A Myth And Archetypal Analysis Of Louise Erdrich's The Round House

Louise Erdrich is the contemporary Indian female writer.She is the representative of the second wave of the Native American Renaissance.Most of her works portray the history and modern life of American Indians and reveal the social picture of multiculturalism.Like most of her works,The Round House represents the Indians? life and their situations on reservation,which won the National Book Award for fiction in 2012.Sunday Express comments,“Detailed and nuanced,it is Erdrich?s portrayal of the Native American reservation that makes The Round House stand out as a work of literary fiction.”(2012)Approached from Northrop Frye?s myth and archetypal theory,the thesis is to analyze archetypal characters,themes and narratives in The Round House based on Frye?s research on the classical mythology and the Holy Bible.The Thesis is to answer two research questions: What archetypes can be found? And how are they presented in The Round House? Chapters One to Three mainly analyze the archetypal characters of Orestes,Iphigenia and Eve,the archetypal themes of good and evil,sin and redemption,death and rebirth,and the archetypal narratives,that is U-shaped narrative structure.Through an analysis of archetypes in the text,the thesis proves that The Round House is an archetypal novel,which verifies Frye?s “stand back” viewpoint on literature.The recurrence of similar characters,themes,narratives and etc.in western literature proves writers? psychological similarities and reflects the unconscious influence of classical mythology and the Holy Bible.And The Round House is such an example.Meanwhile,it is expected that people can pay attention to the Indians? situation,especially Indian women?s life.