Analysis Of An Archetype Of The Caregiver
Archetypes are cultural patterns that define specific ways of being in the world. They're stereotypes are so ingrained in pop culture that as soon as a specific character walks in the scene, everyone knows exactly how they will respond. The caregiver has been developed into an iconic presence that provides relief and safety on people, even outside of its book cover. And it is entirely true that we can simultaneously learn incredible life lessons by integrating and embodying some of these patterns from the caregiver into our daily lives. Archetypes have been used throughout history in myths and fairy tales to teach children and societies useful tools for living our lives. They help us get up in the morning when we might otherwise give up hope. They help us how to survive, how to think and how to intend appropriately to get through specific situations.
There are many archetypes to make use of, and unless we use them deliberately and then let them go, they tend to take on a life of their own. For example, James Bond never gives up. He always looks for the next opportunity and he acts decisively without much deliberation and without looking back. Act first, philosophize later; A caregiver who is inspired by this archetype attacks every problem as if on a battlefield. But the downside of a James Bond caregiver is a false sense of invulnerability and a tendency to try to power over all obstacles when in certain circumstances a sense of humility, loving touch and a hug might serve the situation a lot better, at least over the long haul. James Bond doesn't hang in with his relationships for long. Choose at will, or don't choose at all, but understand that it is important to become aware of what archetypal patterns operate in our lives so we can use them wisely rather than let them secretly run the show.
A perfect caregiver is in my personal reading book The Shining, she is so selfless and courageous that she self-sacrifices her own physical state for the sake of her family. Wendy is a brave, ballsy woman whose heroics help save her son, herself, and Dick Halloran. She suffers three broken ribs, a busted upper calf, a scraped ear, a shattered vertebrae, and internal injuries. This is not implying that for someone to be a good caregiver in a story or in real life, they have to be extremely committed to the point where risking your life doesn't matter anymore. What it exemplifies is that the caregiver that truly cares about his companions would not hesitate on giving up something minor for a much greater outcome. It is unfortunate that as much as the caregiver cares for people, Wendy's heroic acts would only be done if the caregiver has a very deep relation with the person he/she cares about. Sometimes we need to have a James Bond at our side so we can do what needs to be done and walk away. Icons like the caregiver have a particular way of being in this world, sometimes they're appearances or behavior, but more often their emotional point of view or rational take on their role that pass through their experience and defines what they will do, why they will do it, and how they feel when they don't accomplish what they desire. The caregiver gets rapidly disappointed after their archetypal dreams are smashed. 'I thought I could do it all!' says one caregiver.
These type of behaviors have come up in the graphic novel I have read called Take What You Can Carry, in the story Ken Himitsu is one of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans forced to move to makeshift relocation camps for months after the Pearl Harbor incident. During his experience there Ken stumbles toward a state of patience when he meets an old man that carves wooden sculptures for fun. Guards confiscate the old man's carving tools and here is where the caregiver mindset comes in, Ken starts feeling this urge to find the tools and bring them back, even the old man warns him not to risk it but he does either ways. This trigger is the person tapping into the power of archetypal patterns. They keep us bound up in the story we're reenacting, a fairy tale that gives us motive to do what the story tells us needs to be done.
Great things have been done in the name of the caregiver, while they hold us back, keeping us going in the direction the archetype dictates while denying what anyone else's take on the situation is correct. We use these stories to justify that never needed to be done or to harm ourselves accidentally in the name of what is good or right. They blind us from the present moment. And yet they heal us too.
