The Mother Archetype Of James Joyce 's Dubliners

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 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.

     There are many ideas about how the “Molly Maguires” got their name. One of the most popular is that Molly was a poor widow, who was evicted from her home after the landlord’s agent apparently, “severely abused her and her daughter”. The group adopted this name in homage to the Molly and her bravery. Another theory is that Molly’s home was used as the first

     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.

Maud Gonne, an Irish nationalist and patriot, was a huge muse to Yeats and his poetry. Her passion for Ireland and its freedom was a large part of the reason why William Yeats was so passionate about the dealings in Ireland himself. Maud was born in England but loved Ireland and believed strongly in its independence from Britain. Although she is most known for her association with William Butler Yeats, she had many accomplishments herself. She created the Daughters of Ireland. The Daughters of Ireland was an organization which provided a home for Irish nationalist women and encouraged the study of: Gaelic, Irish literature, history, music and art. Maud also went on a crusade to improve prison conditions after she suffered a brief imprisonment herself. She even wrote a bestselling book herself called A Servant of the

Mothers are typically seen as kind, loving, and nurturing, at least in a perfect world, that’s how they are. Rather, in the real world many of us wish that is how all mothers are. Various situations can lead to a woman to be too mothering. It is a factor that transcends real life. This conflict causing dynamic is very prevalent in numerous stories, films, and plays. Two plays where it is shown in significance are Machinal and The Glass Menagerie. In both cases, the actions taken by the mother roles in the shows, resulted in some of the character’s roles ending in unfortunate events of some sort.

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.

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 bond between a mother and child is often spoken of as being unlike any other. Yet there are always exceptions to the rule where this connection isn 't as impenetrable as one might assume. This book is an example of this bond gradually becoming weaker over time. It shows how it affects the child, Bone, and leaves her vulnerable to the abuse of her step-father. Bone’s mother, Anney, had fallen in love with a man who abused her which at first, she’s unaware but eventually comes to realize but still chooses to stay with him. Throughout the book there are instances of Anney’s negligence in recognizing her daughter’s abuse and being of aid to her but wasn 't. In having to deal with her

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).

Archetypes are used in literature to portray a certain meaning, that helps create a better and more meaningful story. The archetypes used can be embedded in the characters, symbols, or even rituals involved in a story. These archetypes can help give deeper meaning to the story by giving a underlying reference to concepts that are used over and over again in literature throughout history. When an author uses an archetype in his or her writing, they link it to many other stories that use that same archetype. Some do this for a reason, to give an underlying meaning, to symbolized something of importance, or even just to make their story more interesting. Many readers may not notice the underlying archetype, but sometimes the author uses them because he or she knows that the reader will.

The novel, "Ulysses", by James Joyce shows the reader hour by hour a single day in the life of one man.  But this epic which specifically deals with Leopold Bloom and has reference to Stephen Dedalus, holds so much more appendage to other areas of life.  One, is the portrayal of women in Ulysses. A common speculation is that men seem to have a more dominating status over women.  However, in Ulysses that theory dwindles due to the women who  play significant roles in the story.  Although the women in the novel all use various tactics to entice the men to succumb and cower to them, it all ends up that the men do heed to the qualifying factors.