Scythe By Neal Schunterman Character Archetypes

When you are surrounded by evil people do you let them corrupt you or stick to your morals? Corruption is very prevalent in the book Scythe by Neal Shusterman. The main characters have to fight and resist corruption, villany, and malicious people. These characters represent different archetypes as well. Rowan and Citra, the main characters, represent the hero and the explorer respectively. The villain is portrayed as Scythe Goddard, he represents the evil warrior archetype. This book uses different archetypes and themes of corruption to say to the reader, “Corruption sprouts by the choices of the few being met with the resistance of none.” Rowan on page 203 thinks about his plan to sacrifice himself in order for Citra to become a scythe.``Rowan knew he could not kill Citra '' he is set on sacrificing himself in order for her to prevail and be inducted into scythehood. “Then her first honor bound duty would be to [kill] Rowan.” It is important to note Rowan is thinking of the future with this decision. He is actively sacrificing himself in order to obtain a future that is “good”. On page 259 Rowan warns a man, “Take the back stairs, get as many out as you can. Don't ask questions just go!” This

When Rowan and Citra’s mentor died, Scythe Goddard took Rowan on as his apprentice. He tried to corrupt Rowan with luxury goods, houses, and the freedom of having no consequence. As he says on page 166, “We are scythes- which means that by law, anything we want we can take. Any life we wish to end, we will.” Earlier in the book this was shown to be true. On page 71 Scythe Goddard boarded a plane and said to all the passengers, “This entire flight has been selected for [killing].” Promptly after, him and his “junior associates” killed everyone on the plane. These traits show he is the warrior archetype, specifically the evil warrior. He is one of the biggest sources of corruption and malfeasance in the