I Am David Archetypes

This paper aims at using Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung’s collective unconscious and archetypal theories to interpret the archetypes of characters, natural scenes and themes.

Carl Jung, the very first pioneer who discovered human collective unconsciousness, including archetypes, once said, “An archetype is something like an old watercourse along which the water of life flowed for a time, digging a deep channel for itself. The longer it flowed the deeper the channel, and the more likely it is that sooner or later the water will return.” An archetype is the universal patterns and behaviors that represent a typical human experience that is passed down from generations to generations, creating its originality. In “A Separate Peace”, John Knowles uses many archetypes to enrich the personality of his characters, especially Gene and Finny based on common human experiences. By embodying the archetypes of the Fall from Innocence, the Unhealable, and the Crossroads in “A Separate Peace,” John Knowles was successful in establishing the theme for the novel which implies that the guilt which is begotten from one’s deceitful actions would remain as an irrecoverable wound overtime.

In the work of literature “The Siren Song,” we notice a variety of archetypes, despite the lack of characters. An archetype is a recurrent symbol or motif in literature, art, or mythology.

In Homers epic poem “The Odyssey” there are many archetypes, many of which were the origin of the archetype. An archetype is a character type, place, or symbol, every culture shares. In “The Odyssey” Homer uses archetypes to evoke meaning to the story. Some examples of archetypes in “The Odyssey” are the temptress, and the father-son conflict.

Carl Jung applied the term “archetype” to literature because he realized that all people share similar experiences in their respective cultures. Authors use archetypes so readers can relate to the characters in their stories; such is the case with the characters in Little

With every corner we turn in today’s culture, we become more and more aware of the archetypes that surround us. Archetypes are the works of a typical character, situation, setting, or symbol that can be found in fantasy and reality. An example would be the renowned medieval story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Pearl Poet. The author permeates the story with situational, symbolic, and character archetypes that illustrate the profound life of Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain was apprehensive of his journey at first, but as time passes, he began to make choices that unveils to the audience the true flawed knight that he was.

     An archetype is a universal symbol. It is also a term from the criticism that accepts Jung’s idea of recurring patterns of situation, character, or symbol existing universally and instinctively in the collective unconscious of man.

Archetypes are defined as “a typical character, an action or a situation that seems to represent such universal patterns of human nature.” (“Archetype”) The short story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien is about the internal struggle and the journey he faces after he is drafted to serve the army. The classical hero’s journey archetype is similar to Tim O’Brien’s journey in his short story, “On the Rainy River,” with the exception of the arc length and depth of transformation.

Mercutio’s Archetype in Romeo and Juliet Mercutio is a character in “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare in the late 1500’s. It has been a fan-favorite since the 1500’s. Some of the characters can relate too different archetypes. For example, Romeo would be the star cross’d lover archetype because he falls in-love too easily. In William Shakespeare’s play, “Romeo and Juliet.”

An archetype is defined as an image, story-pattern, character, setting, symbol, or situation that recurs frequently in literature and in life. It demonstrates universal human experiences and associates strongly with readers through a subconscious understanding. In the Epic of Gilgamesh the main character, Gilgamesh, is an example of a superheroic archetypal hero. He took on an epic quest for everlasting life by following the archetypal steps of a hero’s journey. Through suffering due to tragedy, realizing the nature of his quest, seeking help from a mentor, experiencing failure, and returning home with a companion, Gilgamesh’s story followed the situational archetype of a hero’s journey.

In literature an archetype is used as a character, image or theme that exemplifies a universal meaning or a simple human experience. For this occasion the archetype is referring to a journey. The conventional stages of the archetypal journey are departure, initiation, testing one’s ability, descending into the underworld, and then returning and reintegrating with society. One example of the archetypal journey is in the novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. In the novel the Bundren family undertakes a quest from their home in Yoknapatawpha County to Jefferson in pursuance of burying their mother/ wife, Addie. Along the way this family endures numerous hurdles that they must overcome. Their journey resembles that of an archetypal journey with a departure, journey and arrival. Along with the novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, the film Little Miss Sunshine shares the same archetypal pattern. The film Little Miss Sunshine is an effective contemporary interpretation of an archetypal journey because of its events, characters and symbols that are similar to those in the novel As I Lay Dying.

According to Carl Jung’s theory, the psyche has three parts to it; the ego, personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious (Golden, date unknown.) Jung believed that the archetypes were part of the collective unconscious; this is where psychological inheritance happens. “All the most powerful ideas in history go back to archetypes” (Golden, date unknow.) Jung believed each archetype had its own unique values, meanings, and personality traits. It is possible that people display more than one kind of archetype, but there always seems to be one specific archetype that makes itself more apparent (Golden, date unknown.)

Jung defines archetypes as, “Universal images that have existed since the remotest times. As a figure that repeats itself in the course of history wherever creative fantasy is fully manifested” (Jung, 7). Regarding the idea of archetypes, Northup Frye was a prominent theorist who contributed to the study and progression of archetypes; he applied Jung’s theories about collective unconscious, archetypes, and primal images to literature. Through Frye’s proposition of four mythoi type plots, “He formed a strong basis for four major genres that associated with each season of the year: comedy (spring), romance (summer), tragedy (fall), satire (winter)” (Frye, 45). According to Carl Jung the goal of humanity is to achieve individuation, the goal is to reach a state where the unconscious is known and integrated into the conscious mind. It is collective in nature from our human ancestors, predisposed human ways of perceiving, responding and reacting.

Once there was a woman who told a story. However, she had more than just an entertaining tale to tell. She chose common images that everyone would understand, and she wrapped her story around them, and in this way she was able to teach the people . . .

The formulation of the archetypes is described as an empirically derived concept, like that of the atom; it is a concept based not only on medical evidence but on observations of mythical, religious and literary phenomena, these archetypes are considered to be primordial images, spontaneous products of the psyche which do not reflect any physical process, but are reflected in them (Jung 54).