I Really Need To Do More Studying And Write An Essay On How Americanism Is A Genuine Folk Religion Which

I really need to do more studying and write an essay on how Americanism is a genuine folk religion which reveres capital and the vague concept of "the free market" as a god of providence to be pleased in order to lead a prosperous life, also that the founding fathers are prophetic, perhaps even messianic figures who basically gave birth to this god through the revolutionary war, and that the vast majority of conservative Christians in America revere capital more than the god they claim to serve in an ironic sort of golden calf situation.

Today I learned

Sure it would be nice if Orpheus didn't turn around, but that isn't actually the triumphant ending of Hadestown. The Orpheus who doesn't turn around has not changed, is still the trusting and naive boy he was at the top of the show, unable to imagine anyone would wrong him on purpose. What we want, what the narrative demands for this to be satisfying, is for Eurydice not to turn around. The jaded, scrappy, all I've ever known is how to hold my own Eurydice, who knows exactly how cruel the world is, and chooses to trust her lover anyways. That would be the hero's journey, that would be the positive character arc, and that would be the happy ending.

But Hadestown is a tragedy. So that doesn't happen. Orpheus is asked to walk out of hell. At the top of the show it never would have occurred to him that Eurydice wasn't right behind him, but that view of the world has not survived the trip to the underworld. His goodness and his gift of seeing beauty are eroded by the abject horror of the world he lives in. It's a tragedy because Eurydice, who has no reason to trust anyone, who should be selfish, who probably wouldn't have been with him at the beginning of the show, runs after him with open arms. And he still turns around.