45 Master Characters (53 page)
Having heart isn't to say the hero can't kill, if that's what the story calls for. Having heart means to have a consciousness, a sense of connectedness and responsibility for one's actions. It is to act from a place of calmness like the samurai instead of a place of reactive rage like a beast. With heart she has power. She's not reacting out of fear but acting out of power and truth.
Her goal is within reach. She must take the final step. “Will she do it?” is what the reader should be thinking. Sometimes this stage mirrors the stage of Descent when she first met the villain face-to-face.
She takes the final steps to show her transformation. Where she once cried she now laughs. Where she was once hesitant she is now eager. Where she was shy and unsure she is now bold. Where she was tough and unfeeling she is now caring and considerate. Where she was once soft she is now a hard fighter. She now embodies the opposite of her former coping strategy.
Examples of Stage 8
The Descent of Inanna
translated by Wolkstein and Kramer
When Inanna descends from the underworld two of Ereshkigal's demons follow her to find a replacement. Inanna won't let them take any of her children. When she comes upon her husband “Sitting upon a lofty throne … he used my powers to make himself more important … he refused to descend from his throne to help me.” She challenges him to make the same descent she has and fixes the eye of death on him. The demons take him away.
The Wizard of Oz
When the Wicked Witch of the West tries to kill Dorothy and her friends, Dorothy picks up a bucket of water and splashes the Wicked Witch, killing her instead. She then demands the Wizard grant their wishes and she faces another illusion when she sees the Wizard is nothing more than a small old man without any real powers at all.
She learns she always had the power to return home within her. She just had to come to that realization. When she looks back at all she overcame on her journey she can see how strong she really was.
Titanic
Jack supports Rose throughout her descent and encourages her every step of the way. When things get tough he doesn't leave her. He guides her through the ordeal, telling her to hold her breath and wear a life jacket. He makes her promise that she'll survive no matter what and he sacrifices his life for her. When he dies, she lets go of his hand and is able to swim to safety and freedom. She's able to pull herself together.
On the Carpathia rescue ship she's given one last chance to turn back to the perfect world, especially now that Jack is gone. She hides herself from her fiance´ and goes into the new world with a new identity.
The Awakening
by Kate Chopin
Because Edna couldn't find support on her journey, her journey came to a tragic end in the last stage. Some say she chose to kill herself because that was the only way she could find freedom and that the ending is a happy one. She asserts that her life is hers to destroy and that she won't buy into the illusions that society puts in front of her.
Gender-Bending:
American Beauty
Likewise, Lester couldn't find support and was killed in the previous stage. His death showed him the value of life, as the entire story is told in a flashback by the deceased Lester, who isn't bitter but has found peace.
Come up with five different ways to show her rebirth. Make sure they're all motivated. Look again at her fears.
Think of all the symbols of birth and rebirth. Can you use an object that will symbolize her journey throughout the story and add it to the background setting to enhance the theme?
Once this stage is figured out you may need to go back to Act I and filter in more elements of the theme of her journey.
You'll need to add foreshadowing to the beginning of your story to cover up any holes that have come up to make this stage believable.
Stage 9: Full Circle — Return to the Perfect World
Sarah returns to the perfect world a fully realized person. She can clearly see the glass bubbles encasing her friends and desperately wants to help them all.
One friend stands up and hits her head on the glass ceiling. She looks up as if this is the first time she's ever bumped her head. With a smile Sarah walks toward her.
The hero returns home to see just how far she's come. She has attained her goal, but is she capable of facing this perfect world again without being pulled back into her old role?
This stage is a smaller climax where the hero returns to the perfect world and sees it for what it is. Through her experience others are changed and may even be forced to face their fears. She was once like them but now lives a better life. Does that mean it's possible for them to change as well?
Most often the person she was closest to prior to her awakening will be the one most influenced by her transformation.
She may pick someone to make the journey and continue the cycle, sharing her experience with others. She is the support for the next wave of journeyers.
Many women writers feel their stories are episodic, continuing like a circle rather than ending in a straight linear line. Some say the female story model doesn't have an ending at all.
Female stories do have endings, women do attain goals and they do make concrete changes in their lives and characters, but sometimes a hint of a life beyond the linear line, one that continues around into a circle, can be seen in this final stage of the journey.
Whereas the masculine hero “gets the girl” or an external reward in the end, the feminine hero gets something internal, a reward of spirit that continues on. Just because she has attained her goal and changed her life doesn't mean society has changed right along with her. There will still be tyrants, ogres, racists and sexists in the world; she's just more equipped to deal with those obstacles now.
Since the story itself has an ending that allows her to complete her journey or task, it leaves the reader with a sense of hope that women can accomplish and be successful. For those who want to write female stories without endings, another option is to consider using this stage to establish the circular narrative and allow the hero a successful resolution in the previous stage, even if success is abandoning her goal. Moral questions can still be asked here and not every subplot has to be tied up nicely.
Examples of Stage 9
The Descent of Inanna
translated by Wolkstein and Kramer
Dumuzi's sister pleads with Inanna to help Dumuzi. She vows to take part of his time in the underworld, six months out of the year, and Inanna accepts her offer. His sister is a metaphor for the compassionate side of Inanna who will descend again to help others on their journeys.
The Wizard of Oz
In the book, Dorothy returns to the perfect world. She comes running toward her aunt. Clearly a lot of time has gone by and everyone knows she has been away somewhere, giving her journey validity. Her uncle built a new house, which is a symbol of all the changes she has been through. She can't wait to tell everyone what happened to her, and they can't wait to listen.
In the film, Dorothy tells everyone about her journey but they don't believe her story. She says she never should've left home, that she should only look for herself in her own backyard and not venture off. Once she returns to the perfect world she is under its spell again. “There's no place like home and I'll never leave you again,” she says. No one even listens to her story or pays attention to her journey, and none of them will benefit from her experience.
Titanic
The beginning of the film starts with this stage as the older Rose shares her experience with the crew searching for the diamond. Everyone is captivated by her story and their view of history from scientific data is forever changed.
The film ends with her on the back of a boat, a similar place to the perfect world of the Titanic in the beginning. She holds the diamond necklace and drops it into the ocean, and we see pictures of all the things she's accomplished over the years — flying, horseback riding and going to the Santa Monica Pier. Her granddaughter cries as she listens to the story, changed by what she hears.
The Awakening
by Kate Chopin
The return happens at the same time as the death stage. Edna returns to the Grand Isle, the place where the story started, to end her life. She pauses for a moment and watches a bird beating its wings as it falls into the ocean, recalling a tale she was told from the beginning of the story.
Gender-Bending:
American Beauty
In a roundabout way, Lester returns to the perfect world through the telling of his story in first-person narrative after his death. He sees everything differently now and he wouldn't change anything.
Look again at Stage 1 and mirror some of the elements in this stage to show how much she's changed. Does she react differently to the perfect world?
Can you change some of this world as a metaphor for her change?