| This thesis examines American author Flannery O'Connor's novels for the purpose of identifying Carl Jung's psychoanalytical theories in her protagonists' journeys. As a Catholic writer living in the Protestant-dominated South, the most obvious subtext to her writing is a critique of a life devoid of the Church. Believing Christ is the supreme expression of wholeness, O'Connor offers glimpses into her characters' thought processes as they move closer to the redemption of Christ found in the Church. Yet before their conversions, Hazel Motes of Wise Blood and Francis Marion Tarwater of The Violent Bare it Away must traverse difficult paths. Reminiscent of the road to Jungian individuation, they crush their personas and confront the archetypes of the shadow, anima, and Self as they move toward both spiritual and psychological wholeness. |
