Women's Characters in Fiction

While attending a Writers Conference last weekend, I attended a class based on women’s characters in fiction.

I learned that there are two types of women in literature: the woman who trades her identity for protection and the woman who is at the mercy of what happens. Both women have to get to awareness for them to find peace and happiness. Without awareness, there is no growth or transformation and the character stays stuck. It made me think of my own journey in life, and of my mother’s and grandmother’s. We all looked to a man for protection and identity in life. We played by the rules and then it all went wrong. We each had to struggle and to find our own way to get our own identities and voice. Two of us found love. My mother found acceptance.

On a broader scale I think of my ancestral home, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico sought protection from other countries. It is now in a transformation stage, a country finding its voice to eventually find acceptance or its own identity. Where are you at in this journey? If you're stuck, remember knowledge is the first step to awareness and then eventual transformation.