Archetype of the Mother Figure in Literature - Essay Sample

An archetype is a character that is mostly used in literature to show a typical character, situation or an action that which helps in the representation of the universal patterns of human nature. In other ways, an archetype is known as a character, a symbol, a setting or a theme that authors use to represent a certain situation in the society and to teach the audience a moral lesson. In this manner, archetypes are mostly employed in literature in various ways and this is appar4ent in the way critics use them in literary pieces. There is the need for the population to appreciate the use of archetypes and acknowledge their role in the society with the view of improving the understanding of the audience about the themes of the literary works. Literary critics hold the opinion that archetypes, who have a common and recurring representation in a particular human culture or the entire human race, help in the shaping of the structure and function of a literary work.

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There are various types kinds of archetypes used in literature and one of them is The Mother Figure. In the discussion of the mother figure, there are some literature that show The Mother Figure as a loving and caring person who has an unconditional love to her family especially her children. In this manner, the mother figure can be presented to the audience as a person who suffers to see to it that her children are taken care of. When the mother figure is presented in this manner, she works herself to exhaustion to ensure that her children get the basic needs despite the fact that they might be facing financial challenges in the house. The mother figure is able to sacrifice her needs and suffers on behalf of the children by working extra hard to provide food for the children. When the mother figure is presented in this manner, she is, in most cases, presented as a widow whereby despite her facing financial challenges, there are external challenges that pose additional threat challenges to her welfare and to that of her children.

The second way in which the mother figure can be presented is as a guide and a law enforcement figure to the children to ensure that the children grow up as law abiding and respectful people. In this way the mother figure is presented as a person who provides guidance and direction to her children to instill virtues in them to ensure that they develop the right behaviors for them to have proper interpersonal relations with others in the society. When the mother figure is presented in this way, she makes extra efforts to contact seek spiritual nourishment from other people to ensure that her children develop in the right manner and that they develop spiritually, and that they are conform to the religious teaching. In this manner, the mother figure is presented as a disciplinarian who is ready to discipline her children through the use of the right force. She is therefore loved and respected at the same time and shows general compassion to her children.

The final way in which a mother figure can be shown is through an educative mother who puts the greatest focus on the role of education in the lives of her children. In this way, the mother figure is focused on ensuring that her children get the best education and takes concerted efforts to ensure that her children succeed in education. a mother figure show is presented as educative engages in issue related to education of her children and ensures that her children understand the role of education on the lives. In literary works, an education-oriented mother figure is a mentor on the children as she takes most of her time encouraging them to use education as a ladder for achieving better lives. In most cases, this kind of mother figure is poverty stricken and languishes in poverty with her children, and is, in most cases, a widow or divorced, thereby has to raise the children single-handedly despite her poor financial status.

The various ways in which the mother figure is presented aims at putting forward certain ideas on the audience and seeks to ensure that the main themes of the author reach the audience and that the same serves as a lesson to the society. Authors use archetypes in various ways to benefits the population, and there is the need for the audience to appreciate skills that authors employ in giving archetypes various traits in the process of putting forward various thoughts and ideas. Archetype represent the collective unconscious of mankind and tells of what happens in the minds of the human beings through the use of literary skills. In this manner, the development of archetypes follows a vast degree of research to tell of issues happening in the society in a euphemism manner. Archetypes are mostly used to teach the population, to entertain, the education and sensitize the society about issues taking place thereof.