Today's readings helped explain a little about why Athena is the way she is. I do like that each narrative passage provides a bit more enlightenment than the last. I left off thinking Athena had used her husband just to get a child, but I picked back up thinking perhaps she loved him more than I thought, and her experience with him led to changes in her personality.
When forced to choose between her child and husband, Athena never hesitated to put her son first. She acknowledged this was because of her own abandonment issues as an orphan. "For Athena, breaking family ties was possibly the gravest sin anyone could commit" (43). Because of this, the divorce hit her hard. Similarly, and equally if not more unexpectedly, her exclusion from the sacrament of communion (because of the divorce) was devastating. Her faith was supposed to be the one solid thing she could count on, and its institution had turned on her.
The priest admits to experiencing feelings of dilemma from the situation, but he felt it was most important to uphold church doctrine even though he knew it could break Athena. "Did it all start there, or was it already in her soul?" he wonders (46). "It" presumably refers to the vague evils Athena succumbs to later in life. The reader is still mostly in the dark regarding this witchy alter-ego, but the book is building up to it by detailing her journey to enlightenment. [Compare to Josh (aka Jesus)'s journey in "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal," in which the Lamb goes in search of spiritual teachings via the Magi.]
It's not long before we discover just how important dance is to Athena. She uses it to "get in touch with something stronger and more powerful" than herself (49).
Cue Hadia's Canadian Belly-Dancing Music.
Athena meets people who share with her the idea that you can dance yourself into a trance, creating a "Vertex" of light and hippie happiness. The ecstatic energy lifts Athena into an addictive, powerful state. At this point I realized the "teachings" outlined in this book could almost be used to start some radical new religion, but Athena isn't ready yet. Her dance mentor recognizes that she is easily influenced and unstable (57), but allows her the means to share this new discovery with her coworkers. I'm not sure I believe anyone could convince the employees of a bank to dance for an hour before each work day, thus doubling their productivity with ease, but for the sake of demonstrating how Athena can manipulate people, I'll go with it. Her boss sharing it with his superiors? Well, at least he admitted it might cost him his job. Threatened by Athena, he obliges to have her relocated, and she finds herself a student of calligraphy in Dubai.
Again, Athena demonstrates that she is always seeking advice, but is never satisfied with the answers anyone provides. Always "unconvinced," she already knows what she wants to do, and is determined to do it. The advice-giver relents, thinking perhaps Athena will learn the hard way, but sensing she will be the exception to the rule.
Her calligraphy teacher has several truths to pass along to Athena (and the reader):
- "Because the hand that draws each line reflects the soul of the person making that line." (76)
- "Everything, absolutely everything on this earth makes sense, and even the smallest things are worthy of our consideration." (77)
- "[A teacher] isn't someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows." (78)
This book will be a great one to read twice -- like a movie you watch over and over, finding new details each time. The only drawback of telling the story through multiple narrators is that I can't seem to remember the names of any of them ...
- Precipitate = rushing headlong
- Esoteric = understood by a select few with special knowledge
- Perdition = spiritual ruin
- Venerate = revere
- Retinue = entourage
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