jungian analysis essay examples

15 Jungian Archetypes: Examples and Overview

Dave Cornell (PhD)

Dr. Cornell has worked in education for more than 20 years. His work has involved designing teacher certification for Trinity College in London and in-service training for state governments in the United States. He has trained kindergarten teachers in 8 countries and helped businessmen and women open baby centers and kindergartens in 3 countries.

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Jungian archetypes are innate patterns of thought in human experiences that are passed through generations. According to Jung, there are several archetypes, each one representing a specific situation that prescribes how humans act and feel.

According to Jungian theory, this is one reason why a certain situation is experienced in remarkably similar ways by people that come from vastly different backgrounds and cultures throughout history.

Archetypes form the basic structure of the collective unconscious that has existed in human beings forever.

Because they are universal, archetypes can be observed in all cultures, religious systems, dreams, mythologies, and even fairy tales.

Carl Jung was a Swiss psychologist (1875-1961) that developed the concept of archetypes and the collective unconscious .

His ideas regarding archetypes and the collective unconscious stemmed from a variety of sources.

In addition to being influenced by Sigmund Freud, he also developed his theory based on the analysis of his own recurring dreams and his work with psychiatric patients.

Jung believed that archetypes formed the foundation for the human experience, but that they were expressed in unique ways based on the life events of the individual, their cultural background , and personality characteristic.

As Jung stated in the translated version of his book Four Archetypes (2014):

“It is, in other words, identical in all men and thus constitutes a common psyche substrate of a suprapersonal nature which is present in every one of us” (p. 2).

Jungian Archetypes Examples

1. the mother / caregiver.

This archetype embodies the capacity to nurture. It is the part of the collective unconscious that seeks to help others through a kind of “maternal instinct.”

For example, we all know someone that just cannot pass by a stray dog without trying to take them in. They might take them to the vet to get checked out thoroughly, and then give them a loving and caring home, even though they already have five other dogs .

• Strengths: Nurturing, generous, protective, compassionate
• Weaknesses: Overprotective, self-sacrificing, can be enabling, often neglected
• Film Examples: Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins , Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side

2. The child / innocent

This archetype represents innocence and the earliest impressions formed regarding family, safety, and loyalty. It has several variations that include feeling beloved, wounded, or abandoned.

For example, some young adults find it very difficult to leave the nest and want to embrace the innocent archetype forever. Stepping out into the real world and confronting all of those challenges like adults are supposed to do eventually is just too much for some. So, they live in their parent’s basement as long as possible; it’s safe down there.

• Strengths: Optimistic, pure, trusting, joyful
• Weaknesses: Naive, overly trusting, vulnerable, can lack practicality
• Film Examples: Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump , Buddy in Elf

3. The wise old man / sage

The sage is the archetype of knowledge, truth, and morality. It is a masculine archetype that is commonly seen in literature as the character which guides others.

For example, by the time someone becomes old enough to be a grandfather, they have seen just about everything. This gives them a great perspective on life and a wealth of experience from which to offer advice. It’s a role they truly enjoy playing.

• Strengths: Wise, reflective, knowledgeable, thoughtful
• Weaknesses: Over-analytical, detached, can be overly critical, sometimes inactive
• Film Examples: Yoda in Star Wars , Morpheus in The Matrix

4. The shadow self

This is the darker side of the individual. It contains repressed urges and impulses that are usually rejected by society. It can be expressed as envy, hate, and aggressiveness, or seen in dreams as monsters or evil figures.

For example, when some people travel on vacation they really let loose and act like someone completely different. They allow their true inner self to escape for a short time and act in ways that might seem shocking, especially if their family or colleagues aren’t around .

• Strengths: Self-awareness, transformation, realism, creativity
• Weaknesses: Self-destruction, fear, deception, isolation
• Film Examples: Gollum in The Lord of the Rings , Norman Bates in Psycho

5. The persona

This is the person that individuals try to display to others and the world around them. It represents how we act in social situations and the image we try to convey. As children grow older, they realize that they must act in certain ways to conform to society’s expectations.

For example, being a regular church-goer involves learning about how to conduct oneself in a manner that is wholesome and righteous. Listening to sermons is a way to instill a moral compass that can guide one’s behavior down a path of the straight and narrow .

• Strengths: Social adaptability, diplomacy, impression management, charm
• Weaknesses: Superficiality, disconnection from true self, inconsistency, overemphasis on others’ opinions
• Film Examples: Don Draper in Mad Men , Patrick Bateman in American Psycho

6. The self

Jung believed that each individual strives to achieve a cohesive sense of self that unifies their conscious identity with the one in their collective unconscious. When that occurs, the individual experiences a kind of self-actualization which he referred to as individuation.

For example, discovering one’s true purpose and unique abilities in life is what Maslow referred to as self-actualization. Most people will never reach this stage of self-insight and understanding of who and what they are .

