Understanding the Enemy: A study of the enemy archetype in literature

In The Fixer, Bernard Malamud uses the enemy archetype to show how we determine who our enemies are, and how it affects our behavior towards them. Yakov Bok is a simple handyman who grows from an insignificant victim of anti-Semitism, to a martyr for his people. After realizing that his life's misfortunes are the cause of human society, Bok gains the strength to fight for not only his own, but also his people's justice. &…

…ethnical, and religious reasons behind the actions of most terrorists today, will give us more effective ways to deal with them than blind escalation of war. Or we could try to understand how the human body reacts to certain chemicals, and eventually find a way to break a persons addiction to drugs. Whoever or whatever our enemies are, whether specific people, or abstract concepts, understanding their nature will help us in our struggle against them.