Moon of the Crusted Snow: Archetypes

Archetypes in literature are great because they give writers a fundamental basis for how to write their characters and what symbols to incorporate within their stories. Think of them like blueprints or templates that can help guide and/or inspire writers to write better characters and symbols. Every great story has to have equally great characters to move the story forward and help get the themes, lessons, and messages of the story across to the readers. Waubgeshig Rice uses Archetypal theory beautifully in his 2018 novel Moon of the Crusted Snow to allegorize the relationship that white people and Native people have had throughout history by using the archetypal hero and the archetypal villain as symbols for said groups of people.

The protagonist, Evan Whitesky, is a member of a First Nations reserve that resides up north and he is a husband and a father of two children. Evan works incredibly hard and goes to extraordinary lengths to help his family and his community prepare for the harsh conditions of the winter that lies ahead of them. When all of the power stopped working during the winter, leaving the community helpless and unsure of what to do, Evan went out of his way to make sure that everyone in the community was taken care of and accounted for. He often sought out the advice of his elders in the community, asking them about old customs and rituals so that he could stay true to his culture and keep the traditions of his culture alive. Evan clearly has the makings of the archetypal hero as he is constantly helping others and putting the needs of the community above his own needs. He symbolizes all that the Native people stand for and what they have been through as he fights for the betterment of his people and staying true to his culture no matter what.

The antagonist, Justin Scott, is a member of a community from down South who comes into Evans community after Scott’s community loses all of its power as Evans community did. Scott is a large white man that arrives on the reserve on a snowmobile dragging a large bag from behind. Scott’s entrance immediately made Evan anxious and fearful. Scott came to the reserve to impose his ways of survival onto the community in a very arrogant fashion, as he is himself a very arrogant man. He made it seem as if he was “saving” them and making them stronger, as if to stroke his own ego. In the process of doing this, Scott challenged the overall Native culture and its traditions, which was highly insulting to everything that the community stood for. It is later revealed that Scott was really there to take advantage of the people by taking their food from them in exchange for cheap liquor and drugs. Scott’s selfish behavior and his inhumane actions towards the community proved him to be archetypal villain as he brought about discord, violence, and chaos in the community, which ultimately lead to Evan’s death along with his own. The worst part is that he did not care at all and was remorseless about what he did. All of this makes Scott serve as an allegory for how the white man has interfered in the Native culture throughout history.