The archetypes in Lullabies for little criminals

So I read this really awesome book that I have talked about in some of my other posts. If you haven’t read them, the book that I am referring to is Lullabies for little criminals by Heather O’Neill. This book is an awesome book that battles many different themes and perspectives. In case you were unaware, this book follows a 12 year old girl, Baby, and her father Jules. Jules is a heroin addict and Baby’s mother died when Baby was a year old. It follows the journey that Baby takes in order to find herself and she battles with some pretty strong subjects. I looked at many different perspectives while reading this novel, but one really stuck out to me. The perspective of Archetypal. This follows the archetypes that many characters follow throughout the novel. In this blog post, I will explore with you some of the archetypes that characters follow throughout the novel.

First, I want to discuss the archetypes that Baby follows throughout the novel. The main archetype that stuck out to me was the innocent youth. Baby is innocent throughout the entire novel. She is stuck in a world where she has to try to become an adult at a very young age. She tries so hard to live up to this standard and almost forgets that she is still a kid. She is still so innocent and naive and has no clue what being an adult really is. Her innocence becomes portrayed greatly when she meets a boy named Xavier. He is the same age as Baby unlike all the other guys she hangs around with. This opens up a whole new world for her and she is able to show her innocent side again. During the novel she says, “It was sweet because it meant that so much good stuff was going to be following. After we held hands, we were girlfriend and boyfriend” (O’Neill 242). Does anyone remember when you were in public school and you and boy thought you liked each other so then you called each other boyfriend and girlfriend? This is that exact scenario. Baby doesn’t have to act like she is more mature because Xavier is the same age as her. Her innocence is exposed through this. We were all innocent at this age thinking that we had a boyfriend. When all we really did was just hangout with them and hug. Baby is still innocent.

Baby is also able to take on the archetype of the Journey. The Journey is what helps a character physically or emotionally find their personality through an experience. Baby faces so many challenges and physical and emotional pain that effects her personality development throughout the book. We all go through times in our lives where we have a change in our personality. Baby develops a change in her personality when she decided to do heroin, “‘You’ve never done heroin, have you?’ Alphonse asked me. The minute Alphonse said those words, my guardian angel started humming and circling around me happily” (285).

Baby’s character is the definition of the innocent youth archetype. However, without reading into archetypes and viewing this novel from a archetypal perspective, I would have never known any of this. I would not have been able to draw this many conclusions about Baby. So to everyone out there who thinks that the book they are reading has different characters. That the characters don’t follow any other characters ideals and ways. Then you are dead wrong. All characters follow a specific path and all characters will follow an archetype. They all fall into a category that proves who they are as a person.

 

Podcasts. Worth it or not?

Many people watch podcasts everyday. They have favourite people who make podcasts daily or weekly like Tyler Oakley. But a lot of people have never been introduced to podcasts or have no interest. Recently I watched a podcast called Serial. The podcast was about a young woman who was investigating a murder case. A teenage boy was convicted of murdering his ex girlfriend. Sounds interesting right? Well it was. For not being overly exposed to podcasts, I did not expect much from this. I expected to probably be slightly bored and not pay attention. However, I found that I really enjoyed it. I think I enjoyed it for the fact that it felt like you were talking to the the investigator personally. I was able to be fully engaged in the podcast and found that everything she said and the story just fully intrigued me.

So the question is, is this a good way to present the story or should it have been done in a different way? I think that for this specific story, it fit perfectly well into a podcast. Some would argue that it would have been done better in a visual form so they could have visualized Adnan and Hayley and Jay and all the other characters. I think that I was able to connect with the characters without having to have the visual. Some people may call me crazy but I would rather listen to it then read it. Yes, yes this may sound crazy and make me sound like I hate reading. No, I don’t hate reading. I actually really enjoy it. But if I am on the go and don’t have time or room to bring a book, a podcast is a great alternative. Yes there are drawbacks like you don’t get familiar with words and lose your attention span and what not. But if you are travelling, it is much easier to bring a device with all your podcasts on it rather than tons of books and papers.

Since watching the Serial podcast, you may wonder what they family would feel like. Their story is being exposed to thousands of people through a podcast that anyone could watch. I think that the victims family probably feels kind of upset about this but also happy. I think they would be upset about it for the fact that everyone now knows what happened and they might not have wanted everything to go so public. However, the parents would have had to consent to the podcast being done on their daughter, and they are also probably happy it has become popular. This way people then become aware of the real possibilities in life and aware of the traumatic experience they went through and their daughter.

So know you have seen my thoughts on podcasts. I think that they are the greatest things ever and that everyone should listen to them. They give great stories and are a great way to pass time. So now I question all of you. Do you think podcasts are worth it or not? Are they taking away education from our youth or are you all for them?