Literary Archetypes in The Outsiders
The Confidant - Someone in whom the central character confides, thus revealing
the main character’s personality, thoughts, and intentions.
The Foil - A character who is used to develop another character through
contrasting actions.
The Sidekick - A person who provides companionship and advice to the main
character.
The Underdog - A character who is always in the wrong place at the wrong time,
but who usually wins something of value in the end.
The Reluctant Hero - An ordinary person thrust into extraordinary
circumstances which require him/her to rise to heroism.
The Hotshot – A character known for taking more risks, actions and pain than
the other characters in the story. The Hotshot is not always the main hero or
protagonist of the story. He/she is also not always the leader of the team.
Frequent characteristics of the hotshot character includes some level of
arrogance, abrasive manners, aggressiveness, a tendency to prefer to be alone
even to the point of working alone, and sometimes an inability to work with
his/her teammates.
The Tragic Hero - A literary character who makes a judgment error that
inevitably leads to his/her own destruction.
The Peace Maker or Mediator - A character who works to bring two opposing
sides or people together.
The Scape Goat - A character who always gets blamed for everything whether
he/she did it or not.
The Trickster - A smart aleck or jokester, a character who plays tricks or pranks
for attention and otherwise disobeys normal rules and norms.
Literature Circle #2
Literary Archetypes Hype
Directions: Using the information you have collected in your spiral notes about
the characters of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, identify one character or group that
fits each archetype and provide at least one piece of text evidence with page
number(s) to support your answer. Record your responses in your spiral
notebook.
Don’t forget to write in complete sentences, and write the heading for this
activity in your spiral notebook. Make sure you add this entry to your table of
contents with the page number(s)!
Some characters/groups might fit in more than one archetype, so make sure you
provide at least one unique character/group for each archetype.
The Confidant
The Foil
The Sidekick
The Underdog
The Reluctant Hero
The Hotshot
The Tragic Hero
The Peace Maker or Mediator
The Scape Goat
The Trickster