The Eternal Child Analysis

Zack’s journey from fun child to irresponsible adult is shown superbly using the archetype of The Eternal Child. This is a literary archetype which either has a positive, negative, or indifferent aspect. The positive being determination of youth, the negative being an inability to grow up and accept responsibility, and the indifferent being immaturity. In this case, Zack fulfills the needs of the negative aspect through his inability to grow up and embrace responsibility that comes with adulthood. Firstly, Zack satisfies this archetype due to the fact that he cannot hold a job and consequently leeches off his parents money. Although Zack started the story as an intelligent, popular kid, he does not utilize his skills anywhere and ends up taking from his parents. This is shown by him living at his parents house up until he was given an ultimatum. His irresponsible money grubbing through his parents wallets also shows his inability to grow up and get his own job. His father’s ignorance and lack of discipline was shown by him getting fooled and practically robbed by his son after Winnifred exposes that “Zack lied over trifles, and

Zack represents The Charmer archetype by using his charming charisma to get what he wants. He represents The Prodigal Son archetype by performing his schtick of doing a bad thing and performing an apology for forgiveness. Lastly, Zack fulfills the negative aspect of The Eternal Child archetype due to his irresponsible and childish nature. The behaviour that Zack gives shines a light on the problem of parenting in the modern century by giving forth Wilson’s theme of discipline for children. The stories’ outcome demonstrates that when the circumstance comes, discipline is a necessity for