ARCHETYPES

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ARCHETYPES

• by and Don L. F. Nilsen
• and Alleen Pace Nilsen

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ARCHETYPES FROM CHILDRENS LITERATURE
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THE ROMANCE

• The Romance presents an idealized world, the
  black-and-white world of our desires, where good
  things are really good, and bad things are really
  bad.
• The Romance involves the Journey, and the Journey
  involves the Hero, the Villain, the Quest, the
  Sage, the Prohibition, the Sacrifice, the Dragon,
  the Treasure, and sometimes the rescue of the
  Maiden.
• The epiphany (mountain top, tower, island,
  lighthouse, ladder, staircase, Jacks beanstalk,
  Rapunzels hair, Indian rope trick etc.) connects
  Heaven and Earth (Frye 203).

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THE HERO

• In archetypal hero tales, the hero, usually a
  young person identified as having special
  qualities, sets out on a journeyeither real or
  metaphorical.
• The young person does not know what is in store
  and has probably not made a conscious decision to
  embark on the quest.
• Nevertheless, when challenges come, the young
  hero meets and overcomes them, often making some
  kind of a sacrifice in exchange for wisdom. A
  common motif is that help will come from an
  unexpected source, perhaps from an older and
  wiser person or from a supernatural source.

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STAGES OF THE JOURNEY

• The stages of the journey (listed below) can be
  seen in many of the quest stories and can also be
  compared to ones own life.
• The Shadow Archetypes result from hyperbole, from
  developing the heros characteristics to such an
  extreme that they become a negative force as when
  the caregiver turns into the overprotective
  mother or the lover into the jealous controller
  preventing or marring the process of development.

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PREPARATION FOR THE JOURNEY

• INNOCENT
• ARCHETYPE Security, Acceptance,
  Disillusionment, Optimism
• SHADOW ARCHETYPE Denial, Repression, Blame
• ORPHAN
• ARCHETYPE Abandonment, Accepting Help, Against
  Authority
• SHADOW Cynicism, Victimization
• WARRIOR
• ARCHETYPE Fighting for Self, for Others, and
  for Ideals
• SHADOW Ruthlessness, Fighting to Win
• CAREGIVER
• ARCHETYPE Self-Sacrificing, Tough Love,
  Responsibility
• SHADOW Martyrdom, Guilt-Inducer

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THE JOURNEY ITSELF

• SEEKER
• ARCHETYPE Exploration, Experimentation
• SHADOW Perfectionism, Inability to Commit
• DESTROYER
• ARCHETYPE Confusion, Acceptance of Chaos,
  Letting Go
• SHADOW Destructiveness of Self and Others
• LOVER
• ARCHETYPE Following Love, Bonding, Committing
• SHADOW Envy, Fixation, Don Juanism
• CREATOR
• ARCHETYPE Visionary, Creator of Own Environment
• SHADOW Creators of Negative Situations

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THE RETURN FROM THE JOURNEY

• RULER
• ARCHETYPE Responsibility for Self Others,
  Good of Planet
• SHADOW Ogre, Tyrant
• MAGICIAN
• ARCHETYPE Making Dreams Come True
• SHADOW Turning Positives into Negatives
• SAGE
• ARCHETYPE Searching for Truth
• SHADOW Insensitivity, Critical Judgment
• WISE FOOL
• ARCHETYPE Living for Fun, Living in the Moment
• SHADOW Self-Indulgence, Gluttony, Sloth

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STAGE 1

• The Innocent
• The Orphan
• The Warrior
• The Caregiver

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THE INNOCENT

• The Innocent moves from an unquestioning
  acceptance of the environment through
  experiencing disillusionment (fall) to a return
  to Paradise as a wise innocent.
• EXAMPLES Brady Bunch, Forrest Gump, Bambi, Gomez
  Adams, Leo the Late Bloomer, The Little Mermaid,
  Pinocchio

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THE ORPHAN

• The Orphan moves from accepting pain and loss
  through accepting the need for help to becoming
  independent and working with others.
• EXAMPLES Charlie Brown, Cinderella, Dorothy in
  The Wizard of Oz, Huckleberry Finn,
  Frankensteins Monster, Maniac McGee, Oedipus,
  Harry Potter, Peter Rabbit, Dorothy

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THE WARRIOR

• The Warrior moves from fighting and cheating
  simply for the sake of fighting to fighting
  within the rules for others and for what really
  matters on an unselfish level.
• EXAMPLES Batman, Lancelot, Ulysses, Joan of Arc,
  Jo in Little Women, Robin Hood, 3 Musketeers,
  Superman, Darth Vader

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THE CAREGIVER

• The Caregiver moves from overcoming a conflict
  between ones own needs and those of others
  through empowering others (tough love), to a
  willingness to help beyond immediate family (a
  global level).
• EXAMPLES Gepetto in Pinocchio, Holden Caulfield,
  The Giving Tree, Horton, The Jewish Mother,
  Mary Poppins, Pygmalion, Anne Sullivan, Mother
  Theresa,, The Velveteen Rabbit

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STAGE 2

• The Seeker
• The Destroyer
• The Lover
• The Creator

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THE SEEKER

• The seeker moves from wandering aimlessly and
  trying out new things through trying to climb the
  ladder of success to looking for spiritual
  guidance.
• EXAMPLES Goldilocks, Indiana Jones, Don Juan,
  Leo the Late Bloomer, Luke Skywalker, Pinocchio

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THE DESTROYER

• The Destroyer moves from confusion over
  experiencing pain and death of a loved one
  through accepting mortality to letting go of what
  is not important.
• EXAMPLES Beowulf, The Big Bad Wolf, Samson, The
  Terminator, Darth Vader Lord Voldemort,

