Running head: LIFESTORY PROJECT

Investigating McAdams’ Idea of Personal Myth: A Case Study of Penelope

Marc Gilbertson

Education Research EDU-6920

Johnson State College

Fall 2010
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Abstract

In this paper, the author uses the framework illustrated in Dan P. McAdams’, The stories we live

by: Personal myths and the making of the self. (1993) to collect and analyze data on a forty year-

old high school teacher. The author also reflects on how knowledge of life stories can impact the

lives of teachers and students.

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Author Biography

Marc Gilbertson has been a middle-level social studies teacher at Lamoille Union Middle

School since 1991. For the past 17 years he has worked on Team Extreme, which uses an

interdisciplinary approach to teach 7th and 8th grade.

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Investigating McAdams’ Idea of Personal Myth: A Case Study of Penelope

Wonder Woman, Anne Frank, Harriet Tubman, and even a make-believe friend named

Rocko; each of these characters appeared in the life story interview I conducted with Penelope, a

forty year-old teacher. It would be reasonable to ask how this process and Dan P. McAdams’ idea

of personal myths impact my role as a middle school social studies teacher. Using McAdams’

process to analyze the life stories of individuals can reveal important information about who we

are, what motivates us, and where our life is headed. This kind of self-knowledge is important for

teachers and students alike. Awareness of personal myths can also help teachers motivate

students and explore how individual students learn most effectively.

Problem Statement/Thesis

In this paper I will report on an interview I conducted with a forty-year old teacher who

I know both professionally and personally. The purpose of the interview was to collect data and

use McAdams’ framework to analyze the subject’s life story. I hoped to gain insight into the use

and analysis of personal myths as well as how McAdams’ ideas can impact my role as a teacher.

Background/Methods

To conduct this interview and analysis I used the methods outlined by Dan P.

McAdams in his book, The stories we live by: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self. I chose

a subject I knew quite well both personally and professionally prior to the interview. To facilitate

the interview I created a template (see Appendix) based on the scripted questions McAdams uses

in his book (p253-262). The interview itself was conducted during one three-hour block with

several shorter follow-up sessions. I recorded detailed notes on the content of the interview.
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Penelope is a self-selected pseudonym for my subject.

For my analysis I focused on two of McAdams’ ideas. I first looked for narrative tone

and imagery. I focused on optimistic or pessimistic tone and especially the forms that McAdams

cites. These include comic, tragic, romantic, and ironic forms (p. 51-52). I attempted to isolate

the subject’s dominant form by reviewing data and coding evidence of each form. The coding

system was rather simple. As I identified evidence of a form, I simply highlighted it, then tallied

the results. For the second part of the analysis, I isolated imagoes and coded them as either

agentic or communal characters. I used McAdams’s framework to look for characters like the

warrior, the sage, the caregiver and others (McAdams, 135-159). I chose to focus on the

prototypical imageos which he explains in more detail. I chose to limit my analysis to these

prototypical imageos in response to McAdams’ criticism of Goffman and other psychologists

who see modern men and women, “like the Greek god Proteus, who was capable of assuming

any guise he chose” (McAdams p. 126). My subject was forty years-old and according to

McAdams, should be refining her role so that specific imageos can be more easily identified. I

intentionally looked for strong agentic and communal characters so that I could identify these

specific imageos.

Results/Findings/Analysis

Narrative Tone

“Narrative tone speaks to the author’s underlying faith in the possibilities of human

intention and behavior. It reflects the extent to which a person dares to believe that the world can

be good and that one’s place can be more or less secure within it” (McAdams, p. 48). McAdams

suggests that life stories can be divided into stories with either optimistic or pessimistic tones.
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He then suggests that certain forms exist within these tones. These include; comic, tragic,

romantic, and ironic forms. For McAdams, this tone provides the setting for the life story and

valuable insight into the subject’s view of the world and his or her place in it.

