Archetypal Study Of O’Connor’s Novels From The Perspective Of Jung’s Analytical Psychology

Flannery O’Connor is a famous American woman in the 20th century,who has lived in the South for a long time.She lived in an era when the American South was in fierce turmoil,the feminist movement rose,the capitalist economy expanded rapidly,social contradictions were intensified,and the relationship between people and the inner spirit of people were seriously distorted.O’Connor has her own unique life experience and a keen insight into the gloom of human nature.Under the influence of Jung,she consciously used the perspective of analytical psychology in her creation to see through the hidden inner world of the characters,present the true mental state of the characters,and create a group of characters who have abandoned their beliefs and have deformed personalities.Based on Jung’s analytical psychology theory,this thesis attempts to have a close reading of O’Connor’s five short stories:A Good Man Is Hard to Find,The Kind Countryman,Greenleaf,The Lame Advance,and Saving a Man is Saving Oneself aiming to explore the role of Persona archetype,Anima and Animus archetype,Shadows and Self archetype dig out the potential meaning and reveal the rich connotation and great tension of the characters in O’Connor’s novels from the outside to the inside.This thesis is composed of three parts: introduction,main text and conclusion.The introduction mainly introduces the research background and research significance,literature review at home and abroad,research questions and methods.The main body is divided into four chapters.The first chapter analyzes the formation background of O’Connor’s novel archetype.After the two wars,the myth of the American South disintegrated,and the post-war South left people with endless trauma.The four basic archetypes described in Jung’s archetype theory are the Persona archetype,the Anima and Animus archetypes,the Shadow and the Self archetypes.Jung believes that these four archetypes play an important role in a person’s personality.O’Connor highly agrees with Jung’s archetype theory.Including herself,the Anima or Animus archetypes play a very important role in different stages of growth.O’Connor has integrated this archetype in her novel creation and assigns it to her protagonist.The second chapter analyzes the Persona prototype of characters in O ’Connor’s short stories.O’Connor painted a group of deformed characters with richness and diversity in her stories.In the development of character’s personality,the external Persona plays a key role.Through the external Persona,the distorted life caused by the imbalance between the Persona and the Shadow of the protagonist are uncovered,thereby revealing the indifference and alienation between people in a diseased society.The third chapter analyzes the anima and animus archetypes of the characters in O’Connor’s short stories.Interpreting the protagonists in the novel from the internal image of the individual spirit in the collective unconsciousness,this part of the thesis explores the different stages of the prototype development of the Anima or Animus represented by many protagonists in the novel,and finds out that the prototype of protagonist’s inner spirit may be presented in a special way or projected onto the external opposite sex,the individual cannot balance the internal features of the opposite sex;therefore,the inner archetype presents the influence of both light and darkness.The fourth chapter analyzes the aesthetic and cultural values presented by the archetype writing of O ’Connor’s novels.The archetype writing of O ’Connor’s short stories presents unique aesthetic value and cultural value with its unique charm.O’Connor has a unique artistic style.She uses agile language to express grotesque and death content,which gives the novel a special aesthetic taste.At the same time,the alienated society and the radical changes of the times allow us to see the good and evil,beauty and ugliness of human nature through the archetypes.While understanding the fate of the characters,it also triggers our care for life,longing for nobleness,and persistence in faith.