Narrative Archetypes in The History of Love Victoria Katashev College

Although not a clear-cut hero’s journey, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss features many - if not all - of the narrative archetypes. To begin, Alma Singer is the hero archetype. The young girl’s entire life is a quest, whether it be a quest to become closer to her deceased father or the quest to make her mother whole again. Throughout the book her only goal is to regain what she lost, the loving family she once had before her father died. She does this, first by trying to become closer to her father. Krauss writes, “I decided I would learn to survive in the wild like my father. It would be good to know in case anything happened to Mom, leaving Bird and me to fend for ourselves” (50-51). By learning to survive, pouring over countless wilderness and guide books, Alma’s quest was to not only become more like her father and fill the hole in her life caused by his death, but her quest was also to find and raise herself in a way that her mother was unable to. Further, Alma’s quest throughout the novel was to find someone for her mother to replace her father, and thus make her family whole again. This quest however, quickly changes shape as she realizes that her mother will never accept anyone as she had her father.

In this...