The book Arrow of God follows the story of African tribespeople who are dealing with newly inhabiting white settlers. It gives a unique perspective on what the native people of Africa went through, and is told from the native people’s eyes (Achebe). The movie District 9 explores a similar situation in which aliens come from outer space and are treated poorly. While attempting to relocate the alien refugees, a man named Wikus is poisoned and slowly turns into an alien and has to live like the species that he so passionately hates (Blomkamp). Though both stories tell the story of a group of people being discriminated against, they tell the stories in two different ways and perspectives.
Arrow of God has the quest pattern of fiction, which is
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where a “protagonist sets out on a journey with a goal for knowledge or action” (Detrick). Ezuelu is the hero and towards the end of the book, sets out for Captain Winterbottom’s camp, which is his journey. While he is at the camp, Ezuelu has a vision and decides to get revenge on all the people of his village by refusing to let them harvest their yams. District 9 has the Union pattern of fiction. Wikus begins to turn into an alien and tries to fight it, but has no success. He then spends most of the film trying to reunite himself with his human form by consulting the aliens. Unfortunately his attempts are fruitless and he is forever stuck an alien. The archetypes that appear in both Arrow of God and District 9 are those of the hero and the ruler.
According to Carl Jung, the hero is a person who has power and strength, as well as a little too much pride. The hero also goes through immense struggles as they attempt to complete their quest. The ruler is a person who desires control and power over others. This person has leadership skills and looks to create a more prosperous community under any circumstance (Golden). The hero in Arrow of God is Ezuelu, and the hero in District 9 is Wikus. Ezuelu definitely has strength and power. He is the chief priest for his village, making him an important leader. He also is subjected to difficult struggles. Some of these include the death of his son, the journey to Winterbottom’s camp, and dealing with the hostile attitude of his neighbors when his son almost kills a sacred python. Wikus was an executive at the large corporation MNU (Multinational United) and is tasked with overseeing the migration of aliens from one camp to the new one. He has an incredible amount of power, and when he is first dealing with the aliens, he exemplifies the ruler archetype. Wikus and his team treat the aliens poorly, make racist comments about them, and even kill baby aliens during their mission. However, Wikus transforms into the hero archetype when he slowly starts to turn into an alien. He goes through trials and tribulations as he is transforming into the being that he had hated only days
ago. Hedonism is the idea of living a life only focused on gaining pleasure (Moore). This philosophy is very apparent in District 9. The humans are bothered by the aliens moving in right next to them and because it isn’t convenient, they want them to leave. NMU doesn’t care about the alien’s rights or quality of life, and it’s very clear by the way the aliens are treated. The humans don’t want to be bothered by their cosmic brothers so they kick them out. Social Darwinism in philosophy terms is that only the strong ideals, religions, and thought processes will survive. (Bannister) This appears in Arrow of God, and it references religion. By the end of the book, the African people abandon Ezuelu and turn to the Christian’s religion which will allow them to harvest their crops. It is suggested that their original Igbo religion dies out and is replaced with Christianity. This isn’t necessarily because Christianity is better than Igbo, but it clearly shows that when one thing or idea becomes impractical, people change. The movie District 9 most clearly utilizes philosophy and technique to culminate the protagonist’s quest. Unfortunately, Arrow of God is riddled with unclear flashbacks and a plot that includes chapter after chapter of irrelevant action. District 9 shows the struggle a minority group of individuals face as a selfish society tears their families apart. The film’s cinematography and dialogue clearly convey the philosophies, archetypes, and patterns of fiction previously discussed, while Arrow of God leaves the reader in a state of confusion about what was just read.
Every story uses archetypes, including the Odyssey. Since the movie Oh Brother! was based on the Odyssey, they both share and have differences in archetypes. They use the same archetypes in the form of the hero, the temptress, and the fall. These archetypes are used the same and differently in these stories as seen in these examples.
Le Morte d’Arthur and many other stories have many wonderful archetypes in them. The definition of an archetype is a typical character action or situation that seems to represent universal patterns of human nature. This means that things represent things that naturally happen and will still happen. Archetypes play into Le Morte d'Arthur by showing how the character act and react with other characters and objects. In Thomas Malory´s Le Morte d´Arthur he illustrates the three types of archetypes they include character, situational, and symbolic.
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is designed to be read like a fairytale. The novel contains many archetypes of a classic fairytale. These archetypes are brought to life in Starkfield, Massachusetts by the three main characters: Mattie Silver, Ethan Frome, and Zeena Frome. They can be compared to the archetypes of the silvery maiden, the honest woodcutter, and the witch. These comparisons allow the reader to notice similarities between Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome and the classic fairytale Snow White. The character Zeena Frome from Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome, resembles the evil witch from the fairy tale Snow White.
After discovering a God-given talent, a young boy struggles to achieve his only dream; to become the best there ever was. Baseball is all he has ever known, so he prevails through the temptations and situations laid before him by those out to destroy his career. His hopes and dreams outweigh all the temptations along his journey. These hopes, dreams, and temptations are depicted through archetypes in the movie The Natural.
