Cultural Constraints: The Uses of Archetypes in Like Water for Chocolate, Roofops of Tehran, and Purple Hibiscus Anonymous 12th Grade

Every culture has unique social tradition placed upon their ancestors for many generations. These social constraints force their people to adhere to the same set of boundaries because it is deemed as proper and acceptable. These constraints often make it hard for evolving as a society and create unfair limitations for the young and especially the females in their society. Writers, often forced into the brunt of these constraints, developed a new genre with an end goal to try and encourage political and social change. These writers highlight the huge issues that are deemed unjust or abusive in each society to promote social awareness. Often a predictable formula is used to show every unique aspect of how people can be oppressed by their society. It starts with a perpetrator, the person or people who are doing the harm, then it shows how an individual is victimized by these overbearing authority figures and their failure to rebel, next a character who incites rebellion is introduced to show how change can happen, and lastly a preserver, often the main character, who goes through victimization and rebellion, yet ends up making the greatest difference while preserving the distinctive qualities of their culture. Three writers: Laura...