| Atonement, the ninth novel of the famous British writer Ian Mc Ewan, was published in 2001. The novel presents a story about how the heroine Briony atones for her false accusation.The present author studies Atonement on the basis of Jungian archetypal theory, and attempts to shed some light on the development of Briony’s psychology, namely the reason why Briony makes a crime in teenage and why she begins to atone for her crime in adulthood, and finally how to finish atonement in old age,so that Briony’s unique growth journey is explored. The main point of this thesis i s to analyze Briony’s psychological process from the point of some major archetyp es—the persona, the shadow, the anima or animus, the wise old man and the self. Firstly, the thesis analyzes the heroine’s mental process of making a crime as well as her sin in 13 years old. And it explores the flaws in her personality from the perspectiv e of the persona, the shadow, the absence of the first stage of the animus’ s projection and the lack of the wise old man’s guidance. Secondly, the reasons of 18-year-old Briony’s transformations that result in her psychological maturity in adulthood are unscrambled. The compensation of the second stage of the animus’ s projection, the war’s influence and the guidance of Cyril Connolly contribute to make her personality gradually complete. She also perceives that the unatoned sin will make her life hell, and she can get peace as well as tranquility in mind only by facing the past sin courageously. Thirdly, based on the archetype of the self, Briony’s atonement in the real and fictional world is discussed. Finally, 77-year-old Briony finishes 59 years’ self-redemption so that the complete personality is developed and the individualization is realized.The thesis explores Briony’s psychological process with the aid of Jungian archetypal theory, which aims to provide another angle to get a better understanding of Atonement and arouse people’s self-reflection on psychic in growing-up. |
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