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

Othello, Iago, and Desdemona Peter and the Wolf Don Quixote and Sancho Panza Romeo and Juliet

Robinson Crusoe and Friday

Hansel and Gretel

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde

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 M*A*S*H 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.greenwood.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.com/ YA-Lit Web Quests, Jim BlasingameWeb Master: http://www.asu.edu/clas/english/englished/yalit/webquest.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.
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