inside and aprisoner of that emptiness (p. 65). She even dreaded facing Stefanus's death because, even though she never loved him, his death would leave her to face the emptiness of her own life. However, the night of his funeral, she actually experienced a revelation when Marius lit a candle for her after taking her home. The candle gave her the epiphany that her life can be filled with light if only she sheds all of the pretenses of believing in the Christian faith she had grown up to believe in. In shedding all of her pretenses, she found true freedom. Helen began expressing her freedom by filling her house with candles and creating sculptures that members of her church would call heathen, or in Marius's words, "idolatry" (p. 61).

Mecca is considered the holiest city of the Muslims, and Christians consider Muslims to be heathens. Hence, in creating a Mecca and in facing all of her statues towards Mecca, Helen is breaking away from the binds of her oppressive Christian upbringing in a rebellious way that frightens and infuriates her fellow villagers.

Even Elsa recognizes that Helen's Mecca is her expression of freedom. More importantly, she recognizes the village is frightened and jealous of Helen's freedom. Elsa expresses her realization to Marius in the following:

... [S]he did something which small minds and small souls can never forgive ... she dared to be different! Which does make you right about one thing, Dominee. Those statues out there are monsters. And they are that for the simple reason that they express Helen's freedom. Yes, I never thought it was a word you would like. I'm sure it ranks as a cardinal sin in these parts. A free woman! God forgive us! (p. 60-61)

Hence, as we can see, Helen's Mecca represents more than just a spiritual journey because she realized at some point she has no faith. Instead, Helen's Mecca represents newfound freedom from religious oppression and rebellion against such oppression.

Mecca and the concept of taking the road to Mecca are representative of a spiritual journey to Miss Helen.  Miss Helen's yard art and manipulation of light and dark with mirrors within her house is her way of traveling to her Mecca.  She is not taking an actual journey to a city in the middle east.  Mecca is symbolic for her.  It's the end goal of her spiritual travels.  What's a bit odd about her spiritual journey though is that it is not focused on attaining any sort of afterlife.  Miss Helen's goal, her Mecca, is daily spiritual comfort.  She is spiritually comforted by her artistic expressions, and she believes that through them she can keep some kind of spiritual evil away.  

Miss Helen's "Mecca" symbolizes what it is that inspires her and her own independence. She began to create her Mecca when her husband died, some fifteen years prior to the start of the play, when she realized that both her marriage and her church were never what they were supposed to be. She neither loved her husband nor felt inspired by church services.

Miss Helen quickly learned that, as a result of her refusal to adopt the socially appropriate role as a meek, church-going widow, she would be ostracized by her community. When she chose, instead of fulfilling this unsatisfying role, to embrace her new independence, acting on her inspirational visions of animals and wise men, she began to find what truly does make her happy. She created her own place of inspiration and independence, and she, therefore, found a way to reach spiritual fulfillment, much to the confusion and chagrin of her neighbors.

For Helen, Mecca symbolizes her own spirituality, the visible expression of her soul, and the lightening of her dark fears of aloneness and age.

Having been stifled in her marriage, Helen was unhappy and felt as though she were in the dark because she could give no expression to her soul and feel no comfort. But, after her husband dies, Helen finds meaning in her life through her artistic endeavors. But, now that she is older, she tells her friend Elisa,

[It is]the only reason I've got for being alive is my Mecca. Without that I'm nothing...a useless old woman getting on everybody's nerves... and that is exactly what I have started to feel like.

Thus, the image of Mecca represents for Helen the spiritual comfort that arises from color and light and the creative expression of forming something as evidence of one's existence and vitality. Looking to Mecca returns to Helen an interest in life, making her feel productive, and truly vibrant in her acts of creation that are given meaning by standing in her yards.  It is this inner life which nourishes Helen and makes her feel fulfilled and happy. Her sculptures and statues are witnesses to Helen's creativity and soul.

Helen's private Mecca symbolizes the light in the darkness of her lonely and isolated soul; it is the creative expression which gives life to her spirit.