• Strengths: Wholeness, balance, self-realization, wisdom
• Weaknesses: Complexity, inner conflict, alienation, the potential for self-absorption
• Film Examples: Neo in The Matrix , Luke Skywalker in Star Wars

7. The anima and animus

Both men and women have feminine and masculine elements in their psyches. For women, their masculine elements are a result of the animus archetype. For men, their feminine elements come from the anima archetype.

For example, stereotypically speaking, “real men” are not supposed to spend a lot of time and money on facial creams and body lotions. But, current trends in some cultures are seeing this feminine side of the masculine male being more and more accepted.

• Strengths: Insight into the opposite gender, balance in personality, access to unconscious wisdom, emotional depth
• Weaknesses: Projection of idealized traits onto others, misunderstanding of one’s own emotions, imbalance can lead to personality conflicts, over-identification with gender stereotypes
• Film Examples: Carl Jung in A Dangerous Method (exploring Jung’s own theories including Anima and Animus), Cobb’s wife Mal in Inception (as an Anima figure influencing from the unconscious)

8. The hero

The hero archetype contains the qualities of bravery and strength. It is the champion of right and rescuer of those in peril. Although mostly containing positive attributes, there can also exist elements of arrogance and aggressiveness.

For example, the Great Man theory of leadership postulates that crises create situations that allow certain personality characteristics to emerge. Attributes such as decisiveness, charisma, and persuasiveness all come into play that allow one individual to rise above and lead others to victory.

• Strengths: Courageous, determined, honorable, inspiring
• Weaknesses: Overly ambitious, stubborn, risk-prone, can be arrogant
• Film Examples: Luke Skywalker in Star Wars , Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games

9. The trickster / jester / magician

This is the archetype which lies and deceives others. The trickster uses its knowledge and cunning to create chaos. This archetype has been represented in literature and various religious systems throughout history. 

For example, every office has one – a person that likes to spread gossip, saying a few words to one group, then saying a few words to another group. This is done all in an effort to create tension in the office. What is the ultimate objective? Sometimes it’s to divide and conquer in the hopes of creating career opportunities. In other instances, the goal is to just create turmoil in others.

• Strengths: Insightful, transformative, visionary, charismatic
• Weaknesses: Manipulative, secretive, can lose touch with reality, sometimes amoral
• Film Examples: Dumbledore in Harry Potter , Neo in The Matrix

10. The Explorer

The explorer archetype is characterized by a desire for freedom and a thirst for new experiences. Individuals with this archetype are often restless, with a deep longing to discover new places, ideas, and cultures. They value adventure and are not afraid to step out of their comfort zones.

For example, many digital nomads today embody the explorer archetype. They travel from one place to another, working remotely, all while soaking in new cultures, cuisines, and experiences. Their insatiable curiosity drives them to live life on the move.

• Strengths: Adventurous, independent, resourceful, curious
• Weaknesses: Restless, unsatisfied, can be solitary, might avoid commitment
• Film Examples: Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones , Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean

11. The Outlaw

The outlaw or rebel archetype is one that challenges established norms and breaks rules. They believe in disrupting the status quo and are not afraid to stand up against authority. Their defiance can sometimes lead to positive change, but it can also result in chaos.

For example, punk rockers in the 1970s and 1980s embodied the outlaw archetype. With their radical music, style, and anti-establishment attitude, they challenged societal norms and created a cultural movement that celebrated rebellion.

• Strengths: Independent, fearless, candid, transformative
• Weaknesses: Reckless, antagonistic, can be nihilistic, often alienates others
• Film Examples: Tyler Durden in Fight Club , Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day

12. The Lover

The lover archetype is all about passion, intimacy, and connection. This archetype doesn’t just apply to romantic relationships; it’s also about love for friends, family, or a cause. The lover is deeply emotional, empathetic, and often seeks unity.

For example, romantic poets like Lord Byron or John Keats exemplified the lover archetype, expressing deep emotions, passion, and longing in their writings.

• Strengths: Passionate, empathetic, committed, inspiring
• Weaknesses: Overly dependent on others, can be jealous, sometimes smothering, fears isolation
• Film Examples: Rose in Titanic , Jack Dawson in Titanic

13. The Everyman

Also known as the common man or the orphan, this archetype represents the ordinary individual. They are relatable, down-to-earth, and value community. The everyman seeks to belong and is often seen as a representative of the majority.

For example, sitcom characters like Jim Halpert from “The Office” or Leonard Hofstadter from “The Big Bang Theory” showcase the everyman archetype. Their daily struggles, relationships, and aspirations resonate with many viewers.

• Strengths: Relatable, empathetic, genuine, resilient
• Weaknesses: Sometimes lacks confidence, can be overlooked, often underestimates self, prone to conformity
• Film Examples: Marty McFly in Back to the Future , Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings

14. The Ruler

The ruler archetype exudes control, authority, and responsibility. They seek power, not for its own sake, but to create order and structure. They often have a vision of how things should be and will work diligently to see that vision come to life.

For example, CEOs of major corporations or monarchs from history, like Queen Elizabeth II, often display characteristics of the ruler archetype. Their roles necessitate leadership, responsibility, and governance.