I found the tone of Penelope’s life story predominately optimistic. I also found that her

story fit well into what McAdams calls a romantic form. This form is revealed when characters

and scenes create a myth in which the subject, “overcomes great obstacles, but will triumph in

the end” (McAdams p. 51). Penelope revealed her romantic form throughout the interview. In my

analysis I found fourteen instances that fit comfortably into McAdams’ forms. Of these fourteen

situations, twelve of them fit within McAdams’ description of a romantic form. The remaining

two, I coded as tragic.

Penelope’s optimistic tone began in early elementary school. She cited a passion for

myths and fairy tales especially those that included the lesson, “good behavior brings good

results”. Penelope identified herself with princesses while growing up but also revealed an

imaginary friend named Rocko. Rocko was a heroine who provided companionship but also

reminded Penelope that good things come to good people. Rocko, although not a real person,

reveals the romantic tone that Penelope takes throughout her life.

Penelope titled her high school years as a series of unfortunate events and told stories

about her family’s personal issues as well as her difficulties with school. These issues and

obstacles intensified throughout college. But, true to her romantic form, she overcomes these

obstacles in her 20’s and emerges as a strong independent woman. As she began her career as a

teacher, her romantic tone continues. In this chapter of her life story she told anecdotes of her

students overcoming tremendous obstacles to become quite successful especially in the realm of
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athletics. She even saw the story of the school in which she teaches from a romantic perspective.

For Penelope, the school overcame the label of “welfare school” to achieve great things including

state championships, and academic awards.

Although Penelope’s tone is predominately optimistic, there were some instances in

which her story reveals some aspects of a tragedy. On two occasions Penelope stated the idea that

too much excitement or optimism can lead to disappointment. She mentions that stories have

always had a big impact on her life, and notes that along with myths and fairy tales, the story of

Anne Frank reminds her that heroism is not always rewarded with positive outcomes.

McAdams claims that the tone a person sets for his or her life story is established quite early in

life (McAdams p. 40). Although this narrative tone can change, Penelope’s life story takes an

optimistic tone throughout her child hood and her life as an adult. Penelope, however, also

reveals an awareness that life can change. She is awarene that tragic lives do exist and that

human life is not as simple as the fairy tales she adored as a child.

Character and Imageos

According to McAdams, a life story not only needs a tone or setting, it needs

characters. He writes, “Main characters work to personify our basic desires for power and for

love” (McAdams p. 13). McAdams claims that these characters or imageos reveal desires and

motivation within our life stories. These can be identified as agentic-seeking power, or

communal-seeking love. In my analysis of Penelope’s interview, I coded important people and

characters by whether or not they fit into agentic or communal categories. I found that many of

the characters in her story, whether fictional or real, combined characteristics. Originally, I

coded four of the characters in the interview as strongly agentic, five as strongly communal, and
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ten as having both agentic and communal traits. This was especially evident when I asked

Penelope about the significant people in her life. I found that four of the five people she chose

during this part of the interview had both agentic and communal traits. For example, one

character was a coach. This person gained her respect as a successful athlete. She first identified

him as a person who did well as an individual in big competitions. Penelope wanted this person’s

respect especially surrounding her own individual athletic successes. This appears to be an

agentic imageo, or a character, “whose forceful efforts push the plot forward” (McAdams, p.

133). Penelope sought respect through individual achievement. Yet after explaining this,

Penelope went on to reveal how she was also impressed when this person worked hard to make

others feel like part of the team. She liked the way the coach respected both men and women for

their ability to contribute to the team as well as their individual talents. Here, Penelope reveals

this character’s communal traits. The coach is important to Penelope not only for his attainment

of power as an athlete but also for his ability to create a caring community. Three of the other

significant people Penelope identified in her interview had similar characteristics. They attained

success in a more agentic role but also revealed strong communal traits later in life.

