ISP blog post #6

After reading “The Book if Negroes” and analyzing the text with various literary criticisms, I can confidently state that archetypal literary criticism was the most effective in revealing the most within the text.  The archetypal theory brings out the importance of common characters and plot events.  The novel follows Aminata’s entire life journey, beginning in her youth, following her through her decent into the danger of challenges she faces, and finishing off on her death bed once she has finally returned to a comfortable state at the end of her journey.  These major events and the extent of her challenges and how she matured from innocence to experience would be missed if the text were analyzed from a different literary criticism.  For example, if one were to examine the text from a feminist standpoint, what would be revealed from the text would be the mistreatment and expected behavior she received due to her gender.  If we were to focus on what Aminata experienced on the boat to America, the largest challenge she faced was trying to navigate the abusive toubab who were constantly sexually abusing the women.  (74) When analyzing this from an archetypal perspective, what would stand out was what the boat represented.  It was a symbol of her decent into danger and how more hardships were bound to be coming her way at rapid speed.  Archetypal theory allows the reader to predict what is coming next, as other theories focus more on what is happening in the present.

With this said archetypal literary criticism also exposes more about the characters and the roles they play within the novel.  The most commonly known archetypal figures are the wise old man, great mother, the trickster fox, and of course the hero.  As you could have already guessed, these are all seen throughout the novel.  Daddy Moses is the wise old man, Georgia is the great mother, Applebee s the trickster fox and Aminata is the hero.  For example as to how well these characters fit these roles, if you take Applebee and analyze his character from an archetypal point of view you get a deeper understanding of how much of a perfect match he truly is.  Applebee was an antagonist who abused and shamed Aminata on a daily basis when she was his slave.  (160) He went snooping for information and used it to secretly steal Aminata’s son from her.  (184) His devious mind, sneaky traits, and lack of morals make him the trickster fox.  The way he would constantly be surprising Aminata with information she thought he would never know, would foreshadow to another encounter between the two characters/ another appearance later on in the story.  He didn’t get all he wanted out of Aminata so it was no surprise he claimed her again. (306) If the reader was viewing from lets say a response theory, they would more than likely assume Applebee was just being selfish and wanted to cause more hardship for Aminata and go into a more in depth analysis of his character. 

Archetypal for sure reveals more about the plot and characters than any other theory I would create my thesis around the following… “When analyzing “The Book of Negroes” The hero’s quest the main character follows as well as the common characteristics shared throughout the novel, is easily detected through archetypal literary criticism that would be missed if any other literary criticism were to be used.”