Archetypes

What is an archetype?

In an ongoing attempt to explain how one can make any piece of writing more literary, we can next look at archetypes.  What is an archetype?  It is "a character, an action or a situation that seems to represent [...] universal patterns of human nature" (literarydevices.net)  So what does this mean, exactly?  Most people think of an archetype as a general kind of character, place, etc. that can appear across many literary works.  These behave, in many ways, like a literary allusion [like I wrote about in my last blog] not just to one other work but to several other works at once.  It helps your character feel familiar, normal in some ways, to your reader.

Catalyst

Everyone knows about the stranger walking into a town, saving the day, then walking out again. The common name for this is the catalyst.  The character effects change without being changed.  This is a common figure in so many westerns that it's hard to count. But it can also appear in fantasy, science fiction, literary fiction, romance, and in just about any other genre one can name.  Once you notice this character is a catalyst you know what to expect from him.

Archetype vs. Stereotype

It's important to remember, however, that if you rely too much on the archetype without fleshing out the character and making him unique, he remains a stereotype, a cliched gesture at a character who isn't fully fleshed or interesting. There is a fine line between an archetype and a stereotype.  Han Solo could have remained a stereotype but didn't because he became an interesting character with his own needs, desires, and drives.  He plans to walk out, unaffected like a proper catalyst, but then he returns.  He suddenly becomes a different sort of hero.  Our expectations become challenged as the character becomes more than just a cliche.

Clown/Fool

Another archetype is the clown, as in a Shakespearean clown.  This is not to be confused with a buffoon.  A Shakespearean clown is someone who says humorous or whimsical things, but he says them as social commentary.  He seems a fool, but there's a wisdom in his foolishness.  One great example of that is Olaf from Disney's Frozen.  On one hand, he was quite literally born yesterday.  He is a snowman who looks forward to summer because he does not understand he will melt.  However, he also knows more about love than anyone else.  He embodies both wisdom and foolishness.  A buffoon is someone to be mocked and laughed at, someone who is bereft of wisdom and is just foolish such as Jar Jar Binx from The Star Wars saga.  A buffoon is easy to make into a stereotype and hard to make work on any other level.

See Literarydevices.net, also linked to above, for a short list of other archetypes.  The use of archetypes makes your writing seem more grounded in literature, or, by definition, more literary.  Just beware of stereotypes.  Make sure to flesh your archetypes out.  Try using archetypes and see how they work for you.

Literary Allusion

I've been writing about ways to make your writing more literary and more meaningful.  You may wonder what literary allusion is and what it can do for your reader.  Allusion is simply a reference, usually an indirect reference, to another work.  When a story features a woman give a man a piece of fruit in order to tempt him, it's alluding to the Adam and Eve story from the Bible.  When a man romances a woman who is standing on a balcony, it's an allusion to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.   When alluding to another work, it's usually best to pick something that is universally or almost universally known, or the reader will not usually understand the allusion.  Its power will be lost.  Most people are at least familiar with the Bible.  Almost everyone has at least heard of the balcony scene.  

Using allusion allows a writer to draw on the deeper meaning and connotation of the original work of literature.  It's usually best to go back to the source when choosing an allusion, not to allude to an allusion, because then you know what the original context is.  You know what it means when you use it.  If you simply see a balcony scene or the story of a person giving an apple then choose to use that event in your work, you don't know what deeper meanings you're drawing on.  Your allusion could be clunky, confusing, or nonsensical.  Say you want to write about an angel because you saw the story of an angel on a movie or television series.  In reality, you're borrowing someone else's mythology, not making a meaningful allusion.  Let's say, instead, that you want to create a proper allusion to biblical angels.  Then you research angels.  You look up when and how angels appear in the Bible then carefully decide how you're going to allude in a way that brings in all the connotation and meaning of biblical angels.  A reader who is familiar with the Bible understands that meaning.  You have called on the weight of the original source material, and your reader feels it.  Try using literary allusion to deepen your writing.