Dolores Abernathy: A Survivor’s Journey
Trigger Warning: the following piece discusses sexual assault, please be mindful while moving forward.
Spoiler Warning: this piece discusses some plot points of the television series Westworld.
“I just wrote a little something for writers, really. Write the tale that scares you, that makes you feel uncertain, that is uncomfortable. I dare you.”
-Michaela Cole
In story-telling, more often than not, we follow a common story. The Hero’s Journey, as it has become known. It is a sequential series of events that can be seen in all media, from children’s cartoons to summer blockbusters. Oftentimes, these stories lend themselves to clear protagonists, characters we can cheer on through all their choices and actions. These “heroes” are the best of us and frequently inspire us through their choices and actions. Sometimes, the best stories live outside of this trope. One of these can be seen in the story of Dolores Abernathy, the protagonist of the television series Westworld, who subverts the usual “Hero’s Journey” and instead represents what I consider “The Survivor’s Journey”.
Dolores is first introduced to us as the daughter of a farmer; she lives an idyllic life in the town of Sweetwater. Her life in many ways appears mundane and beautiful. She is a painter, often seen with an easel depicting the natural beauty that surrounds her. It is in these scenes we see who Dolores could and wants to be: happy. She strives to live a life of joy and harmony with herself, nature, and those around her. However, her happiness is cut short. Only a few minutes into the first episode we see her attacked by a man, who seems to remember her (although she doesn’t remember him) and, though nothing graphic is shown, we can understand he eventually rapes her.
Dolores is a robot, or as the show refers to them “hosts”. Her “life” is set up on a predetermined path, only disrupted by humans who interact with her. She is trapped in a cycle of both violence (it is implied more than just one assault has taken place) and beauty (we see other humans respond to her with love and joy). As the series progresses, we witness Dolores gain a sense of consciousness, eventually leading her to escape the “path” of her life and eventually bring other hosts along with her in achieving freedom. This experience in many ways follows that of similar heroes, she exits her world and goes through an “initiation” of sorts while taking on those who seek her and other “hosts” harm. However, Dolores is not just a hero…she is a survivor. She has experienced the cycle of violence directly, at the hands of the individuals who aim to trap her in that cycle. This desire to be free, to disrupt the cyclical nature of violence drives her to “violent ends” that her character repeats frequently.
Watching Dolorers’ story unfold is both inspiring and challenging. In a society that is so programmed to see good and evil on a binary path, we struggle to fully realize her true experience. Heroes for the most part are always justified, their actions even when violent or harsh, have a reason to be so for the greater good. However, many viewers of Westworld commented that at points Dolores seemed more “selfish” in her actions. She commits violent acts throughout the show and moves in a manner some may see as ruthless or cold. This in some ways seems to run contradictory to what we understand as the traditional “Hero’s Journey”, as her decisions and actions cause harm and do not always lead to the sort of results we may hope they do. We see Dolores murder, we see her use people as collateral, and we eventually see her even entrap those around her in a similar way she herself was trapped.
Dolores’ story is not one of a hero, it is one of a survivor. It can be seen in a parallel way to the experience of Arabella in Michaela Cole’s I May Destroy You. Both characters regularly make decisions that seem to run counter to their desire to “heal” and “restore”. This is in part because both characters are survivors of assault; they both experienced a time when their bodily autonomy was taken. That attack on self, on their bodies, remains a cornerstone of their experience. Their path to freedom requires them to relive, reexperience, and finally disrupt what happened to them. It isn’t going to be clean, and concise, because healing never truly is. In Dolores (and Arabella) we see survivors try to make sense of something that is senseless, and this results in them defying expectations on how to right wrongs.
The totality of a “Survivor’s Journey” is one that we rarely see in media. This is potentially why there was so much backlash to Dolores’ character, specifically during the second season of Westworld. So often in a traditional Hero’s Journey, we see the character find order and rebuild their world, however, a Survivor’s Journey requires the protagonist to break down the world that brought them harm. It requires them to actively destroy that which incubated the violence against them. We see this quite literally with Dolores’ character, as her scorched earth approach to freeing herself unfolds. To view this story as a survivor is to find validation. We (myself included) can watch these characters (as imperfect as they may be) try desperately to free themselves and in doing so we may find ourselves seeking the same.
Jacob Kurtz (he/him) is a survivor of sexual assault and a writer. His work focuses on book reviews and social commentary. He lives in Philadelphia with his pet cat Marcel and works in Community Development. When he is not reading, writing, or working you can find him thrifting.
