Archetypes in "The Grave"

Isabel Kitchen

The Grave (Possible Archetypes)

            In this short story one of the main characters, Miranda, describes herself as a tom-boy. She is wearing her summer outfit, which consists of overalls and a man’s hat. Miranda goes on to explain that the people on the countryside think of this as bad behavior for girls should always be feminine. Earlier in the story we learn that Miranda was raised by her father, being that her mother was absent. This made me recall the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird”. In this book Scout is a little girl who is also a tom-boy and whose mother was no present in her life. Could families that are missing a “mother-figure” be an archetype for daughters that are not able to be feminine? In our society we tend to be more comfortable with a mother raising her children instead of a father; we may also believe that when girls only have a “male-figure” to look up to they grow up having male-like qualities. Both in “The Grave” and in “To Kill a Mockingbird” the girls are looked down on by society because of their masculinity. Personally, I would always assume that a girl who has only had the example of a male growing up would be a tougher person. , One reason being that she was forced to accommodate her life without a mother, an experience that is painful and would make anyone stronger.

Communication - by Melanie N

In English class we've been working on this teamwork issues pyramid (I'm sure it's got a name, but I definitely haven't got it written in my composition book for whatever reason). The bottom level begins with Absence of Trust and moves up to Fear of Conflict then on to Lack of Commitment. Each of the levels branches out into different issues that arise due to the central problems. One of the things I personally am noticing, though, is that the biggest central issue of all - the one that would cause all of the above problems - is lack of communication. It may be just personal opinion, but this a conclusion I have reached.
I am starting to realize more and more that people don't communicate. It's not that they can't, it's that they choose not to. Assumptions are made, arguments begin, fights occur, trust is lost, and things ultimately end badly. That's not how it should be. There's no discussion involved, and unfortunately, that's how most of society goes. The problem? No resolution comes from that. THE FIGHT never ends. This is the extremely disturbing part: we never FIX anything at all, because we refuse to communicate.

It happens all the time: between husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, brother and sister. Between classmates and teammates. Between "gangstaz" and "thugz" and all the "tough" guys and girls. People rarely talk about the real issue. That's why the fight in my first period class happened, and it resulted in in a suspended boy and bloodied arms. That's why some families have feuds and stop talking to each other. It's why things are so dramatic when relationships don't work out. I hate the fact that our fear of conflict, fear of talking things through, creates more problems than it avoids. I think that's why I like speech & debate, because it rarely escalates to stupidity in that sense; it's discussion and communication and LOGIC (usually...). You'd think that we who spend so much time arguing for competition would have the biggest problems, but I personally think that my ability to communicate and resolve conflicts has been significantly increased. I am grateful for that.

I think that the first thing to be dealt with is communication. As long as we can handle that, my team will be successful. As long as we talk and act rationally and calmly, I firmly believe we will never have to even worry about the pyramid of team-related issues. I believe the next step would be to get the rest of society to understand the simplicity of communication. Plus, it makes life so much easier.