North and

South
American
Archetype
Project
By Hailey, Rashi, Kayla,
and Fatima

Fatima - Overview
For this project, our team looked at
several different archetypes of North
and South America. In literature, an
archetype is a typical character, an
action or a situation that seems to
represent such universal patterns of
human nature. In our research, we
found multiple, interesting, similar,
and contrasting characteristics. The
mythology is primarily related to
tribal nature, agrarian societies,
natural elements, the natives, Earth,
and has a tendency to not be as
sophisticated as other regions. What
follows are the specific archetypes of
North and South America.

Character
Archetypes of
North and
South
America

Kayla - The Sage

The old sage is a wise old woman, or man, who is wise and usually gives
advice and helps out the hero complete his or her quest. Other names for the
sage include professor, wise old man, philosopher or guru.
Examples of the Sage archetyoe in various stories:
Navajo Tribe: In Coyote Kills Giant, the old woman tells Coyote that the giant
is too big and dangerous but Coyote doesnt listen.
Chinook tribe: In The First Ship, there was an old woman who saw a monster
from land and told all the ships men to watch out for it. At first they thought
she was crazy but eventually realize she is right.
Tvwotz tribe: In Story of Tvwotz, the old woman helped the hero conqueror
the son god.
North America: In Aqalax, the sun is a carried by an old woman across the
sky and teaches her daughter about day and night.

Rashi - Hero/Heroine
A hero (masculine or gender-neutral) or heroine (feminine) is a person or main character
of a literary work who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through impressive feats
of ingenuity, bravery or strength, often sacrificing his or her own personal concerns for
some greater good.
Examples of the Hero/Heroine archetype in various stories:
The Great Fisher shows his bravery against a large and dangerous monster to bring back
to end winter and bring back summer to his people also this story created the legend of
the Big Dipper.
The legend of of huitzilopochtli: survived in the forest against the wilderness and brought
food back to his village.
Burnt-Belly: is an orphan hero from Wichita folklore. Like many Plains Indian folk heroes,
he was a poor, dirty orphan boy who was neglected by his tribe and given a disparaging
nickname, but used his powers and his good nature to rise above his humble origins as a
poor man.
Hiawatha is a legendary peace chief of the Iroquois tribes, and one of the founders of the
Iroquois Confederacy who negotiated the first peace between the tribes. nd marry the

Fatima - Great Mother

The archetypal Great Mother can also be known as Mother Nature, Earth goddess, and
Mother/Queen of the gods. The symbols of mother does not only represent our
relationship with her, but also how a mother figure influences our growth.
Examples of the Great Mother archetype in various stories:
Okanagon Tribe: In The Mother of All People, the earth is said to be made out of a
woman and that woman would be the mother of all people.
Estsan Tribe: In Yolkai Estsan, the mother in the story had given life to an image from
white shells which endangered her from the gods.
Haida Tribe: In The Raven Brings The Light, there was a raven who needed to steal
something from a chief. The raven disguised himself as a seed and the chiefs daughter
ate the seed. The woman became pregnant which gave the Raven a disguise to sneak
into the chiefs territory as her baby.
Omaha Tribe: In The Flaming Rock, Wakonda was considered the maker of all things and
gave life to all.

Hailey - The Person in Distress

The person in distress is normally the person who needs rescuing or saving from
danger. The person in distress is normally a female or an animal who needs
rescued. This is normally the person who makes the hero look good and help him
complete his task or quest. Examples of the Person in Distress Archetype in various
stories:
Ongiaras Tribe: In the Maid of the Mist, the widow was about to commit suicide
when Heno, the god of thunder, saved her, and she married his son.
Chippewa tribe: In How the Fly Saved the River, the Fly saved the Fish and the
water in the river from Moose who had tried to drink it all.
Cherokee tribe: In Princess Raven, the princess was being mistreated by the chief so
the raven had her swallow a seed that turned her into a raven as well and they flew
away in love and utter happiness
Aleut tribe: In Origin of Strawberries, a couple was split up causing the man to
become more depressed each day. A God came down and grew a patch of
strawberries (never before seen) and it made her think of her partner that she now

Hailey - Character Archetype

Compare/Contrast
A character archetype is a person, deity, or animal personified with human
characteristics who demonstrates actions that seem to represent universal patterns
of human nature.
Out of my four stories I had discovered that they all have a problem that is causing
them suffering or pain. There is also always a character who was always there to
rescue them regardless of size or shape. What made them different was how they
were all saved and how they all were saved by someone different like it wasn't
always a human or a male, sometimes it was a bird or a bug.

Situational
Archetypes of
North and
South
America

Rashi - The Last Days

The archetypal, The last Days, is about the final days of a journey or life of a
hero / heroine.
Examples of the Last Days archetype in various stories:
In The Great Flood, one of the prophets, a beaver like creature, drowned in a
flood and the other
prophet, a muskrat, brought him back to life.
Iroquois Tribe: In The Great Peacemaker Hiawatha, a Onondaga renowned for his
oratory, helped
him achieve his vision of bringing the tribes together in peace.
Acawai Tribe: The alligator was generally unpopular and was accused of having
stolen the spark. To
try to retrieve the spark, Sigu tore out the animal's tongue, so alligators today
have no tongue to