McAdams goes beyond simply identifying imageos as agentic or communal. He offers

specific prototypes for imageos. These prototypes include agentic imageos such as the warrior,

the traveler, and the sage. He also suggests communal imageos like the lover, the caregiver, and

the friend (McAdams 133-161). Several of Penelope’s characters take on dual roles as the

warrior, and the caregiver. An example of this can be seen when Penelope spoke about Madeline

Kunin, the former Governor of Vermont. McAdams bases the warrior imageo on Ares the Greek

god of War. He describes this imageo as “a highly agentic narrative character----exists to make
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war of one kind or another” (McAdams p. 136). The caregiver is represented by Demeter of

ancient Greece. According to McAdams, “Demeter reminds us that caring for others may require

sacrifices and great patience if one is to see the efforts of one’s one care bear fruit” (p. 155).

Penelope describes Kunin as a caring, attentive mother who entered the world of politics to help

provide a better community for her children. She sacrifices time, money, and sleep to make her

neighborhood a better place. According to Penelope, as Kunin’s career in politics continues, she

becomes a warrior, fighting at the state and national level for, not only her own children, but for

people around the world. Ten of the nineteen people and characters Penelope mentioned were

coded with similar agentic and communal traits. But upon further analysis and follow-up

questioning, many of the characters that originally appeared to fall clearly into the agentic or

communal categories showed signs of both traits. One person was originally deemed important

because of her success as a champion mountain bike racer. However, when asked to explain why

other, faster racers were not included, Penelope revealed that it was not just that this person won

races, but also that she gave back to the community and encouraged others. When pressed, all but

one of people Penelope mentions had both agentic and communal traits. Her mother remained

the sole character that lacked this dual role. Penelope’s mother remained a strongly communal

character throughout the interview.

Penelope’s warrior/caregiver imageos are consistent with the romantic tone that her

story takes. Through these characters I gained insight into Penelope’s motivation and how she

sees her life story developing. She is not strictly motivated by power or love but views her role as

a combination of both. This is illustrated by the number of the characters that have both strong

agentic and communal traits.

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Discussion

Throughout the interview and analysis process, I found it remarkable how often

McAdams’ insights, statements, and ways of organizing life stories led me to reflect not only

Penelope’s life story but my own as well. The idea of a life story and the role it plays in our

happiness should be important to both teachers and students.

Teachers

At several points in his book McAdams suggests an arc to life and that one’s life story

is adapted to fit various points in one’s life. McAdams also suggests that at some point, usually

after mid-life, one develops a “generativity script” (p. 14) or a story that links one’s contributions

to the next generation. Both Penelope and I are teachers. In analyzing Penelope’s life story and

reflecting on my own life story, I suggest that this generativity script should find its place in the

life stories of teachers much earlier than it might with those in some other professions.

In the interview, as Penelope spoke of future plans, she mentioned concerns about

getting credit for her accomplishments as a teacher. On several occasions, she mentions the

satisfaction she received through the success of others especially when they followed the path she

laid out for them. These include her students’ admission to elite colleges, and victories as

competitive athletes. Penelope seems to be developing a generativity script earlier than most.

She is looking back on her accomplishments as a teacher and looking for links to the next

generation. I suggest that this generativity script should become an important part of a teacher’s

life story not only after mid-life but throughout their careers.

And this is where McAdams’s work might be useful to teachers. Many teachers,

including Penelope, attempt to balance their own roles as warriors and caregivers. They fight for
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their students while sacrificing time, energy, and perhaps the respect and financial reward

associated with other professions. To make this balance work, it would be helpful to cultivate a

generativity script early in a teacher’s career. McAdams writes that in order to be generative,

“One must …generate something in one’s own image. This is a powerful thing to do. One must

also care for the generated product and ultimately let that product go” (p. 230). If teachers could

recognize that this script is important to what they do how ultimately they find success, they may

benefit from better self-awareness and be more satisfied with their career choices. If teachers like

Penelope could be taught to recognize a generativity script early in their careers, perhaps they

could come to terms with these issues and be more satisfied with their careers. It would certainly

be interesting to continue examining the life stories of teachers like Penelope who have chosen to

remain in the classroom for years despite the demands and the lack of recognition.

