Akata Witch

The characters in Akata Witch are definitely archetypes, but not in a bad way at all. They are very interesting and deeply written characters. Sunny, is the New Girl or Hero in this situation, and she a disability that may seem very superficial, but affects how she can go about her life. She is albino which means she is very sensitive to sunlight and feels out of place compared to the others around her who have a lot more melanin. She’s great at sports, but she can’t be in the sun because it burns her skin. Her magic is being able to teleport to the spirit world and be invisible, and both of those are directly tied into her albinism. So while she may be an archetype, she still is original and uniquely herself. Orlu could be seen as the Everyman archetype, and while he is very bright, he is dyslexic which proves to be a great disadvantage to his progression in learning about his Leopard Powers. His powers also stem directly from his disability and he is able to undo Juju spells. Though, he is taken advantage of by ChiChi for this powerful ability. ChiChi could be seen as the Joker, but she is very hotheaded when it’s her that’s being made fun of. She is quick to stand up for what she wants, but she’s not afraid of bending the rules to get there. She picks on Orlu by using him to undo the spells of her bad ideas. But she is able to remember everything that reads. Sasha is the Rebel of the group, he was kicked out of America for getting revenge on some bullies and sending a monster to haunt them. He is extremely quick to anger and has an authority problem, but he eventually learns how to use his powers for good instead. He seems to come off as unscholarly due to his authority problem, but he actually has the same power ChiChi does, which is to remember everything he reads. These characters are also interesting because they represent the opposite of how most people write literature. It’s usually the male characters that are the heroes and the smartest, while the girls are the more emotional ones. In this case, the girls are the ones who are firm and stand for what they believe in, while the males are the ones who are either neutral or too emotional. I appreciate this, being a woman. I think woman are a lot more than archetypes on a paper. I think every character should at least be more than that, and these characters are all deeply written, and do a great job at telling a story about finding yourself.