To Kill a Mockingbird
Jada Bolden
March 25, 2013
3a-English9
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird is more than just killing a mockingbird. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is a story about the struggle of one man’s effort to combat racism in the South during the Jim Crow Era. This book is also about Scout’s maturation. Scout is a tomboy who represents efforts to alter her behavior in order to make her more socially accepted. An archetype is an original pattern or model from which all things of the same land are copied or on which they are based. A character archetype is a personality trait of characters that we find in almost every story. Examples of character archetypes are the father, the other, the child, the wise-fool, the maiden, the hero and anti-hero, the deceiver, the scapegoat, the outcast, the temptress, and the best friend. There are many characters in this story, each whom fill a specific role and a specific purpose. One character named Calpurnia fills a very important role in the story; she is the maid for the Finch’s. Because Calpurnia is very stern and she tries her best to save people if they need it she falls into the father and hero archetypes. She also falls into the mother archetype because she is nurturing and comforting at times in the story.
Calpurnia strongly fits the father archetype because she is stern towards the kids. On page 6 and 7 scout says “she was all angels and bones; she was nearsighted; she squinted and her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard. She was always ordering me out the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as well as Jem when she knew he was older, and calling me home when I wasn’t ready to come. Our battles were epic and one-sided. Calpurnia always won, mainly because Atticus always took her side. She had been with us ever since Jem was born, and I felt her tyrannical presence as long as I could remember.” We get the sense that Calpurnia in particular is colored by Scout’s perspective and in her perspective it
March 25, 2013
3a-English9
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird is more than just killing a mockingbird. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is a story about the struggle of one man’s effort to combat racism in the South during the Jim Crow Era. This book is also about Scout’s maturation. Scout is a tomboy who represents efforts to alter her behavior in order to make her more socially accepted. An archetype is an original pattern or model from which all things of the same land are copied or on which they are based. A character archetype is a personality trait of characters that we find in almost every story. Examples of character archetypes are the father, the other, the child, the wise-fool, the maiden, the hero and anti-hero, the deceiver, the scapegoat, the outcast, the temptress, and the best friend. There are many characters in this story, each whom fill a specific role and a specific purpose. One character named Calpurnia fills a very important role in the story; she is the maid for the Finch’s. Because Calpurnia is very stern and she tries her best to save people if they need it she falls into the father and hero archetypes. She also falls into the mother archetype because she is nurturing and comforting at times in the story.
Calpurnia strongly fits the father archetype because she is stern towards the kids. On page 6 and 7 scout says “she was all angels and bones; she was nearsighted; she squinted and her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard. She was always ordering me out the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as well as Jem when she knew he was older, and calling me home when I wasn’t ready to come. Our battles were epic and one-sided. Calpurnia always won, mainly because Atticus always took her side. She had been with us ever since Jem was born, and I felt her tyrannical presence as long as I could remember.” We get the sense that Calpurnia in particular is colored by Scout’s perspective and in her perspective it