Consistent in literature throughout every era and culture, archetypes represent a recurring image, pattern, or motif mirroring a typical human experience. An idea developed by Carl Jung, archetypes in literature exist as representations reflecting vital perceptions of the human psyche expressing the manner in which individuals experience the world. Using Jung’s concept, writers of all epochs embeds archetypes in structures, characters, and images of their narratives. John Gardner, in his novel Grendel, integrates several of Jung’s archetypes into his epic tale derived from the early story Beowulf. Gardner associates Jung’s personas of the outcast, the shadow, and the mentor-pupil relationship through the identities of Grendel, the narrator of events, and the dragon.
" The hero within: Six archetypes we live by.
Quite often in life we wish for things bigger than ourselves. Seeming to get wrapped up in our own minds we do not pay attention to reality. As reality comes full force we are not sure how to take it, so we let it take us. In the writing “Where are you going, where have you been?” we see Oates craft archetypes and allegories into the work through detail and word choice in order to help the reader understand the shocking outdistancing of day dreams and the overshadowing sockdolager called reality. These archetypes and allegories provide a way for the reader to join Connie in the story, but also to see the danger of what Connie doesn’t see.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s powerful feminist novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” she tells the story of Janie Stark and her journey into becoming a powerful black woman during the time when those words were not spoken together. Hurston uses Janie as an archetype for what we should all aspire to be, because in Hurston’s eyes, and the eyes of many others, Janie is the only character in the novel that gets it right. The thing about Janie that set her apart from everyone else, the reason that she got it right, was not because she was just born that way, but it was because she used all of the trials and hardships in her life to her advantage. She never crumbled or quit, but she continued to move on and use her life experiences to help mold to her
When referring to archaic writing, it is clear to see the recurring archetypes and symbols throughout plots and situations. Understandably, certain patterns involving such motifs have continued through centuries, resulting in various works based around the same monomythic template with slight variations. All the big movie titles we love, Aladdin, Shrek, even, Sharknado contain more than traces of these archetypal patterns, consisting of a hero, a mentor, a dark figure and so on. Prime examples of this archetypal plot structure, with their own unique adaptations, may be found within the two poetic narratives Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Aside from their completely disparate backgrounds and morals, both works include and follow the monomythic journey, as perceived by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, as well as in the secondary works of others who have helped to further our understanding of this analytical method. This generalization, however, is shifted when one dissects further into these two pieces of literature. As in the majority of monomythic quest narratives, the protagonist often practices and displays the characteristics of courage, loyalty, humility
An archetype in literature is defined as a typical example of a certain type of person. A character in a poem or play can be placed into many different archetype categories. Archetypes help a reader to gain a better understanding of who a character in the work is on the inside. This deeper insight into the character allows the reader to follow the flow of the story easier and more effectively. There are many different archetypes that can help to advance the story. One of the most useful in advancing this story is the typical powerful character. Whether it be supernatural or cunningness this character always comes out on top in the situation and holds the most control over others and their actions. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”,
In both instances, innocent people are harmed and abused without proper cause. Another inference to be made details that in each situation both Doro and the white men are referenced as the “enemies” of the text and maintained the attitude that they are capable and therefore permitted to treat people how they wish. As presented in many fictional texts such as Kindred, Wild Seed and The Appropriation of a Culture, “control” or “power” can be deemed the underlying influence to the concept of oppression and unjust treatment of others due to their race or social status. These fictional texts graphically detail the experiences of African Americans and how they came together as a community when facing the inevitable both in slavery and during the Jim Crow era. There are many other texts that describe the improper regulation of control and what can happen when one race or group has too much.
A hero is defined as a person who is admired for courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities. A hero is strong in mind and body, courageous in spirit, and selfless where others are involved. Superman and Beowulf both exhibit these characteristics. The differences between Beowulf and Superman are as obvious as their similarities. Beowulf and Superman share some of the same characteristics.
Heroes, the unordinary beings with extravagant abilities, from powers and competence to skills and talents. Heroes are people who are idealized by society for their courage and individuality. Iconic and well recognized heroes like Hercules, Superman, Spiderman and Achilles are some of the few heroes known around. All heroes have a similarity to each other, for example Beowulf and Batman. While both can be considered great heroes, they differ significantly, yet are similar in other ways.
As a result, both films represent Native Americans from the point of view of non-Native directors. Despite the fact that they made use of the fabricated stereotypes in their illustrations of the indigenous people, their portrayal was revolutionary in its own times. Each of the films adds in their own way a new approach to the representation of indigenous people, their stories unfolding in a different way. These differences make one look at the indigenous not only as one dimensional beings but as multifaceted beings, as Dunbar says, “they are just like us.” This is finally a sense of fairness and respect by the non-native populations to the Native Indians.
The essay “Stranger in the village” by James Baldwin, and “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, share a similarity in their experience in a new environments. Orwell a British officer he was not warmly welcome, the Burmese people hated. As for Baldwin it is more of racism than hated. Both essays happen in unfamiliar places where there were racism and discrimination. They do not fit in with the natives and is judged because of their nationalities. However, the themes of these writing differ.