Carl Gustav Jung - Annotated Bibliography Example

Jung, in his article, deals elaborately with the most dominant archetypes that influence one’s ego. For him, these include the shadow, the anima and the animus. The author purports that shadow is commonly experienced by everyone; for him, shadow is ‘a moral problem that challenges the whole ego personality’ and a deeper understanding of the functions of shadow necessitates a considerable amount of moral effort and a thorough self-knowledge regarding the dark aspects of one’s personality (Jung). These dark characteristics consist of one’s inferiorities and as such they have an emotional, autonomic, obsessive and possessive quality; the shadow stems from the personal unconsciousness of the individual and can be assimilated into one’s conscious personality through insight and good will. However, as the shadow comprises of negative, unpleasant and primitive elements individuals tend to make projections of their shadow in others. On the other hand the archetypes such as anima and animus belong to the collective unconscious and projections made by these archetypes are opposite sex oriented. For Jung, these two archetypes are the driving forces in one’s life: a male child is influenced by the collective archetype of the anima whereas a female child manifests the collective archetype of the animus from birth onwards. As Jung purports, “the numinous qualities which make the mother imago so dangerously powerful stem from the collective archetype of the anima, which is incarnated anew in every male child” (Jung) whereas a female child is compensated by a masculine element which he terms as animus. Thus, “the animus corresponds to the paternal Logos just as the anima corresponds to the maternal Eros” and until and unless the individual is able to build up a meaningful relation with some one of the opposite sex, the animus-anima archetypes are dominated by the father-mother figure. However, the anima-animus archetypes include all the feminine and masculine qualities that one comes across around him and as such a clear understanding of these three archetypes postulated by Jung quips one better understand human behaviour in terms of the workings of the personal and collective unconsciousness. Freud, Sigmund: Creative writers often display emotions, imaginations and feelings that ordinary men are unable to express and Freud in the article postulates how such factors as daydreaming and fantasises contribute to the creative faculty of writers. For Freud, one can trace back the first signs of the writers’ creative faculty in a child’s play game; however, a child is able to distinguish between his play from fantasying. Just as a child creates a unique world of fantasy through his play the writer also conceives a world of his own and expresses it through powerful words; he also separates the world of his imagination from that of reality. As the child grows up and becomes an adult he ceases to engage in play, an activity which used to yield him a lot of childhood pleasure. However, for Freud, the child needs to substitute or surrogate his childhood play with something in his adulthood; thus, instead of playing the child develops fantasying which are manifested in the form of daydreaming. One’s fantasises are not as easily observable as a child’s play as the adults try to conceal their fantasies from others. Freud postulates that the motives of the child who engage in play and the adult who engrosses in daydreaming differ considerably; whereas the child is moved by his innate wish and instinct to imitate the elders in play the adult is expressing his suppressed wishes (as he is no longer expected to play or fantasise like the child) in the form of fantasies. Freud concludes his article by stating that knowledge regarding one’s fantasises are very much significant in mental treatment of patients who suffer from nervous illness. One should always bear in mind that it is the unsatisfied wishes or unsatisfying realities of the person that are manifested in the form of fantasies or daydreaming. Freud categorizes the motivating wish of the person into ambitious and erotic ones and states that the wish of the person can vary according to one’s sex, character, and circumstances. The article has great implications with regard to Freud’s psychoanalytical therapeutic process where it becomes imperative for the therapist to know the suppressed wishes, fantasies, and emotions of the client. Jill Swale: In the article, Jill Swale is attempting to bring out social and historical context of Atwood's novel from a feminist point of view. Swale echoes Atwood’s own concern that a patriarchal regime similar to Gilead would emerge in the United States as the coming generations would soon forget the feminist ideals of the 1970s. Similarly, she exhorts the readers to analyse the novelist’s prediction that the new leaders in Gilead will introduce totalitarian regime in the states in the light of the September 11 attack in 2001 and subsequent state of emergency. Swale also argues that most of the measures taken by the government after the September 11 attack were similar to totalitarianism; the author fears that measures such as the introduction of identity cards, censorships on the press, disappearance of people, and introduction of new loss unopposed that resemble the plight of the characters in the novel would gradually curtail the human rights of many women and men. Citing instances from the novel, the article also demonstrates how temporary laws introduced to address immediate emergencies have become stronger in the future. Similarly, one can also notice many similarities between the life at Gilead and in many parts of the world today; issues such as AIDS, environmental problems, the confinement of women and compulsory regulations in Afghanistan, and the similar conditions in Iran resemble that of the life in Gilead and this prompts Swale to observe that there was nothing new in Gilead. The author purports one can also find many similar instances in North America where women have been marginalised. The article also shows how women were marginalised, segregated and considered as mere possessions of males during the Victorian period. Later the first wave of feminism took place in England towards the end of the 19th century when women “campaigned for equal rights over divorce, custody of children, ownership of property, rights to university education, entry into professions such as medicine, and, most famously, for the vote” (Swale). The second wave of feminism emerged after the 1970s when women became more of politically organised, protested against all sorts of gender stereotyping that included domestic violence and sex abuse, discrimination in the workplace and won specific legal changes and opportunities. The author also how post-feminism also known as the third wave reacted against social inequalities and injustice as ‘forced marriages, genital mutilation, sexual slavery and educational discrimination’. The author concludes by stating that Atwood’s Gilead is, in fact, “an amalgam of trends which she has already observed and read about in various societies, past and present” (Swale) and the article clearly demonstrates the various trends and developments made by feminist theorists, practitioners and activist in America, Britain, Canada and in many parts of the world. Walter Benjamin The article on mechanical reproduction clearly demonstrates various principles of Marxist literary theory. Benjamin observes that mechanical reproduction of art always creates something new than the original. The author also postulates that the advancements in printing technology, lithography, photography and film shooting have facilitated mechanical reproduction of art. However, he warns that even the most perfect reproduction of art fails to represent “its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be” (Benjamin). Thus, the historical and sociological context of the work of art and its ownership and authenticity need to be taken into account. Thus, the author purports that during mechanical reproduction what is lost is the ‘aura’ (uniqueness) of the work of art-a detachment of the reproduced object from the domain of tradition. One needs to take into account the historical circumstances and the social transformations expressed by the changes of perception in a reproduced work of art. Similarly, the work of art that is designed for reproducibility fails to meet the criterion of authenticity and does not consider its cult value. The author observes that when “the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic production, the total function of art is reversed” (Benjamin). Therefore, it is imperative to distinguish between the cult value and the exhibition value of the work of art. Similarly, the artistic function of the work of art cannot be compromised. One also needs to bear in mind that the perception and reaction of the masses change when the work of art is mechanically reproduced and the present mechanical reproduction of a work of art only satisfy such demands. Read More