Three Stages Of Jack Burden’s Individuation In All The King’s Men

Robert Penn Warren is one of the most prolific and prominent American writers of the twentieth century. He is versatile with his works covering fiction, poetry, drama, and biography. The thesis focuses on his All the King’s Men, which has become an American classic.In the light of Jungian Individuation theory, this thesis makes a tentative study of Jack Burden, the protagonist’s inner world in All the King’s Men. It aims to analyze the three stages of Jack Burden’s Individuation and explores the significance of Burden’s Self-Realization.Jung’s notion of "Individuation" originates from his book The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. It refers to a process in which a person becomes a psychological individual, a separate, indivisible unity. It involves the Conflict and Collaboration of an individual’s Conscious and the Unconscious. And the Persona, the Shadow and the Anima are archetypes of Unconsciousness.The thesis is consists of three chapters. The first chapter analyzes the first stage of the Individuation—the stage of Burden’s Self-Consciousness. That is, a preliminary realization of the Persona, the Shadow and the Anima in Burden’s unconscious mind.The second chapter explores the second stage of Individuation—the Integrating stage. It is necessary to confront his Persona, deal with the negative factors of Shadow and encounter his Anima respectively in this stage. Furthermore, the two factors that would influence the Integration deserve consideration. Thus a stable and mature "Individuation" psyche can be accomplished.The third chapter is about the third stage of Individuation-the Burden’s Realization stage. This part mainly analyzes Burden’s quest for Individuation, from two aspects:the essence of Individuation and the success of Individuation.The conclusion summarizes the whole thesis:All the King’s Men is a novel of representing man’s Self-Realization, unfolding the protagonist’s process of Individuation. It presents Warren’s quest for spiritual tranquility and Warren delicately carries his moral vision through the characters, especially Jack Burden who achieves his mature realization by overcoming the sense of division and re-establishing his proper relationship with the world. This story advances our understanding of the modern man’s sickness and its impact on the modern life.The author sincerely hopes that, an analysis of the three stages of Jack Burden’s Individuation in All the King’s Men from the perspective of Jung’s psychology may better our understanding of Warren’s thought and art as well as broaden the research domain of Warren study.