Joan of Arc: Enduring Power

    We all know the story. A girl of sixteen claims to hear the voices of God and his angels, cuts off all her hair, throws on some armor, picks up a sword, and rides off to lead the french armies against England. We know how that ends....crispy. The life of Joan is remarkable; her death tragic, just like so many other figures in history, but what sets her apart? What about this woman immortalizes her eyes, and burns in our memories? She was an undistinguished peasant, a nobody, who became a heroine that Christians, feminists, historians, and french nationalists revere. "The least likely of military leaders, Joan of Arc changed the course of the Hundred Years’ War and of history."  At sixteen she left, to lead an army, unskilled in the craft of battle with nothing but mysterious voices guiding her. "Her voices have been diagnosed retroactively as symptoms of schizophrenia, epilepsy, even tuberculosis." If these voices were the repercussions of some disease, I hope I come down with whatever she got. She made a difference, she went against the grain; she was a hero, and she was also a teenage girl. "In the aftermath of combat she didn’t celebrate victory but mourned the casualties; her men remembered her on her knees weeping as she held the head of a dying enemy soldier, urging him to confess his sins. Her courage outstripped that of seasoned men at arms; her tears flowed as readily as any other teenage girl’s." Although her voices eventually lead to her demise, I believe they were a blessing, not only to the people of France, but the whole world. Before she was burned at the stake by the english who believed her voices were of the devil, Joan refuses to denounce the divinity of the whispers. She died with conviction; conviction that she had lived out her purpose here on earth. Were her voices of reality or an altered reality, we will never know, but I'm content not knowing. " Like the author of this article, I believe "stories we understand are stories we forget." 
      Kathryn Harrison intertwined logos and pathos within this article so that each strongly complimented the other. At the end of the Article in italics it says that Kathryn is writing a biography on the life of Joan Arc, so she is obviously very knowledgeable about the subject. Her writing makes it very clear she is passionate about the subject and is trying to pass on some of that passion to the reader. She made a five minute history lesson fun and interesting! "We don’t need narratives that rationalize human experience so much as those that enlarge it with the breath of mystery. For as long as we look to heroes for inspiration, to leaders whose vision lifts them above our limited perspective, who cherish their values above their earthly lives, the story of Joan of Arc will remain one we remember, and celebrate."    


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