Womanhood and Revenge

THE KINDLY ONES is a story of women's revenge for wrongs. Women in the story are wronged by men and marked by loss of loved ones. They spend their lives devoted to others and ultimately are hurt. Lyta, the central character, has already lost her husband. Her whole life is has wrapped up in her son, Daniel. Because she lives outside herself, centered in her son, once she loses him, she has nothing. In the context of THE KINDLY ONES, this is a condition of womanhood. Lyta has taken on the aspect of mother, an aspect defined by others. When her reason for life is taken away from her, she seeks revenge.

The story of the children who flew away, an origin story for the Furies, is a story of women wronged. The man in the story wrongs the woman he sleeps with and won't marry...