Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1998

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Pearce, Howard D.

Thesis/Dissertation Co-Chair

Peyton, Ann

Abstract

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.

Extent

60 p.

Comments

FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1998.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Identifier

FADT15557

Format

pdf

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