Mythology and Archetypes in Harper Lees To Kill a...

Mythology and Archetypes in Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird Of all the various approaches to criticism, the Mythological/Archetypal achieves the greatest impact over the entire literary scope, because the themes and patterns unearthed apply universally to all works, yielding results that can be applied to a great many texts. This is because the very nature of the Mythological/Archetypal approach is the exploration of the canon for widespread and pervading symbols, plots, and characters. These are all greatly extant in Harper Lees classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, an extraordinary examination of the Depression-era South through the eyes of a young girl with rare intelligence and insight, living in a small town†¦show more content†¦Through Tom, the legal and social rights of the entire community are called into question. Toms injury, therefore, represents the injury of all the people he epitomizes. These symbols can be illustrated many places elsewhere in the literary canon. For example, the archetypal character of the crippled man symbolizing a crippled society can be perceived in the character of Benjy Compton in William Faulkners tremendously symbolic novel The Sound and the Fury; Benjy, who is severely mentally challenged, has no concept of time and is preyed upon by vulturous members of his world, including his black care-giver and his older brother Jason. Benjy represents Faulkners conception of the decaying Southern gentility; that the sense of time is skewed (with its emphasis on the conservative old ways and the antebellum morality, the South, like Benjy, is living in a mixed world of past and present which is largely responsible for its failure and decline) and that its fate is beyond its control. Harper Lees use of Tom Robinson is very similar: the arm, destroyed by a cotton gin (possibly symbolizing the damaging mechanization of modern society), represen ts the black communities lack of power and strength; however, all is not negative: Tom has aShow MoreRelatedFa Mulan Analysis1692 Words   |  7 Pagesworks of the 20th century, Hero with a Thousand Faces which discusses a concept known as the Hero’s Journey. This analysis of myths and stories puts forward a link that ties literature and art from these civilizations, great and small, together- an archetype of the common hero. One such pretense is the Chinese classic, Mulan. The tale of Fa Mulan’s heroic journey to save her country had been retold for hundreds of years, in countless ballads, poems, and narratives throughout Chinese literature but with