Writing

Archetypes--Original Patterns and Models


Did you notice in that last unit how just about every short story followed a similar pattern: exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, resolution? Here's the graphic again:



Not only are the parts of stories similar, but the subject of stories we read may be a lot more related than we think.

Here's the idea, when we read a stories about characters on a quest for identity, though the historical context (time and place) and/or cultural setting (race, ethnicity, religion) may vary between the stories, the PATTERN is the same, the character's quest for identity will lead him/her through a series of phases, similar in all stories, beginning with a departure from the surrounding society and ending with a return and reintegration with society. Here's an example:


Wiki Assignment:



NEXT: Language Study: Etymology--Greek and Latin Roots