Thesis: In Harper Lee’s stunning narrative the Shadow archetype is represented by varying characters and symbols including the social construct of Boo Radley, the harbinger mad dog Tim Johnson, and the Maycomb mob that threatens the Finch family.
Introductory Paragraph: The Shadow archetype
(Jung)
· “The face we never show to the world because we cover it with the persona, the mask of the actor. But the mirror lies behind the mask and shows the true face” (Jung 20).
Main Point One: The Shadow archetype is represented by the social construct of Boo Radley.
(Lee)
· “People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy crimes committed in Maycomb were his work” (9).
· “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were blood-stained – if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (14).
· The children’s Radley Game (43 - 44).
· Boo described as a “shadow” when the children sneak to the Radley house in the night (60 – 61).
(Felty)
· “The first of these people, Boo Radley, the Finches’ reclusive neighbor, develops from a ‘malevolent phantom’ who dominates the children’s imaginations to a misunderstood man who saves Scout’s and Jem’s lives.”
· “Boo Radley is a compelling enigma and source of adventure for the children, but he also represents Scout’s most personal lesson in judging others based upon surface appearance. In their attempts to see and communicate with Boo, the children enact in miniature their overall objective in the novel: to try to comprehend a world that defies easy, rational explanation. At first, Boo represents the mysterious, the unfathomable, which to the children is necessarily malevolent.”
· “ They cannot understand why he would remain shut away, so he must be terrifying and evil. They ascribe nightmarish qualities to him that both scare them and stimulate their imaginations. In Jem’s “reasonable” description of him, Boo is “six-and-a-half feet tall,” dines on raw squirrels and cats, bears a “long jagged scar” on his face, has “yellow and rotten” teeth and “popped” eyes, and drools. He is, in essence, a monster who has lost all traces of his former humanity. And by never appearing to them, Boo always plays the part the children assign him: the silent, lurking antagonist.”
Main Point Two: The Shadow archetype is represented by the harbinger mad dog Tim Johnson.
(Lee)
· “Nothing is more deadly than a deserted, waiting street. The trees were still, the mockingbirds were silent” (108).
· “Tim Johnson was advancing…he seemed dedicated to one course and motivated by an invisible force that was inching him toward us….he was being pulled gradually toward us” (108 – 109).
· “Don’t you go near that dog, you understand? Don’t go near him, he’s just as dangerous dead as alive” (111).
(Smykowski)
· “…the shooting of the rabid dog by Atticus was, indeed, greatly illustrative. Here the rabid dog, Tim Johnson, represents prejudice, and how, like a rabid dog, it spreads its disease throughout the South.”
· “Atticus Finch is seen as the hero, the avenger, as he kills racism and prejudice, not allowing it to spread itself any further. Realistically, Atticus was unable to dig out the deeply rooted prejudice of Maycomb County.”
Main Point Three: The Shadow archetype is represented by the Maycomb Mob.
(Lee)
· “In ones and twos, men got out of the cars. Shadows became substance as light revealed solid shapes…The men hid from view” (171).
· “Its owner was a shadow” (172).
· “‘You know what we want,’ another man said. ‘Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch’” (172).
(Kasper)
· “In the context of To Kill a Mockingbird, the townspeople and the jury are convinced Tom Robinson is guilty of raping a white girl simply because of their prejudiced view of black Americans. In the time period of the book, the early 1930s, the American south was riddled with racism. It was unacceptable for a black man to come anywhere near a white woman. If accused of the rape of a white woman, a black man was often lynched.”
(Felty)
· “We see the town of Maycomb in its worst light, willing to execute an innocent man for a crime he did not commit rather than question their belief in black inferiority and their social taboos about interracial relationships.”
Conclusion Paragraph: The Shadow archetype
(Dave)
· “She unfolds the wide panorama of Maycomb life in such a way that we, the readers, too, get transported in that world within world and watch helplessly, though not quite hopelessly, the bleak shadows of the adult world darkening the children's dream world.”
Works Cited
Dave, R. A. "'To Kill a Mockingbird': Harper Lee's Tragic Vision." Indian Studies in American Fiction. Ed. M. K. Naik, S. Mokashi-Punekar, and S. K. Desai The Macmillan Company of India Limited, 1974. 311-323. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz and Cathy Falk. Vol. 60. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990. 311-323. Literature Resources from Gale. Gale. ALLEN HIGH SCHOOL. 26 Oct. 2009 http://go.galegroup.com.
Felty, Darren. "An overview of To Kill a Mockingbird." Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, Literature Resources from Gale. Gale. ALLEN HIGH SCHOOL. 21 Oct. 2009 http://go.galegroup.com.
Jung, C. G.. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. 2nd ed. New York: Princeton University Press, 1959. Print.
Kasper, Annie. "General semantics in To Kill a Mockingbird." ETC.: A Review of General Semantics. 63.3 (July 2006): p272. Literature Resources from Gale. Gale. ALLEN HIGH SCHOOL. 26 Oct. 2009 http://go.galegroup.com.
Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. New York: Harper, 1960. Print
Smykowski, Adam. "Symbolism and Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird." Readings on "To Kill a Mockingbird". Ed. Terry O'Neill San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press, 2000. 52-56. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 194. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 52-56. Literature Resources from Gale. Gale. ALLEN HIGH SCHOOL. 27 Oct. 2009 http://go.galegroup.com .