Blog Post #5- Character Archetypes

I'm reading the book A City out of Sight- Ivan Southall and the character I chose, whom I've met through reading this book would be Carol. So, for this to make a bit more sense I'll explain what's going on in my book. This book is similar to Lord Of the Flies, in this book children are flying on a plane that crashes on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. These children must work together in order to all survive until help comes.

I think the archetype that Carol is most like is probably the hero. The hero of the story isn't always the bravest or most noble but shows self-sacrifice. The hero is the one who will leave the group in order to help save them all; the hero also goes through tons of obstacles along the way.

" Carol reeled away from it, away from the milling ants, drenched in sweat, gulping for air, every blood vessel in her body seemingly at bursting point.
'Oh my goodness.'
She brushed at the ants, crushed them with the flat of her hands, shuddering from the prickling and the crawling and the persistent stinging of them.
'I've got to get out of here.'
She rushed at the pig and dragged it into the clear, away from the ants, away from the wreck of the tree. Crawling with ants, the pig. She dragged it different ways, by different legs, rolled it from side to side, kept moving it farther from the tree, dragging it, skidding it, hoping to scrape the ants off. "
(Ivan Southall, A City out of Sight pg# 59-60)


Carol is most like the hero because she is the one who strays from the group to salvage food; in this case she killed a wild pig. This creates a huge impact on the group because, without her salvaging for food they wouldn't have food for them to eat leaving them to starve. I thought this direct quote from the book best describes why I think Carol is most like the hero. She risked her life to kill this wild pig, and now has to drag it all the way back to their camp. Carol definitely shows heroic qualities because before if her mother caught her doing things only a male would do she'd be in huge trouble. Carol enjoyed the feeling of being able to accomplish something she didn't think she could do. Along the way she's learning to grow, and also acquires new wisdoms.