Imagine going back to a town where everyone hates you. In the novel She's so Dead to Us, Ally Ryan returns to her hometown after her father loses several people's money. Ally quickly discovers that her old friends, known as Cresties, are no longer her friends. Her friends now despise her and want nothing to do with her. Ally finds herself in a quandary and must decide what to do when she falls in love with a boy who should hate her? This novel focuses on Ally's life and the difficulties she faces. The author uses archetypes: star-crossed lovers, mean girls, a search for identity, a disappointing father figure, and a high school setting to help portray this story. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The first archetype you see is star-crossed lovers. Crossed lovers represent two people who fall in love despite all the conflict and other forces. pushing them away. In the novel She's So Dead to Us, Ally Ryan falls in love with a boy named Jake. Jake is rich and part of the Cresties. Jake has been influenced to believe that someone like Ally is not meant or right for him, especially because Ally is friends with people known as the Weird Kids, but also known as one of the Norms. Jake is new at school so he doesn't know what happened with his father. Jake takes the time to get to know Ally and ends up realizing that Ally is nothing like how her old group of friends portrayed her. Jake also falls in love with Ally. Unfortunately, they have to hide their relationship from everyone because they fear what would happen if anyone found out and they worry what would happen if the mean girls found out. During a party, Jake says, “Ally was already there? Were they really nice to her?”. This reveals that Jake cares for Ally, but is also aware that he can't show that he cares otherwise the Cresties will find out that they are together. This archetype is also seen in Romeo and Juliet, High School Musical with Troy and Gabriella, and Jack and Rose from Titanic. The cross-lovers archetype helps the reader understand how the people in the relationship must overcome their difficulties to be together even when outside forces tell them not to. Throughout the novel, Ally is searching for her identity. The search for the identity archetype happens when a character is on a journey to their identity and who they are. In the novel She's So Dead to Us, Ally Ryan returns to her hometown. Before she left, she lived in a mansion and was very rich until her father lost their money and a lot of their friends' money, and then left. When he returns, he must find a new life, find out where he fits in, especially since his old friends now have a lot of animosity towards him. Ally tries to find new friends in the Norms, which she does, but it's just not the same. Ally must figure out how to survive without living in a materialistic world. Ally no longer has the luxury of using her home to make friends or do lavish things to attract them. She now lives in a townhouse with her mother and is embarrassed that someone will find out. Ally needs to adjust to a life where some will judge and belittle her because of her father's poor choices, and will constantly remind her that Ally is exploring herself and who she wants to be now that she has lost everything. This archetype is also seen in Moana, Ratoutie, and Po from Kung Fu Panda. The author helps show this archetype by showing the conflicts in the story and connecting them back to before she became poor. A high school is classified as an archetypal setting. In the novel She's So Dead to Us, the high school setting is a substantial part of thenovel. High school is where Ally meets the Cresties again, since she moved back. High school helps represent the many conflicts and efforts that arise from it. In the novel, Ally faces most of her obstacles and the many pressures that are part of the high school experience. It also models and exposes Ally's time as part of the Backslappers club. The Blackslappers were a club that helped motivate the football team and each girl was assigned a boy. Of course, Ally was assigned Jake, which is when and where their romance began. It was early in the season, and Ally says, “The memory made me feel sad, so I shuffled to a bench near the back of the growing crowd and crouched down.” This statement helps to understand that Ally misses her friends, because the memory was of them cheering for the boys before she left to one of their games. Ally's time in high school also helps portray her growth and ability to conquer everything that is thrown at her. The archetypal high school setting is also shown in High School Musical, Clueless, and 13 Reasons Why. The author uses the high school archetype to illustrate the difficulties of Ally's life. Just like in any high school, there are girls who are not so nice and many consider them mean. In She's So Dead to Us, the Cresties are known as the mean girls, not just to Ally, but to everyone. The Cresties constantly torment people and instigate new drama. They make up lies to tell people what they want to hear or they turn people against each other. Particularly with Ally, they act like they are her friends, but then abandon her by telling her to go to the opposite place from where they are. They lie to her and make up slander about Jake to try to upset her, even though they haven't. they revealed their relationship. The Cresties even put things in Ally's yard to make her mother pay a fine, since they know she has no money. They even go so far as to set her up only to end up in trouble with the police and Ally has to do community service as punishment. On one occasion, they invite Ally to one of their birthday parties stating that they would behave civilly because of Jake. , but they play a video of her father working in a butcher's shop to embarrass her. About halfway through the book, Ally says, “Her lips pursed in disgust as she looked down on me. I felt nauseous as the memory of the night washed over me.” The Cresties brought up a previous relationship with Jake, which upset Ally, as they knew it would. In this quote, it shows how evil they are in doing everything just to spite Ally. The mean girl archetype is also shown in Mean Girls as Regina, Legally Blonde as Vivian, and High School Musical as Sharpay. This archetype helps the story come together because it helps establish some of the conflicts in the story. This also confirms why Ally struggles with her newfound lack of wealth and her fear of revealing her relationship with Jake. The character archetype, the disappointing father figure, is very prevalent in She's So Dead to Us. Ally's father failed not only her but all their friends. He promised them that if they gave him money he would invest it to earn more than they originally had. Instead of doing what he promised, he lost it all. He made everyone feel a burning hatred towards him and his family. He fled his family and his city. No one, not even his family, knows where he went. This forced Ally and her mother to get up and change their lives as they had no money. Ally was devastated after what happened, especially because she didn't.