• Strengths: Authoritative, organized, responsible, confident
• Weaknesses: Domineering, inflexible, authoritarian, can be disconnected from reality
• Film Examples: Mufasa in The Lion King , Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada

15. The Artist

The artist archetype is characterized by creativity, imagination, and a deep need for self-expression. They view the world through a unique lens and seek to share their perspectives with others. This archetype is not limited to just traditional arts; it can manifest in any form of creative expression.

For example, legendary figures in art, such as Frida Kahlo or Vincent van Gogh, are quintessential representations of the artist archetype. Their works were deeply personal and conveyed their unique perspectives on life, pain, and love.

• Strengths: Creativity, innovation, emotional depth, strong visual and aesthetic sensibility
• Weaknesses: Prone to mood swings, may be seen as impractical, often isolated, susceptible to self-doubt
• Film Examples: Jackson Pollock in Pollock , Guido Contini in Nine

Similarity and Differences with Freud  

Jung’s notion of archetypes and the collective unconscious were in part inspired by Freud’s theory of personality.

There are many similarities in their beliefs, as well as significant differences (Jung, 1961; 2015).

According to Mattoon (1985), when Jung and Freud met for the first time on March 3 rd , 1907, in Vienna, they talked for 13 straight hours.

Jung’s notion of the collective unconscious was different than Freud’s concept of the unconscious. For Freud, the unconscious consisted of each individual’s repressed or forgotten thoughts and impulses. It was very specific to the individual and not part of a collective whole shared by all human beings.

Jung referred to Freud’s unconscious as the personal conscious, but maintained that there was a deeper layer of the human psyche. This deeper layer is not unique to the individual, but rather it is universal and exists in a similar form in all human beings.

Both agreed that the unconscious was revealed in the use of symbolic language, analogies and metaphors (Bobroff, 2020). Some of these revelations occurred in dreams, of which both Jung and Freud were highly interested.

However, Jung believed that Freud’s interpretations of the images in dreams might be too literal (Bennet, 1995). Rather than always being expressions of repressed conflicts and impulses, Jung also believed that the images could reveal much more about the individual’s psyche, even point to future directions of the self and its purpose (Jung, 1960; 2014).

Jung’s thinking also departed from Freud’s notion of the libido. While Freud believed it to be primarily sexual in nature, Jung had a much broader conception. He considered the libido to be a form of psychic energy that compels adults into action to achieve (Sherry, 2013).

They both agreed on defense mechanisms and the existence of repressed impulses. For Jung, the shadow archetype is the functional equivalent of what Freud considered to be the primary components of the subconscious.

They both agreed that repressed conflicts and impulses were discomforting to the self’s conscious awareness and therefore had to be resolved through some means one way or another.

Applications of Jungian Theory and Archetypes  

1. in psychotherapy.

Several elements of Jungian theory have been adopted by modern practitioners.

Although his worked evolved to become more of a theory of personality than of psychopathology, it yielded a role in psychotherapy referred to as Analytical Psychology.

For example, Jung believed that separation from one’s true inner self was at the heart of many psychological ailments, a notion that is held today by many therapists and counselors.

The path to psychological recovery for some is to discover one’s true self and engage in purposeful behavior accordingly. In the modern world, many people feel disconnected and purposeless. A symptom, according to Jungian theory, of the conscious self being separated from its true manifestation in the unconscious.

In addition, and not well-known, Jung invented the famous word-association task (Jung, 1910). Initially he thought that the task would reveal patterns of words associated with specific psychiatric illnesses (Hall & Nordby, 1999). Not until later did he accept that mistake but still see the task as a valuable tool to better understand the patient.

He noticed that some words caused patients to pause, which he considered to be quite revealing.

He even utilized measures of physiological arousal to help identify physical symptoms of those emotional disturbances. He measured pulse rate, fluctuations in breathing, and changes in the electrical conductivity of the skin as a marker of nervousness (Hall & Nordby, 1999).

Roesler (2013) conducted a literature review of studies which examined the effectiveness of Jungian psychotherapy and concluded “All the studies show significant improvements not only on the level of symptoms and interpersonal problems, but also on the level of personality structure and in everyday life conduct. These improvements remain stable after completion of therapy over a period of up to six years” (p. 562).

2. In Personality Assessment

The most famous application of Jung’s theory, albeit not specifically related to the archetypes, is as the foundation for the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBPTI).

The MBPTI is a self-report questionnaire used to identify an individual’s personality type, in addition to their strengths and preferences. The test contains four scales: extroversion-introversion, sensing-intuiting, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceiving.

It began being developed in 1942 by Katharine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. They found the personality types described by Jung as being highly consistent with their own observations of people’s personality profiles.

So, they set forth developing a paper-and-pencil measure that could be easily administered and scored. Today, it is one of the most widely used psychological instruments in the world.

The scale is widely used in the business world and has evolved into a multi-million-dollar enterprise that is still going strong today.