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THE LOVER OR FRIEND

• The lover, friend, or sidekick is incomplete
  without the other lover, friend, or sidekick.
• SHADOW EXAMPLES Bathsheba, Delilah, Don Juan,
  Don Giovani, Byrons Don Juan, Cassanova

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LOVERS, FRIENDS OR DOPPELGANGERS
Annie and Daddy Warbucks Batman and Robin Mark Anthony and Cleopatra Robinson Crusoe and Friday Hansel and Gretel Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde Othello, Iago, and Desdemona Peter and the Wolf Don Quixote and Sancho Panza Romeo and Juliet Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Tweedledum and Tweedledee
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THE CREATOR

• The Creator moves from daydreaming and imagining
  through knowing what is really important to
  allowing dreams to come true.
• EXAMPLES Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams,
  Frederick, The Purple Crayon

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STAGE 3

• The Ruler
• The Magician
• The Sage
• The Wise Fool

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THE RULER

• The Ruler moves from taking responsibility for
  oneself through working with ones own group or
  commnity to concern for society or the planet.
• EXAMPLES Aslan, King Arthur, Max in Where the
  Wild Things Are, Jupiter, Obi Wan Kenobee, The
  Lion King, Woden, Zeus

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THE MAGICIAN

• The Magician moves from healing and noticing
  extrasensory experiences through acting on
  visions to connecting everything with everything
  else establishing mental, emotional, and
  spiritual connections.
• EXAMPLES Abuela, Gandalf, Genie, Hermione,
  Merlin, Mary Poppins, Harry Potter, Samantha in
  Bewitched, The three Witches in Macbeth, The
  Wizard of Oz

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THE SAGE

• The Sage moves from searching for the truth
  through skepticism to an understanding of the
  complexity of truth.
• EXAMPLES the professor in Gilligans Island,
  Jimminy Cricket, Dumbledore,The Fairy Godmother,
  Galdalf, Luke Skywalker, Yoda

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THE WISE FOOL/TRICKSTER

• The Wise Fool moves from treating life as a game
  through using cleverness to trick others to
  living life one day at a time and enjoying each
  special moment.
• EXAMPLES Anansi the Spider, The Cat in the Hat,
  Coyote, Ferdinand, Forest Gump, The Hare in the
  Tortoise and Hare Race, Huckleberry Finn, Raven,
  Tom Sawyer, Sawyer on Lost, Schererazade, The
  Wizard of Oz

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ARCHETYPE RELATIONSHIPS

• Creator and Destroyer
• Eiron and Alazon
• Fool and Wise Fool
• Hero and Anti-Hero
• Innocent and Orphan
• Junex and Senex in Comedy of Manners
• Sage and Magician

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IDENTIFY THE ARCHETYPES

• In the following slides, place the examples into
  various archetypes, and explain what evidence you
  used to make your choices.

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MALE EXAMPLES

• Woody Allen
• King Arthur
• Aslan in The Lion, the Witch the Wardrobe
• Charlie Chaplin
• Jesus Christ
• Falstaff
• Gandolf in Lord of the Rings
• Obi Wan Kenobi
• Radar OReilly on MASH
• Samuel Pickwick
• The Wizard of Oz

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FEMALE EXAMPLES

• Alice in Wonderland
• Edith Bunker
• Cinderella
• Cleopatra
• Hera or Juno
• Joan of Arc
• Moll Flanders
• Nora in The Dolls House
• Three Witches in Macbeth
• Tinkerbell in Peter Pan
• Virgin Mary and Queen Elizabeth

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!CHILD EXAMPLES

• David Copperfield
• Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz
• Huckleberry Finn
• Little Red Riding Hood
• Peter Pan
• Pinocchio
• Tiny Tim
• Tom Thumb
• Winnie the Pooh

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!!SHADOW EXAMPLES

• Bartleby the Scrivner (Melville)
• Captain Ahab in Moby Dick
• Dr. Frankenstein
• Don Juan in Byrons Don Juan
• Willie Loman in Death of a Salesman
• Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis
• The Joker in Batman
• Nurse Ratchet in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
• Oedipus
• Lord Voldemort

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!!!Web Sites

• Arizona English Teachers Association
• http//www.asu.edu/aeta/
• Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen.
  Encyclopedia of 20th Century American Humor.
  Westport, CT Greenwood, 2000 http//www.greenwoo
  d.com/catalog/OXHUMOR.aspx
• Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen. Names
  and Naming in Young Adult Literature. Lanham, MD
  Scarecrow Press, 2007 http//www.scarecrowpress.c
  om/
• YA-Lit Web Quests, Jim BlasingameWeb Master
  http//www.asu.edu/clas/english/englished/yalit/we
  bquest.htm

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• References
• Campbell, Joseph. The Portable Jung. New York,
  NY Penguin, 1971.
• Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism Four
  Essays. Princeton, NJ Princeton University
  Press, 1957.
• Jung, Carl G. Four Archetypes Mother, Rebirth,
  Spirit, Trickster. Princeton, NJ Princeton
  University Press, 1959.
• Nilsen, Alleen Pace Nilsen, and Don L. F. Nilsen.
  Encyclopedia of 20th Century American Humor.
  Westport, CT Greenwood Press, 2000.
• Pearson, Carol S. Awakening the Heroes Within
  Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and
  Transform Our World. San Francisco, CAP Harper,
  1991.
• Pollack, Rachel. Complete Illustrated Guide to
  Tarot. New York, NY Gramercy Books, 1999.