Mecca, of course, is the birthplace of Mohammed. However, as a common noun, mecca has come to denote a center for any activity or interest. For Helen, then, her "road to Mecca" represents the place where her soul can express itself. When the Calvinistic minister, the Reverend Marius Byleveld, suggests that Miss Helen Martins retire to Sunshine old age home, she knows that her going to such a place will extinguish the lights of her creativity and destroy her soul as there she would be forced to dwell within the limits of an acceptable and rigid lifestyle without her lights and sculptures. This limited life she has already known as she was certainly discontent in her marriage to her now deceased husband.

 "I'm alone in the dark," she has written earlier in her letter to Elsa that prompts her friend to drive for eight hours to visit her. While she talks with Elsa before the arrival of Rev. Byleveld, Helen tells her friend, "If my Mecca is finished, Elsa, then so if my life." Further, she explains that her lighted room with mirrors and reflective glass that is a "miracle of light and color" as well as a delight to her friend Elsa, is the reason for her being alive. Without her sculptures and light, Helen feels that she is useless: 

[It is]the only reason I've got for being alive is my Mecca. Without that I'm nothing...a useless old woman getting on everybody's nerves... and that is exactly what I have started to feel like.

Further, during Elsa's visit, Helen tells her friend that when Elsa first came to her house, she revived Helen's life because afterwards, Helen was awake all night with visions of the statues she would create and she was motivated to work until all was finished. The candles and their light also have provided courage for Helen, just as they did when she was a girl and was frightened. 

Described by Elsa as the "first truly free spirit I've ever known," Helen delights in her sculptures that all face the East. "This is my world and I have banished darkness from it," she tells Elsa earlier in their friendship. Later, she informs Elsa that she has had to travel "the road to my Mecca" alone; she would have chosen no other way. For, her personal pilgrimage is the only real purpose her life has held. "If my Mecca is finished, Elsa, then so is my life." Still, she knows that she has been wrong to think that she could always banish darkness with candles and mirrors. For, the inner light for the soul comes with self-expression and fulfillment in life, a fulfillment that is enhanced by the appreciation of others.

After Helen's husband dies unexpectedly, her church community seems to expect her to play the role of the pious little widow who goes to church, mourns her husband, and does not do much else. However, Helen, realizing that she did not love her husband nor find spiritual fulfillment in the church, completely ignores social expectation and convention: she stops going to church. When the inspiration to sculpt comes to her, she follows it, shaping her sculptures, her garden, and her home in the way that feels most satisfying and fulfilling for her. The choices that contribute to Helen making her Mecca, such as choosing not to attend church, alienate her from her community and free her from it at the same time. In choosing to do what inspires her, Helen abandons the community, a community that compelled her to marry when she did not love and expected her conform religiously when the services did not inspire her. Mecca, her sculpture garden, comes to represent her freedom because it is the physical manifestation of her separation from this restrictive community and its expectations.

I want to clarify that Helen's Mecca is not the Islamic holy city located in Saudi Arabia. Helen's elaborate sculpture garden is her Mecca. The sculptures in the garden are her own creation and that is one way she finds freedom in and from her Mecca. She sculpts what she wants to sculpt or feels like sculpting. She has complete artistic freedom to create the figures and the space itself in the way that she wants to create. What's interesting is how Helen's Mecca is also symbolic of her religious freedom. She has each piece in the garden facing east—toward the real Mecca. She's not Islamic, but she is symbolically showing a break from the Christian church in her community. Helen no longer finds spiritual fulfillment from the church. Instead, she finds spiritual and emotional wholeness through her artistic freedom. Her creations are her acts of worship. The sculpture garden is showing religious freedom, as well as artistic freedom, and Elsa does a nice job explaining it to Marius.

Those statues out there are monsters. And they are that for the simple reason that they express Helen's freedom. Yes, I never thought it was a word you would like. I'm sure it ranks as a cardinal sin in these parts. A free woman! God forgive us!