3. In Literature

As Jung believed that the archetypes come from the collective unconscious, he pointed to common themes and characters which have been portrayed in literature, the arts, and religious practices for centuries and across cultures.

Analyzing artistic manifestations of the Jungian archetypes has become so prolific that it even has its own term: archetypical literary criticism.

Some of the earliest examples include Bodkin’s (1934) analysis of Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, and Coleridge. Other examples include Drew’s (1949) examination of T. S. Eliot and Singer’s (1970) interpretation of William Blake.

The study of individual characters in terms of their archetypal relevance include Frodo and Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings (Skogemann, 2009).

According to Leigh (2011), Christopher Booker examined fairy tales, biblical stories and popular films from a Jungian archetypal psychology and identified several common plots, including: rags to riches, overcoming the monster, and voyage and return, among others.

There are literally thousands of articles, books, and university courses that utilize Jungian archetypes as a basis for literary analysis.

See Also: Maiden Archetypes

The Jungian archetypes consist of common personality dimensions in the human psyche that have existed since the beginning of human history.

The archetypes comprise the structure of the collective unconscious and can be seen in literary works, religions, and cultural symbols across time and cultures.

We can see examples of archetypes in ourselves and the people around us, in the books we read and the movies we watch. According to Jung, their commonality is evidence for the existence of a collective unconscious that we all share.

Unlike Freud, Jung believed that the unconscious was not solely devised by the individual’s repressed conflicts and impulses, but also provides an opportunity to see the individual’s purpose in life and guidance for their unique journey.

According to Jung, to be well and whole, one must discover one’s true inner self, integrate it with the collective unconscious, and exercise its purpose in daily life, called individuation.

Bennet, E. A. (1995). What Jung really said . New York: Schocken Books.

Bobroff, G. (2020). Knowledge in a Nutshell: Carl Jung: The complete guide to the great psychoanalyst, including the unconscious, archetypes and the self (Vol. 4). Arcturus Publishing.

Bodkin, M. (1934). Archetypal patterns in poetry: Psychological studies of imagination . London: Oxford.

Booker, C. (2004). The seven basic plots: Why we tell stories . A&C Black.

Drew, E. (1949). T. S. Eliot: The design of his poetry . N. Y.: Scribner’s.

Hall, C. S., & Nordby, V. J. (1999). A primer of Jungian psychology . Penguin.

Hilaire, C. S. (2019). Jungian psychology in a demanding modern world. Environment and Social Psychology , 4 (1).

Jung, C. G. (1910). The association method. The American Journal of Psychology , 21 (2), 219-269.

Jung, C. G. (1960). Collected Works. Vol. 8. The structure and dynamics of the psyche. Pantheon.

Jung, C. G. (1961; 2015). Freud and Jung: Contrasts 1. In Freud and Psychoanalysis, Vol. 4 (pp. 333-340). Routledge.

Jung, C. G. (2014). The archetypes and the collective unconscious . Routledge.

Jung, C. H. (2014). Collected works of CG Jung, volume 16: Practice of psychotherapy . Princeton University Press.

Jung, C. G. (2014). Four archetypes . Routledge. Translated by R. F. C. Hull. London and New York: Routledge.

Leigh, D. J. (2011). Carl Jung’s archetypal psychology, literature, and ultimate meaning. Ultimate Reality and Meaning , 34 (1-2), 95-112.

Mattoon, M. A. (1985). Jungian psychology in perspective . Simon and Schuster.

Myers, S. (2016). Myers‐Briggs typology and Jungian individuation. Journal of Analytical Psychology , 61 (3), 289-308. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5922.12233

Roesler, C. (2013). Evidence for the effectiveness of Jungian psychotherapy: A review of empirical studies. Behavioral Sciences , 3 (4), 562-575. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/bs3040562

Sherry, J. (2013). Beatrice Hinkle and the early history of Jungian psychology in New York. Behavioral Sciences , 3 (3), 492-500. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/bs3030492

Singer, J. (1973). The unholy bible: A psychological interpretation of William Blake . Harper & Row.

Skogemann, P. (2009). Where the Shadows Lie: A Jungian Interpretation of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings . Chiron Publications.

• Dave Cornell (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/dave-cornell-phd/ 23 Achieved Status Examples
• Dave Cornell (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/dave-cornell-phd/ 25 Defense Mechanisms Examples
• Dave Cornell (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/dave-cornell-phd/ 15 Theory of Planned Behavior Examples
• Dave Cornell (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/dave-cornell-phd/ 18 Adaptive Behavior Examples

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 23 Achieved Status Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 15 Ableism Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 25 Defense Mechanisms Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 15 Theory of Planned Behavior Examples

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Home — Essay Samples — History — Exploration — Jungian Analysis Of My Dream: An Exploration of the Unconscious

Jungian Analysis of My Dream: an Exploration of The Unconscious

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The Chosen Few: Analysis as the Hero’s Journey

“The Chosen Few:”

Analysis as the Hero’s Journey

“To develop one’s own personality is indeed an unpopular undertaking, a deviation that is highly uncongenial to the herd, an eccentricity smelling of the cenobite, as it seems to the outsider. Small wonder, then, that from earliest times only the chosen few have embarked upon this strange adventure.” [1]

            In the previous blog essay [2] I described some of the many benefits that accrue to those who undergo a Jungian analysis, and I noted that the process is not without its costs. This essay will describe some of those costs–the challenges and demands of the work that make it truly a process that calls up the hero within us.