Fatima - The Journey

In the archetype, The Journey, the hero is usually sent in search of information
or some intellectual
truth.
Examples of The Journey archetype in various stories:
Chippewa Tribe: In Theft of Fire, Nolomis, the hero, ends up going on a journey in
search of
information on why his people had to freeze all winter long.
Cree Tribe: In Who Calls, the man goes in search for his betrothed, along the way
the wind speaks to
him which later haunted him.
Navajo Tribe: In Monster-Slayer and Born of Water Visit the Sun, two sons try to
prove themselves to
their father while also trying to find him.
Papineau Tribe: In Paul Bunyan Plants Corn, Paul and his friends journeyed up the

Hailey - The Task

The task is when the hero must accomplish a feat of some sort (often superhuman) to
reach his ultimate goal. This is the event that helps the hero become accepted and part
of his tribe.
Examples of the task archetype:
Blackfoot tribe-Star boy, his mother was banished from the star land and so was he but
after his mother died he pursued his family by going to where the sun touches the earth
and walking the rays to the star land and meets his family.
Iroquois tribe-The peacemaker and the tree of peace, the peacemaker had the power of
persuasion to make anyone do what he wanted and when war broke out upon his tribe he
used his powers to spread peace upon the land
Chippewa tribe- The underwater tiger, this tiger that let no man pass his island was on
the prowl and as these ladies were trying to pass they got spotted by the tiger and used
their magical oar to hit his tail and chopped his tail off, and as he ran away scared the
girls laughed and brought 6the tail back to town and became rich off of it.

Kayla - Death and Rebirth

The concept of death and rebirth is one that tells stories about origins, or
beginnings, ends and resurrections of life and its organisms.
Examples:
Caddo tribe: In, Coyote and the origin of Death, there was no concept of death and
everyone lived forever. Coyote didnt like this and thought there wasnt enough
room for everyone and they should die. The medicine man built a grass house and
every time someone died he sang a song to bring them to life again. When it was
coyotes turn to go to the house he ended up never returning and coming to life
again. Thus death was born.
Maya: Kukulcan is the supreme god who created resurrection and reincarnation.
Shawnee tribe: In The Ring and the Prairie there was a circle inside of a prairie
that sends people up to the heavens by means of a floating woven basket.
Maya: Cabaguil is a god who assisted in the creation of life and mortals.

Kayla - Situational Archetype

Compare/Contrast
A situational archetype is any type of experience that a hero or
character must go through in order to get from one place in
life to another. I witnessed that in my four different death and
rebirth stories, someone, usually the main character, or
another powerful being, defied the laws of nature and
overcame the concepts of dying and living. In my stories about
death, they all started out with eternal life and death was
created as a consequence for someones actions. In my stories
about life I saw that there were resurrections or creation of
brand new life.

Symbolic
Archetypes of
North and
South
America

Fatima - The Magic Weapon

The archetypal, Magic Weapon, refers to a skilled individual hero's ability to use a piece of
technology in
order to complete a task.
Examples of the Magic Weapon archetype in various stories:
Ecuadorian Tribe: In The Search for the Magic Lake, the prince is kept young by drinking
water from the
magic lake.
Costa Rican Tribe: In Three Magic Oranges, three magic oranges were used to break a spell,
imprison a
witch, and find a prince his future wife.
North American Tribe: In The Magic Feather, the Indian saves himself from being trampled by
bulls with a
magic feather.
North American Tribe: In The Indian Cinderella, the strong wind had been magically
transformed by her

Kayla - The Unhealable Wound

The unhealable wound is an injury, usually to the hero, that remains forever. It is
in many cases a
symbol is victory and success. They wear it with pride to show that no matter
what challenges faced
them, they still overcame those obstacles.
Maya tribe: Xecotcovach is a bird that gouged out the eyes of the first men and
let them blind
forever.
Maya tribe: Tecumbalan was a bird that worked with Xecotovach and broke the
bones and muscles of
the first men.
Aztec: Nanauatzin, an aztec god, burned himself, creating unhealable burn
wounds and eventually

Hailey - Water vs. Desert

The water represents birth or the rebirth of something or someone as where the desert represents
death or destruction of
something or someone. Most stories were based on the origin of earth, wind, and fire, and
everything that has no
explanation for its making.
Examples from the north and south american countries:
Sahaptin tribe-Coyote and the columbia, a stubborn and spoiled prince made a command to cool
himself down, but he
couldn't control and it got out of hand and thus how the columbia river was made.
Aleut tribe-Origin of the winds, this couple wanted a child and when he was created he traveled the
world and discovered
patches in the edges of the world and lifted them, and thus wind was made from what was outside
of the patch.
Aztec tribe-Earth goddess, these two gods said they needed to create earth so the took the earth
goddess and pulled her
apart and used her hair for grass, trees, and flowers. Her skin used for fine grass and small flowers,

Rashi - Light vs. Darkness

Light usually suggests hope, renewal, OR intellectual illumination; darkness implies
the
unknown, ignorance, or despair.
The Badger carries darkness: The Badger had always done bad thing until he meet the
coyote whoed
balanced it out with the goodness/light
Cherokee: two wolves one is evil described as angry,jealous, and envy the other is
good described by his
kindness, humility, and joy
Algonquin tribe: In the legend The wicked cat there are men are bad at coping , and
animals are good at it,
so a man tried mastering magic and conjuring but the master rabbit helped him back
to the right road as a

Rashi - Symbolic Summary

Compare/Contrast
Symbolic archetypes usually appear in pairs because the human mind
tended to think in
terms of opposites rather than make fine distinctions. Like light and
darkness are to
different thing. In The Badger carries darkness it had a good character
(the coyote) and
bad character (the badger) they are two different character with totally
different traits.