Helga's Never-Ending Cycle

Murdock’s diagram of the heroine’s journey starts with three steps: identification with the masculine and gathering of allies, the road of trials, and finding the boon of success. Much like how we saw Siddhartha repeat a certain cycle and be reborn multiple times, Helga also seems to go through these three steps in the heroine’s journey multiple times. Her starting a new cycle is often represented as her moving to a different city. So far we have seen Helga repeat these three steps three times, when she moves to Chicago, then New York, and Denmark. Although Helga repeats these three steps, she is still progressing in her journey and can be seen moving forward with other steps while simultaneously repeating the first three. The first step in the heroine’s journey is identification with the masculine and the gathering of allies. When Helga moves to a new place, she is always very excited. Although in this story I believe identification with the masculine is not always present. Instead, Helga more often starts to identify with other parts of her identity, like her whiteness or her blackness. 

When Helga moves to Chicago, we can see her start to identify with the masculine. She takes on a more masculine role of being independent as well as looking for a job. She faces many trials of being rejected because of her lack of references. She is also rejected by her Uncle Peter’s wife and therefore is rejected by her white family. This leads her to identify more with her black side, as she is also in the north. Helga then finally finds a job with Mrs. Hayes-Rore, her boon of success. Mrs. Hayes-Rore gives her advice not to mention her family history. She tries to help Helga and becomes her ally until she gets to New York, and Helga repeats these three steps again. Being in Harlem, Helgs begins to identify more and more with her black side and her masculine side. Helga’s masculine side is often represented through her black side, and being in Harlem causes Helga to begin to forget her white and feminine side. She becomes friends with Anne who becomes her ally as she introduces her to Harlem and lets Helga move in with her. Helga then starts to resent Anne and her constant obsession with the race problem. Helga is tired of living with Anne and being in Harlem and faces her second road of trials. When her Uncle Peter sends her money, she finds her boon of success, as she is able to leave Harlem and move to Denmark. 

Once Helga gets to Denmark, she again goes through these three steps, but it is a little different than the first few times. Rather than identifying with the masculine, Helga begins to identify with the feminine and her white side. But I still believe that Helga is repeating the first three steps rather than moving forward. Instead of integrating both the masculine and the feminine into her life, which is likely what would happen if she was actually moving forward in her journey, she entirely forgets her masculine side and only focuses on nurturing her feminine side. Helga begins to dress very femininely, in bright dresses and elaborate jewelry. She starts to rely on her family to care for her and begins to lose her independence. Her allies become her aunt and uncle, but at the same time, they contribute to her road of trials. Her family seems to have Helga’s best interest at heart, and they take care of her, but there is also a selfish motivation for their actions. They use Helga to gain social status, but Helga often enjoys the attention given to her. She does start to feel isolated though, and she quickly realizes the attention she is receiving is not exactly positive. She begins her road of trials as she becomes unhappy again. When Axel proposes to her, she finally realizes she needs to be near other black people. This moment is an example of Helga experiencing two different steps in the heroine’s journey at once. She reaches another boon of success and also reconciles with her father, as she can understand his past actions.

Helga has a clear pattern of fleeing wherever she is, getting excited about a fresh start and making new friends, starting to resent her friends, and ultimately leaving once again and repeating the cycle. Helga’s identification with the masculine is more often identification with a specific aspect of her race. Helga rarely identifies with both the masculine and the feminine simultaneously, which is why she repeats her pattern rather than moving forward. After finishing the book I think it becomes clear that Helga never really breaks this cycle. I initially predicted that she would go through a similar journey as Siddhartha, becoming a worse person before maturing at being at peace with herself. Helga failed to mature, and although I sympathize with her struggles with her identity, by the end of the book, Helga ended up right where she started. She was in a feminine role in the South, surrounded by people she resented, wanting to leave.