new home in Richard Adams’s novel Watership Down: they were
small and powerless, sustained by an inner myth that if they endured
and kept on, they would make it to a better place later.
Ayla, whose heroic journey takes her through Jean M. Auel’s
novels The Clan of the Cave Bear and The Valley of Horses, is a mythic
heroine in prehistoric Ice Age Europe. The time and details are dif-
ferent and dramatic, yet the themes are remarkably similar to those
faced by contemporary human heroines. Repeatedly, Ayla must
decide what she will do in the face of opposition, or danger. She is
a Neolithic orphan raised in a Cro-Magnon culture that devalues
her and limits what she can do because she is a woman. Her appear-
ance, capacity for communicating and crying, her courage and ability
to think, all count against her in the culture. But her courage rises
in response to circumstances that are not of her own choosing. What
evolves into an odyssey in The Valley of Horses did not start out as a
heroic quest (as is typical of journeys undertaken by human heroes),
but as a journey to find others like herself. Similarly, in real-life
stories of human women, as in myths of heroines, emotional or affil-
iative bonds to others are key elements. A woman heroine is one
who loves or learns to love. She either travels with another or others
or seeks union or reunion on her quest.
THE PATH
There are crucial forks in every road, where a decision needs to
be made. Which path to take? Which direction to follow? To continue
on a course consistent with one’s principles, or go along with others?
To be honest, or cheat? To go to college, or work? To have the baby,
or an abortion? To leave a relationship, or stay? To marry, or say no
to a particular man? To go immediately for medical help on discov-
ering a lump in your breast, or put it off? To quit school or job, and
see something else? To have an affair and risk the marriage? To give
up or persevere? Which choice? Which path? What cost?
I recall the one vivid lesson from a college course in economics
that I have over the years found applicable in psychia-
Goddesses in Everywoman