English

Joyce Carol Oates wrote, “reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.” This quote more or less sums up the sole main purpose of why many people read fiction. The reasons why a reader likes or dislikes a work of fiction may seem to be random, or even shallow, such as its ability to grab attention or keep a reader hooked with on stereotypical drama. However, when a work is actually examined further, deeper levels of understanding can be discovered. There are always conscious decisions made by authors of fiction in order to captivate the reader, in connecting to help them to connect to the characters, being intrigued to create intrigue by the narration itself, and being romanced to romance them by the style of writing. By reacting to these conscious artistic decisions, a reader can decide whether or not they are emotionally pierced or struck by a specific work. One way this attachment is achieved by the author is by creating an archetype, or something that many people can recognize or relate to. This can be in the ‘type’ of fiction the novel or story falls into, or the characteristics one can notice in a stereotypical character type. (Question: Why would an author want to mask real meaning in something that repels reader?) When this recognized archetype is looked at initially, or on a surface level, it can cause a bad negative reaction in the reader. ; Archetypes are very likely to result in a dismissal of the story because the reader feels that they have already ‘been there, read that.’ They are repelled by the work due to its boring nature and repetition. This makes it all the more powerful when an author can use the illusion of archetypes to mask the deeper meaning of a story or depth of a character. When they are looked at in further detail, and examined very more closely, certain illusions of an archetype created intentionally by the author can be very useful. By breaking