Challenges in the Analytical Process

            Mental Challenges. There are many challenges. Let’s start with the mental challenges, since Western culture lives so much in the head. First, while analysis has some intellectual components, it is not primarily something accomplished via the left-brain linear logic so beloved in our modern world. In other words, it’s not something one can “figure out.” It is more experiential—a series of lived experiences, “for which reason is no substitute.” [3] For Thinking types or those (like me) who start analysis with a well-developed intellect, this challenge gives rise to no end of frustration.

            So we can’t think our way through analysis. Indeed, in many cases, attitudes and thoughts will pose problems. Analysis asks us to get rid of the prejudices, beliefs, habits of thinking and ways of interpreting reality that block our growth, and to “attain an attitude which offers the least resistance to the decisive experience.” [4] This is not easy, in part because so many of our attitudes are unconscious, and it is impossible to give up what you don’t know you have. So, to clear out mental “stuff” we have first to work on becoming conscious of the unconscious. The “how” of doing this is not obvious and we have to look to the analyst for support.

            Another mental challenge involves re-perception. Jung asks us, for example, to rethink our attitude around difficulties. Most of us, when given the choice, would take a pass. Let’s go for what’s easy. Why bother with hardships? But Jung reminds us that “Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health.” [5] We have to stop playing the “blame game,” buck up and regard hurdles as goads to our growth.

            A third mental challenge comes from the nature of the material dealt with in analysis: fairy tales, legends, myths, folklore, the psychology of the primitive mind, alchemy, cabala, Gnosticism, astrology, numerology [6] —Jung drew on all these and more in developing his psychology, recognizing that these ancient wisdom systems are reflected in the dreams of modern men and women. But who studies this sort of thing these days? [7] So the analysand starting off in analysis quickly finds him/herself floundering in very strange waters. Dependence on the knowledge and skill of the analyst is essential, but trust is not developed over night and so it can be a hard slog in the beginning, especially for those who are used to being in intellectually familiar terrain.

            Dream work also poses many mental challenges. Aside from drawing on all the strange stuff mentioned above, handling dreams requires a “special knack, an intuitive understanding … and a considerable knowledge of the history of symbols…” [8] Again, the analysand can assume the analyst has these mental attributes but, from my own experience, I know how frustrating it can be to be told this or that, yet not be able to understand it for myself. So much to learn! So many skills to acquire!

            Moral Challenges. Then there are the moral challenges. Analysis asks us to “give up a large slice of [our] infantilism,” [9] something that Jung acknowledges we are never normally asked to do. We also must be willing to sacrifice our privacy, to lay ourselves open to another person, [10] and to do this voluntarily (no torture, water-boarding or duress here!). We must summon up the moral courage to overcome our “considerable resistances” [11] and allow the psyche to have its way with us, all while we are pretty much clueless about what that means exactly (or even vaguely). The process involves our stripping away “all human pretences,” with the result that, as Jung says, both analyst and analysand get under each other’s skin. [12]

            Then there are the moral challenges that relate to the virtues required for the work. Every day we will face the banal and it will make banal demands on our patience from which we must not flinch. [13] We must fulfill these demands with a humility that is hard to summon. [14] We have to find within ourselves the adaptability to stay open to change not just once or twice but repeatedly, [15] as we move through various stages of transformation. We need empathy, [16] for ourselves, for those our lives impact, for the world as a whole. We need to summon the courage to stand against the mainstream and its materialistic denigration of intangibles like the psyche. [17] We have to be willing to risk being regarded as crazy or odd for our interest in the inner life. We have to have sound morals, a good measure of intelligence, knowledge of the world [18] and a “canniness” [19] about humanity as we confront the “most questionable and painful aspects of [our own] character.” [20] No wonder Jung warns that someone contemplating analysis better be strongly motivated!

            Spiritual Challenges. Going one’s own way—standing up to the mainstream culture and, in spite of it, doing your own thing—gives rise to guilt. [21] Society expects us to adapt to others. Jungian analysis calls on us instead to individuate—to develop an “exclusive adaptation to our inner reality…” [22] and align our lives with what the Self asks of us, rather than with what society might expect. The guilt that arises from doing this must be expiated. How? By “bringing forth new values” [23] that serve our society.

