine archetypes are inscrutible? Is this something which only presents itself in non-contemporary literature. I mean, today, there is much less disparity between men and women. Women have jobs etc. etc. Or is it that archetypes exist without the association of gender and that there is simply some psychological need among writers to attach the male figure (or at least as it were predominantly) to whatever archetype they were interested in?
Talking about archetypes and literature, i would again stick to an area and history which i am familiar with.
In India, more specifically, we have given the mother the position of God. Apart from totemic systems of respecting symbols, the feminine gender or feminity is treated as a power, perhaps more than equal to masculinity as a force, or as a concept of divinity. All the godesses that one may encounter in Indian or Hindu myths are symbols of different powers or virtues (Qualities). Right from Shakti (force), Saraswati, (Knowldge), Laxmi (Materials) to the concept of Shiva (one in the trinity, supposed to be the destroying force of the world) as Ardhnareshwar (God being half man & half woman) are examples that woman had played their role as hero's (gender/grammer wise referred to as heroines). On the ground, however, there are no great examples of equating the woman as Gods. Perahps it is restricted to history and mythological litearture and tradition.
It can be said that in the western myths and history there are very few examples of woman as hero's...... therefore, perhaps, we see injustice, or lets say discrimination, in the literary world too. Religion, which moulds culture is also a factor in such discrimination in the west, while in the east, where also discrimination exists no less, is more so because of chauvinism.
Yes, as for personal experiences, i know many woman whom i admire (secretly, perhaps) for the role and part they play in the social and political sphere of contemporary life.
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