The Heroine’s Journey and The Journey of Integrity: Illustrating Women’s Truths in a Graphic Memoir on Health, Disability, and Childhood Trauma

Women’s narratives, particularly in areas like health, disability, and trauma, have long been underrepresented, hindering a deeper understanding of their lived experiences in storytelling. To address this gap, writers and scholars have developed frameworks that offer valuable approaches for exploring and articulating the unique challenges and transformations that define women’s experiences. Notable examples of such frameworks are Maureen Murdock’s Heroine’s Journey and non-gender-specific Journey of Integrity developed by Nancer Ballard. In contrast to Joseph Campbell’s well-known Hero’s Journey paradigm, the Heroine’s Journey focuses on the personal and psychological growth of the female protagonist, emphasizing the unique challenges that come with being a woman. The Journey of Integrity follows the protagonist's quest for authenticity, moral strength, and ethical alignment, emphasizing the importance of staying true to one's values in the face of challenges. Both models complement and enrich one another. While the Heroine's Journey traditionally explores themes of self-discovery, empowerment, and overcoming external obstacles, the Journey of Integrity adds a layer of internal exploration to create a more holistic and multifaceted storytelling experience, exploring moral dilemmas, ethical decisions, and the alignment of actions with core values. This paper explores how these two frameworks enhance the understanding of female perspectives and can effectively portray women’s experiences while emphasizing their narratives. The analysis of both models is further expanded by their application to my graphic memoir in progress, which addresses themes of childhood trauma, health, and disability, as well as the resulting career in public health and interest in graphic medicine.