            Jung felt that people who went into analysis had this task of service to the whole as part of their life’s destiny. They were “chosen” for this work, challenged to “conquer themselves completely” [24] —something that is seldom or never demanded of the average person. But analysis is not for the “average” person. It is the work of heroes. [25]

Jung’s Concept of the Hero

            Mention the word “hero” to a typical 21 st century American and he or she will think of Indiana Jones or the brave local fireman who rescues the baby from the burning building or the men who dig people out of the rubble of an earthquake—all of these heroics on the physical level. Jung defined “hero” differently, referring more to the inner qualities and psychic courage required to “develop one’s own personality” [26] rather than the external forms involved in braving snake pits, fires or earthquakes.

            The Jungian hero is one “delivered from convention.” [27] He goes his own way and rises out of the unconscious identity with the mass that is the reality for most people. [28] The hero suffers, because his/her path is “trod only from inner necessity and it is sharp as a razor’s edge.” [29] In other words, Jung felt nobody would blithely undertake an analysis for the fun of it. There isn’t all that much fun in it.

            In fact, it is at times extraordinarily painful. It is lonely work, demanding our very life’s blood to stick with it. Few people in mainstream society understand what it is about or the demands it makes, so most analysands find themselves reorienting their social life to link up with like-minded people in and around Jung Institutes, Jung Centers and other such gathering places for fellow travelers on the path of the soul. [30]

            Heroes have a “vocation,” [31] a calling for the work of analysis. The Latin root of “vocation” [32] means “calling.” The hero has been “called” to “emancipate himself from the herd and from its well-worn paths.” [33] Jung felt a vocation acted like a “law of God from which there is no escape,” [34] and the person with a vocation had to obey the “voice of the inner man.” [35] He could do nothing else.

            Jung himself was called. He knew whereof he wrote. From personal experience he knew how hard it is to have a vocation, to be an enigma to most and an affront to many. Few others know what is really going on in the life of the hero, [36] called to his/her task. Our society is especially dense about this, given its materialism and scientism.

            Hero that he was, Jung knew just how much the hero’s life is “oriented by fateful decisions,” [37] and how clearly such a person can sense his/her direction. Hero that he was, Jung was able to put his soul in place of conscience [38] and act on the dictates of the Self. Such a life is only for the “chosen few.” [39]

The Chosen Few

            “Many are called; few are chosen.” [40] We all have a vocation—some calling or inner claim our soul has on our life. Part of “following your bliss” [41] entails discovering this vocation. It is noble work and analysis may be a part of it. But maybe not. As the above indicates, analysis is not for everyone. I am very enthusiastic about it, in part because it saved my sanity, while also giving me both the content and direction for the rest of my life. But I also recognize I was destined for it.

            Given the pain, the myriad challenges, the extraordinary demands of the process, I cannot imagine how anyone would venture into analysis unless they had to do so. It is not for the faint of heart, nor for the dabbler interested in finding out more about Jung and his thought. If you are such a dabbler, the various Jung Societies and Centers can provide you with a multitude of lectures, workshops and courses that will satisfy your intellectual interest. To undertake analysis requires more than a cursory interest in Jung and his ideas. If your life isn’t a mess, if you don’t live daily at the edge of desperation, if the banality and emptiness of our materialistic society is not eating up your innards, you might not have the necessary motivation for the work. Usually we need some major motivator (like extreme psychic agony) to get up the gumption to go for it.

            At this point you might be asking yourself if individuation is possible without an analysis? It depends—on you and your circumstances. Jung felt an individual undertaking such an ambitious task would have to be “… an earnest and conscientious person with a trained mind and a scientific education…” able to “acquire sufficient knowledge through a careful study of the existing literature to apply the method to himself to a certain extent.” [42] But because individuation cannot happen in isolation (being a dialectical process), the person would “… not be able to progress beyond a certain point without the help of an experienced teacher.” [43]

            The old adage assures us “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” If you are committed to your individuation, the knowledge, the literature, the insights, and the teacher will appear. Each of us can find the hero that lives within. Trust your inner guidance and the way will be revealed to you.

Bibliography

Campbell, Joseph with Bill Moyers (1988), The Power of Myth. New York: Doubleday.

Jung, Carl (1961), “Freud and Psychoanalysis,” Collected Works , 4. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1966), “Two Essays on Analytical Psychology,” CW 7. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1960), ”The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche,” CW 8. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1969), “Psychology and Religion: West and East,” CW 11. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1953), “Psychology and Alchemy,” CW 12. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1954), “The Development of Personality,” CW 17. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1976), ”The Symbolic Life,” CW 18. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Loy, R., “Foreword to Some Crucial Points in Psychoanalysis,” CW 4, pp. 252-3.

[1] Collected Works , 17, ¶298. As has been the convention in these blog essays, Collected Works hereafter will be abbreviated CW.

[2] “Why Go Into Analysis?,” posted to this blog site last month.

[3] CW 4, ¶446.

[4] CW 11, ¶904.

[5] CW 8, ¶143.

[6] CW 8, ¶553.

[7] I was fortunate that I began analysis having spent years as a scholar of medievalia , familiar with Latin, Greek, paleography, mythology, legends etc.  

[8] CW 17, ¶198.

[9] CW 4, ¶445.

[10] “Foreword” by Dr. R. Loy; CW 4, p. 253.

