The Lion By Jenny-Camp Meaning

The Lion is one of the most powerful and fearless animals in the entirety of the universe. It kills anything ruthlessly and without mercy, some even kill their own young. If it wasn’t obvious, the Lion’s mind is very different compared to ours to the language they speak to what they think and feel, but maybe some Lions are not the ones we see in the zoo. Just like how some monsters are not the ones under the bed, maybe the true Lions are the people walking around on two feet. What if they have the face of a man or woman? What if they are the ones seen on the news for the horrific actions they have committed? What if the Lion is the person children are taught to prepare for and be terrified of? What if the Lion is the true fear of all parents?

The archetypal theory is the use of symbols to better describe event or action in a writing (public.wsu.edu). These symbols could also mean something in the writing, but also have a very different and deeper meaning at the same time. There are many different kinds of archetypes, but there are only two that are prominent in this poem which are situational and symbolic archetypes. The main situational archetype is the Good versus Evil archetype. The Good versus Evil archetype is where good and evil are battling against each other and, typically, good defeats evil. This is seen in the poem by how the schooling system is trying to protect the by having every class “practic[e] for when a lion enters the building” (Snyder-Camp n/a). Now the symbolic archetypes are more noticeable in the poem and the most obvious of them is the “Lion”. The “Lion” in the poem is, as stated before, not an actual lion and is truly a school terrorist, but the lion archetype fits this said terrorist. The lion archetype is seen as “powerful, fearless, [and a] leader” and “wears” a “mask, or the … wrappings of … society acquired by the individual” (researchdimentions.com and Archetypal Symbolism in Alice Walker's Possessing the Secret of Joy). The “Lion” in the poem shows these traits because they are powerful compared to the children and the teachers, fearless because they are committing this act of terrorism, and they are a leader because they are either doing this by themselves or with others and are more than likely leading in this action. The “Lion” is also wearing a mask behind the fact that they are a school terrorist and, of course, will be called a “school shooter” because of what they did, are doing, or have done. Another archetype seen in the poem is the “Darkness” the children “are taught to think of emptiness./ Darkness” (Snyder-Camp n/a). The “Darkness” archetype “implies the unknown, ignorance, or