Sunday, August 18, 2013

Rewrite Idea... Bible story?

As an aspiring Christian writer, I wanted to rewrite a story in the bible.

It actually sounds pretty blasphemous... but never fear, I will do a lot of research here.

My idea is about the "Woman at the well"

She doesn't have a name, all we know about her is that she had five husbands and lived with a guy who wasn't her husband at a time which considered this most scandalous.
Oh. She was also a Samaritan, which meant Jews refused to talk to them, plus she was a woman - which meant men did not talk to them.

So... she's a victim of three things. One: Sexism Two: Racism and lastly: Level of sin?

The fact that a lone lady is coming to a well in middle of noon, the well being the focal point of gossip and social interaction, shows how much she was scorned. Probably because of the above description of her. But why? What gives these other well ladies the right to scorn her? They have never sinned in their entire life? I felt pretty strong about this part. This self given right is always the root of all oppression. "Men are better because Female sinned/ Men are better because we are stronger etc" "Jews are better because Samaritans believed the wrong bible" "I'm better because I sin less than that woman"
So! I thought this would be a great opportunity to show the views of these oppressed people from the woman's eyes.

The interesting thing is: After she meets Jesus, she becomes the key figure in leading the Samaritans to Jesus. So... she must have a pretty strong personality to live through all that and have the courage to gather/save people who scorned her in the past.

So my rewrite will focus on power paradigm. Drawing a parallel line between the oppressed colonizers and oppressed woman back in the days.

I'm playing with the idea if I should make the guy who she is in a relationship with but not husband: into a woman. But perhaps putting ANOTHER reason why she is oppressed is a little too much for the poor lady.

My direction is:

Show the horrible treatment of woman/race/sin level(?) she suffers.
She fights through all the hardship and believes what she wants despite the opposition.
Perhaps the guy she's living with is a wonderful man and she is fighting for happiness with him?
In the end, glimpse of hope as she gets to the well? (where the bible story starts)

This is probably going to change alot, but here's the first planning! :)

2 comments:

  1. Sounds good so far - as discussed :)
    I think the 3 'ways' she's a victim are very intertwined

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  2. Thanks Esther!
    You're right. I feel like the bible had that whole "Woman are inferior because they sinned" theme in there, giving men the some kind of right to abuse woman. I'm still unsure if I'm doing it right, but I'll start my draft today :)

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