Archetype Analysis in The Catcher in The Rye and Cool Hand Luke

Archetype Feature Analysis Timed Essay Archetypes were first described by Carl Young because he saw similarities between pieces of literature. There are several archetypes in most stories and many stories may have some of the same archetypes. This is evidently true in the movie Cool Hand Luke and also in the book “The Catcher in the Rye”. Luke, in Cool Hand Luke, and Holden, in The Catcher in the Rye, exhibit similar archetypal features such as the Christ-Figure, the Anti-hero and their experience of the road of trails. Luke and Holden can both be compared to the Archetype “Christ-Figure” because of their characteristics. First of all, neither Luke nor Holden had a strong father figure in their life. The audience learns that Luke’s father left when he was very young, during his interaction with his mother. Holden, on the other hand did not have a good relationship with his father because his father was “a big-shot phony” who was only disappointed with his son because he kept flunking out of school. Both Holden and Luke had some type of follower or disciple. Holden’s “follower”, even if he didn’t realize it, was Phoebe. Phoebe found a friend in Holden and always wanted to emulate him. The perfect example of Phoebe attempting to follow Holden was when Holden attempted to run away and Phoebe tried her best to go with him. She had her suitcase packed and ready to go when she met up with him for what he thought was saying goodbye. Luke also had followers of his own. Luke’s followers consisted of the prisoners, including Dragline. Luke habitually tries to run away from prison and is always caught. Luke teaches the prisoners to keep fighting even when you know you have lost the fight. The prisoners use this motto when they are working on the side of the road and they decide to increase their pace so that they will get done faster. Also, at the end of the movie, Dragline throws a punch at one of the officers after they have both been captured. This