[11] CW 7, ¶224.

[12] CW 12, ¶5.

[13] CW   7, ¶72.

[15] CW 8, ¶143.

[17] CW 17, ¶300. For more on our culture’s denigration of intangibles, see the essay “The Psyche is Real: Materialism, Scientism and Jung’s Empiricism,” on this blog site.

[18] CW 18, ¶1392.

[19] CW 8, ¶543.

[20] CW 18, ¶1392.

[21] CW 18, ¶1094.

[22] CW 18, ¶1095.

[23] Ibid. For what some of these values might be, see the essay “The Apocatastasis of Our Global Civilization,” posted on this blog site.

[24] CW 4, ¶443.

[25] CW 17, ¶298.

[28] CW 17, ¶299.

[29] CW 7, ¶401.

[30] This theme of linking up with others on the path of individuation was considered in the essay “The Social Implications of Individuation,” previously posted on this blog site.

[31] CW 17, ¶300.

[32] Voco-are = “to call.”

[33] CW 17, ¶300.

[36] CW 17, ¶302.

[37] CW 7, ¶72.

[38] This ability was one mark of the hero, according to Jung; CW 7, ¶401.

[39] CW 17, ¶298. If my description makes analysis sound hard, that’s because it is hard, but if it is what you really want to do, you will find the strength in yourself. You can rise to the challenge if you are destined for it.

[40] Matthew 22:14.

[41] This phrase will be forever associated with the work of Joseph Campbell; see Campbell (1988), 147.

[42] CW 18, ¶1391.

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A Jungian Analysis of The Sound and the Fury: Faulkner and the Four Functions

Submitted by Edna Brown, St. Louis, Missouri.

In a 1956 interview for the   Paris Review   , when asked about whether he’d read the works of Sigmund Freud, William Faulkner responded, “Everybody talked about Freud when I lived in New Orleans, but I have never read him. Neither did Shakespeare. I doubt if Melville did either, and I’m sure Moby Dick didn’t” (qtd. in Stein 20). Although Faulkner may have taken the question lightly, it remains one of great import to the critic who seeks to establish a conscious effort on Faulkner’s part to explicate the veracity of psychoanalytic theory through his fiction. Carvel Collins was among the first to suggest such a conscious connection between Faulkner and Freud in his 1952 essay “The Interior Monologues of   The Sound and the Fury   ,” in which Collins describes how “Faulkner built his novel around Freud’s tri-partite structure of the personality; in this structure, Benjy is roughly equivalent to the id, Quentin to the ego, and Jason the superego” (Polk 15).

Psychoanalytic readings of Faulkner have flourished in the decades since Collins’s publication. For example, John T. Irwin’s 1975 work   Doubling and Incest/Repetition and Revenge: A Speculative Reading of Faulkner   centers “around the Oedipus complex and its relation to the problem of incest, which figures so prominently in Faulkner’s work” (Bockting 304). Kartiganer and Abadie published   Faulkner and Psychology   in 1994, a collection of Freudian, Lacanian, and feminist essays presented at the 1991 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. Today, one can scarcely browse through a special Faulkner issue of   Mississippi Quarterly   without finding at least one or two articles with a psychoanalytic bent. Yet, despite this strong psychoanalytic body of criticism, very little of it takes a Jungian perspective. Terrel Tebbets seems to be the leading Jungian authority on Faulkner. His 1989 publication of “Shadows of Jung: A Psychological Approach to   Light in August   ” helps to illuminate Jungian concepts of anima, animus, shadow, and individuation at work within the novel. Likewise, in “Giving Jung a Crack at the Compsons,” Tebbets makes recommendations as to how teachers might guide students through a Jungian reading of   The Sound and the Fury   . Although Tebbets touches on issues of shadow and anima/animus, his reading seems to focus on the “failed individeuation” of the Compson siblings and how the Compson parents contribute to that failure.

My reading of   The Sound and the Fury   will focus, as Tebbet’s does, on failed individuation, but rather than viewing each of the Compson siblings as a separate self-failed in individuating, I will demonstrate how each represents a different aspect of a greater whole the artist’s self, and then because the work is visionary, by extension, the collective Self of human kind. First, I will establish Faulkner’s work as visionary in the Jungian sense through discussing the novel’s origins and Jung’s concept of archetypal imagery. Further, I will outline Jung’s concept of the Mandela and the four psychological functions to demonstrate how the each of the Compsons corresponds with one or another of these functions. Finally, I will illuminate how Faulkner’s work, read from a Jungian perspective, rather than being misogynistic, laments the absence of the feminine and speaks to the value of the feminine within the collective human soul.

