Loss And Regain Of Life: An Archetypal Study Of Sophie’s Choice

William Styron is regarded as one of the greatest stylists and novelists. Thereare always complex structures and strong power in his works which are apparentlyinfluenced by the famous southern writer, William Faulkner. As a southern writer, hisworks are provided with the characteristics of the south, but not restricted to thesouthern topics and themes and he is famous for diversification of styles. He isparticularly good at unfolding the time features dramatically through different typesof characters.Sophie’s Choice is one of the most famous works of William Styron. Oncepublished, the novel brought William Styron the American Book Award for fiction in1980. In this novel, the writer reconstructed the history of Nazi Holocaust throughnarrating Sophie’s life in Auschwitz and later in America. The novel also reflectssome experiences of Stingo, the narrator of the story, who was instructed and thusgrew up. This novel makes us understand the complexity and dignity of humanity andmakes us feel the misery and sadness of life. Critics have different ideas to this novel.The struggle of humanity and courage was consistently talked in the whole novel. Andthe heroine who is encircled in the feeling of loss is always in the process of pursuingthe meaning of life. This thesis concentrates on biblical and mythical archetypal studyof this novel on basis of Jung’s interpretation of archetypal theory and Frye’s practicalarchetypal analysis. This thesis begins with a brief introduction to the author, William Styron,including his life experience, his works, an introduction to the novel Sophie’s Choiceand the summarized literary reviews. The related introduction of the theory ofarchetypal criticism is also involved here. The origin of archetypal criticism ismentioned in this chapter. In The Golden Bough, Frazer put forward the term“sympathetic magic” of which the two basic forms are “Law of Similarity” and “Lawof Contact.” Chapter Two and Chapter Three mainly focus on the exploration of thearchetypal characters (Sophie, Nathan and Stingo), images (sea, church and horse)and themes (Paradise Lost—Paradise Regained and life—death—rebirth), which fullyreflect Sophie’s pursuit of the meaning of life. Chapter four is a conclusion. Byapplying the theory of archetypal criticism, the author of the thesis intends to tellreaders that Sophie’s tragic ending reveals the whole era’s tragedy. Meanwhile, it is asong of praise to the warrior who transcends a tragic life and also, a kind of praise tothe pursuit of lost self as well as the meaning of life in modern society.