One Story to Rule Them All (Sixth Reading Assignment)

     Somehow I thought of houses when I first read the word archetype.  I would be thinking of architecture however.  The two are not that dissimilar if one thinks about it.  The definition of an architecture would be close to "the design of buildings" and so the definition of an archetype may be similar to "the design of stories."  Perhaps to clarify what I mean I could add that an archetype serves as a kind of base model from which every story originates.
     An example of a strong archetypal story that comes to mind would be J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit."  12 dwarves you say?  A wise, old man dressed in white carrying a staff?  A journey?  To me that sounds a little like 12 disciples, the white garbed shepherd with his flock, and the journey for that valuable (in)tangible object.

Scarhead

     We all know Harry Potter.  Be that through the movies or the books.  What's less known (or maybe we understand it to be a smaller detail in the bigger picture) are the implications of Harry's scar.  I do not claim to be any kind of HP buff, but I have a few ideas of my own of what Harry's scar could mean or represent.  The first (and most obvious) use for Harry's scar in characterization is that the physical imperfection sets him apart from any of the other students at Hogwarts because.. well, who else has a lightning bolt shaped scar on his/her forehead?
     The scar may represent the extent to which a mother will go to protect her child.  This actually reminds me of the oh so many times that the book Beloved has been mentioned by Foster.  During Beloved, Sethe (the mother) kills one of her daughters (Beloved) so that she will not be taken back into slavery on Sweet Home.  This may not seem to be as much maternal love as motherly insanity but she kills her eldest daughter because she feels it to be the only way to save her from a life of slavery.  Potter's mother did not kill him of course (the opposite, really) but she did take what action she thought would save her son's life from a more terrible existence.
     The scar is on Harry's head, right?  So who else has a scar on his forehead.  One that marks him as the survivor of a tragic event.  One that I feel I'm starting to overuse?  One that (indirectly in Harry's case) killed another human being and was marked for it?  Harry is no Kane but I cannot shake the feeling that they are similar.  As mentioned before; Kane killed and Harry killed, Kane survived and Harry survived, Kane is scarred in more than one way and Harry is scarred in more than one way.
     Now to the actual scar.  The scar is shaped like a lightning bolt and I think I just might have an idea to why (aside from it being cool to have a scar shaped close to something primal such as lightning).  What is lightning?  It is powerful, strong, frightening even.  If one stood beside a tesla coil that put out 1.5 million volts of electricity one would most likely agree with me (I got to do just that a couple days ago).  Perhaps the lightning bolt is a symbol of the strength and power of parental love.  In this case, that love was powerful enough to stop a magic disguised bullet so it's gotta be something formidable in any case.