A Jungian Study Of Tubby’s Individuation In Therapy

Therapy, written by the contemporary British novelist and literary criticDavid Lodge, is a novel about spiritual salvation and growth. The spiritual growthof the protagonist Lawrence Passmore, nicknamed Tubby, is in accordance withCarl Jung’s theory of individuation. To realize one’s individuation is to “divestoneself of the false wrappings of the persona, abandon one’s ego defenses, andrather than projecting one’s shadow on to others, strive to know it andacknowledge it as a part of inner life, come to terms with the contra-sexualpersonality living within the personal psyche (anima/animus), and attempt to bringto conscious fulfillment the supreme intentions of Self.”(83) This thesis appliesthe Jungian theory of individuation to analyze Tubby’s spiritual growth. Itinterprets Tubby’s progress of individuation by analyzing the changes anddevelopment of his shadow, persona, and anima in three different stages of his life:his loss of the Self, rediscovery of the Self, and integration of the Self.This thesis is composed of five parts. Introduction provides a briefintroduction to the author David Lodge and the novel Therapy, a literary review ofthe book, the theoretical framework of individuation, and a summary of this thesis.Chapter One analyzes Tubby’s loss of the Self. In this stage Tubby does notrealize the existence of the shadow dwelling in his personality, the falsehood of hispersona, and the quality of his anima. Tubby’s unawareness of his shadow iscaused by the tyrannical oppression of his conscious. The shadow can onlymanifest itself by means of externalization and projection. His persona is also fakein that outwardly he is a successful sitcom writer and is endowed with amiable temperament but inwardly he is anxious and impatient. Tubby’s anima does notcome to his conscious in this stage, either. Although he starts the quest for hisanima, all the “animas” he pursues turn out to be false.Chapter Two analyzes Tubby’s rediscovery of the Self. During hisself-exploration, Tubby gradually becomes conscious of his shadow and is able toface it. In this stage, he destructs the false wrappings of his persona and projectshis anima on his first girlfriend Maureen. After reading Kierkegaard’s works andlearning about his life experiences, Tubby assumes that Kierkegaard is theembodiment of his shadow. He suspects his wife’s fidelity and makes a fool ofhimself in public as a result of his funny attempt to catch his wife in adultery,which leads to the collapse of his persona. Tubby projects his anima upon his firstgirl friend Maureen, which marks his progress in quest of the anima.Chapter Three analyzes Tubby’s integration of the Self. In this stage, Tubby isable to assimilate his shadow, namely, to make it conscious and eliminate it. At thesame time, he reconstructs his persona based on his true Self, which helps him toadjust the society. He also withdraws his anima projection and merges with hisanima. Thus Tubby accomplishes his individuation and is promoted to a higherstage of development.Conclusion briefly reviews the content of the thesis, concludes that Tubby’sindividuation is the key to his spiritual crisis, and points out the significance of thethesis.Through the studies of the individuation of Tubby, the protagonist of Therapy,this thesis not only provides a new perspective for the research of this novel, butalso is of great referential significance for contemporary people to achieve theirspiritual salvation and growth.