Students

McAdams idea of a personal life story might also inspire teachers to think about the

life stories that students bring to class. One aspect of McAdams process that struck me was the

interview. It seems like the subject might change his or her choices about major events and or

characters based on who is conducting the interview. During my interview with Penelope, I often

thought about who and what she left out. I also wondered if she failed to include certain aspects

of her life because she assumed I already knew about them. It would be interesting to conduct

similar interviews on the same subject with different people conducting the interview. This

process could check life stories for consistency. If one assumes a life story does change based on

who is conducting the interview. One could imply that these stories and myths change not only as

the subject’s life changes but also as the subject’s community changes. Could a personal myth
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change based on who you are with? Does the myth change based on the situation?

For teachers the idea of a changing, flexible myth is intriguing. This is especially true

when interacting with students who come from a difficult home life. It seems that students who

come from abusive or negligent homes often come to school with a pessimistic view of

themselves and their life stories. In reflecting on my students who come from these difficult

situations, it’s reasonable to believe that the tone of their stories would be predominately tragic.

Perhaps, as teachers we can cultivate a climate where students abandon this pessimistic tone in

school and adopt a more optimistic tone. A tone, in which students can change their lot in life

and look toward a more positive outcome. Earlier this year I met with my daughter’s

Kindergarten teacher. I mentioned to her that I was impressed by my daughter attitude on the first

day. She left school that day singing, “I love school, I love school.” The teacher responded by

asking, “Shouldn’t students always have that attitude, right through college?”. Identifying the

development of a student’s personal myth and helping teachers encourage a positive more

optimistic opinion of school and the future could help students from difficult situations succeed.

Hopefully this would lead these students think about school as a stepping stone to a successful

life rather than just another opportunity to fail. Perhaps teachers should conscientiously cultivate

a more romantic tone about school. Perhaps we could use McAdams’ ideas to craft the school

experience and teachers into positive imageos within the life stories of our students. How or if

this is possible without schools becoming overly manipulative or overstepping their roles in

society needs to be studied more thoroughly. Still, the acknowledgment of life stories and

McAdams’ framework might help some students succeed where they would normally fail.

McAdams’ ideas about life stories and how they change and affect a person’s
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motivation and happiness can be useful to teachers.

Conclusion

McAdams’ framework for collecting and analyzing life stories is fascinating. Using

his ideas and insights can help both teachers and students realize what motivates and inspires us.

The framework can also help teachers identify conflict within their own lives and the lives of

their students. Greater insight into ourselves as teachers and greater insight into the lives of our

students can help teachers become more effective and generate a positive school environment.
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Appendix

Personal Myth:
I. Life Chapters (30-45 mines) page 256
A. 2-3 or 7-8 Chapters
B. Narrative Tone and Imagery
C. Optimistic or Pessimistic
D. Comic, tragic, romantic, and/or ironic forms

II. Eight key events/Nuclear episodes

A. Eight Key Events 257 time and place-Details, thinking and feeling, what it
says about you as a person.
1. Peak- High Point-
2. Nadir- Low Point-
3. Turning Point
4. Earliest Memory-
5. Important Childhood -
6. Important Adult—
7. Other Important Power and Love motivators

III. Significant People

A. 4 total 1 not related. Relationship, impact, hero or heroine.

IV. Future Script

A. Plan and Outline
B. Creative and Make Contributions to others

V. Stresses and Problems

A. Two stresses or conflicts
VI. Personal Ideology
A. God-
B. Religious Belief-
C. How are beliefs different-
D. Religious beliefs changed-
E. Political orientation-
F. Most important value in human living-
G. What else you can say about fundamental beliefs-

VII. Life Theme

A. Theme of life story/revisit
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References

McAdams, D.P. (1993). The stories we live by: Personal myths and the making of the self. New

York: The Guilford Press.