Christopher Moore and the Creation of the Beta Male 77
keeping the balance. He sets his reader up to identify the Beta as someone they
could know by treating the Beta as a Jungian archetype as relevant as any other.
Even though this archetype wasn’t named until recently, now that it has,
you can see the themes running throughout Moore’s books since the beginning,
especially when he starts outlining the characteristic traits. For Moore, the Beta
Male has a distinct set of rules or guidelines to follow.
The Beta is the perennial “best friend.” He’s the one the hot girl is going to
call to comfort her when she gets dumped by the Alpha. “He makes a great
husband as well as a great best friend. He will help you move, bring you soup
when you are sick, and hide your drugs and pom from your parents should you
be unexpectedly killed or incarcerated. He makes a great house sitter, especially
if