Find an example of an archetype in a short story. Explain what the archetype is and the effect that it has on the story.
In the story “Thank You, M’am” by Langston Hughes there are two plot and character archetype. It is the boy and Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. The reason I say that the boy is a character archetype is because there is always a antagonist and he fits in it (basically the bad guy). He tries to steal her pocketbook and fails to do so. And the same thing goes for Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, well not the antagonist thing, she fits in the protagonist section; she’s the good guy basically. Both the boy and Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones go through changes. Like when Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones was younger, she use to be a thief like the boy was when the story first started. But then Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones changed as she grew up. And the boy changed when Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones took him in, in a way adopted him for a day. She treated him like she was his mother and he did not want to lose that little trust she had him. She didn’t ask him about his life or anything; she treated him like he had not done anything to her before she took him to her house. And she gave him money so he could buy the blue suede shoes he wanted. When he left, he wanted to say something else than just thank you, but when he tried he couldn't get it out of his mouth. In conclusion, both characters are a type of plot and character archetype since the beginning to the end of the story.
I agree with your statement made about how they fit into protagonist and an antagonist. I feel something you could have added why that was an archetype, like compared it to another thing that was similar to this short story. I feel this because it was kind of hard to understand what you were getting at in your statement and if you added another example of how your idea tied in together with another example and how the characteristics is repeated I would have understood your idea a little more easier. Otherwise This was a great choice out of the story that is an archetype because there usually is always a protagonist and an antagonist in a story.
I agree with you about both of the archetypes. I only really mentioned Roger's archetype, how he went from the stereotypical antagonist to a good guy. An example we both used for this type of change was Crowley from Supernatural. When Dean changed him from being one of the top demons of hell to being his friend and helping him. The other archetype you talked about was the woman, how she was trying to help the boy and later explained how she was bad like him. I think you did an amazing job explaining both archetypes and how they work together.
I agree with your statement made about how they fit into protagonist and an antagonist. I feel something you could have added why that was an archetype, like compared it to another thing that was similar to this short story. I feel this because it was kind of hard to understand what you were getting at in your statement and if you added another example of how your idea tied in together with another example and how the characteristics is repeated I would have understood your idea a little more easier. Otherwise This was a great choice out of the story that is an archetype because there usually is always a protagonist and an antagonist in a story.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about both of the archetypes. I only really mentioned Roger's archetype, how he went from the stereotypical antagonist to a good guy. An example we both used for this type of change was Crowley from Supernatural. When Dean changed him from being one of the top demons of hell to being his friend and helping him. The other archetype you talked about was the woman, how she was trying to help the boy and later explained how she was bad like him. I think you did an amazing job explaining both archetypes and how they work together.
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