Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Archetype


Today we reviewed archetypes and the five stages of grief. Some points to remember: we look at archetypes as a form of literary analysis; they are universal patterns that are copied and are primordial; they were identified by Carl Jung and exist in the collective unconscious. We have broken them into two categories, character and symbol/situation and we looked at five archetypes in each category.

The most common archetypes in the texts we’ve read were hero, quest, task and water. Try to attach these archetypes to plot events.

We also reviewed Kubler-Ross’ 5 Stages of Grief. The must be put in order: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. The clearest example of these stages is found in Gilgamesh, after Enkidu’s death. Gilgamesh is driven to a quest for immortality, but he fails. The message is that his failure teaches him to accept his fate, and he turns for a selfish brute to the wise king that inspired the epic.

Homework: finish “A Jury of Her Peers” and complete the character and plot event tasks. Also, study for the quiz on genre and archetype.

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