Archtypal Theory Essay

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Archetypal Theory was first introduced by Carl Jung, he recognized that there is a universal writing pattern found in all pieces of literature regardless of historical or cultural origin. The main theory was that there is a part of the mind called the collective unconscious, shared by all members of the human species. Jung's Theory was later refined by Joseph Campbell in his book A Hero with a Thousand Faces. The theory is broken down into three main categories: Character Archetypes, Situational Archetypes, and Symbolic Archetypes. Author Timothy Findley explores all three forms of Archetypal theory in his novel Not wanted on the Voyage, but contradicts them to a certain degree while maintaining the basic concept, this is done to better emphasize various themes in the story, and aid in characterization as well as plot development, which are extremely significant factors based on the nature of the novel. Author Timothy Findley has supported the use of Situational Archetypes by creating the character of Noah, who is given a specific task. The Task is a near superhuman feat that must be performed in order to accomplish The Quest[1]. The quest is what the Hero must accomplish in order to bring fertility back to the wasteland[2]. Noah is commanded by God to gather two of every animal on the planet and build a massive ark to house them through the Great Flood, “Of Clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of everything that creepeth upon the Earth there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as god had commanded Noah” (Genesis 7:8)[3]. To do this is completely impossible; gathering two of every animal on the planet and managing to have them obey his commands, this is something which could only be accomplished by someone with super-human characteristics. When God gave this task to Noah, someone who has been living for
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