This paper began with the question of Freud’s influence on Faulkner, and now it turns towards a Jungian reading of Faulkner’s work. However, it seems imperative to first explain that a major reason for Jung’s split from Freud had to do with their differing views on the human imagination. While Freud looked at the literary product to reveal the personal psychology of the artist or as a symptom of that psychology, Jung looked to art to reveal truths about the collective human soul or psyche (Jacoby 66-67). Jung classified works of literature into two distinct groups. The first, Jung referred to as psychological and described them as “works, prose as well as poetry, that spring wholly from the author’s   intention   to produce a particular result...He exercises the keenest judgment and chooses his words with complete freedom” (Jung qtd. in Jacoby 69, italics mine). The second type of literary work is not the product of intention. Instead, it arrives

as it were, fully arrayed into the world, as Pallas Athene sprang from the head of Zeus. These works positively force themselves upon the author; his hand is seized, his pen writes things that his mind contemplates with amazement. The work brings with it its own form; anything the wants to add is rejected, and what he himself would like to reject is thrust back at him. While his conscious mind stands amazed and empty before this phenomenon, he is overwhelmed by a flood of thoughts and images which he never intended to create and which his own will could never have brought into being...He can only obey the apparently alien impulse within him and follow where it leads, sensing that his work is greater than himself, and wields a power which is not his and which he cannot command... (Jung qtd. in Jacoby 70).

According to Jungian thought, art that is produced in such a fashion is considered of the visionary type, and it was this type of art that Jung was most concerned with because he believed it sprang from and offered “profound insights into the secret workings of a man’s collective psychological life” (Jacoby 71).

Faulkner’s description of how   The Sound and the Fury   came into being and his discussion of the almost painful process of writing the book allow the reader to see how the work qualifies as visionary. When asked about the source from which the novel sprang, Faulkner replied,

It began with a mental picture. I didn’t realize at the time it was symbolical. The picture was of the muddy seat of a little girl’s drawers in a pear-tree, where she could see through a window where her grandmother’s funeral was taking place and report what was happening to her brothers on the ground below... (qtd. in Stein 13).

The story of the Compsons emerged, as Faulkner suggests most of his stories do, “with a single idea or memory or mental picture” (qtd. in Stein 16). Jung’s idea of archetypal imagery must be considered here. A major concept Jung set forth in his theory is the concept of archetypes or “universal patterns or motifs that come from the collective unconscious...[which] emerge in individuals through dreams and visions” (Sugg 422). Faulkner’s description of how his stories frequently have their genesis in an image suggests a non-rational sort of boiling up from the unconscious, rather than an intentional conscious plan on the part of the artist. This helps to establish at least some of Faulkner’s stories as visionary. But even more convincing evidence that   The Sound and the Fury   fits this classification rests in Faulkner’s description of writing the novel, for he describes it as the story “which caused [him] the most grief and anguish” (qtd. in Stein 13). Faulkner explains:

I had already begun to tell the story through the eyes of the idiot child, since I felt that it would be more effective as told by someone capable only of knowing what happened, but not why. I saw that I had not told the story that time. I tried to tell it again, the same story through the eyes of another brother. That was still not it. I told it for a third time through the eyes of the third brother. That was still not it. I tried to gather the pieces together and fill in the gaps by making myself the spokesman. It was still not complete, not until fifteen years after the book was published when I wrote as an appendix to another book the final effort to get the story told and off my mind, so that I myself could have some peace from it...I couldn’t leave it alone, and I never could tell it right... (qtd. in Stein 14).

Clearly, Faulkner conveys a sense of not being in control of the story, a sense of attempting to obey “the apparently alien impulse within him and follow where it leads” as Jung suggests visionary artist do (Jung qtd. in Jacoby 70). Classifying   The Sound and the Fury   as a visionary work in the Jungian sense is important to the present discussion because it allows the critic to view the work in terms of what message it offers, not merely about the psychic functioning of the individual artist, but also about the state of the collective human psyche.

Although Jungian analysis does not end with the study of the individual psyche, my analysis of the characters in   The Sound and the Fury   must begin there. Jung looked to symbols in art and literature to “find the ways in which the self has been described and expressed in various religions and occult systems, psychologies, arts and philosophies through history” (Rykman 72). He asserts that the process of individuation or the union of opposites within the self “has always been represented in symbols” (Jung   Alchemical Studies   21). One universal symbol of the self that is important to Jungian theory is the Mandela or “magic circle” (Jung   Alchemical Studies   22). Jung suggests when depicted in a drawn format, “Most mandelas take the form of a flower, cross, or wheel and show a distinct tendency towards a quaternary structure” (Jung   Alchemical Studies   22). Thus the number four becomes significant to the Jungian critic. In fact, whereas Freudian theory poses a tri-partite structure of the personality (id, ego, and superego), Jungian theory proposes a quaternary personality structure, with its description of the four functions of the psyche: thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition. Jung describes the functions as follows: “Under sensation, I include all perceptions by means of the sense organs; by thinking, I mean the function of intellectual cognition and the forming of logical conclusions; feeling is a function of subjective valuation; intuition I take as perception by way of the unconscious, or perception of the unconscious contents” (Jung   Psychological Types 518).   Jung further subdivides these functions because they involve passively recording experience without evaluation or interpreting” (Rykman 76). The psyche can be depicted as a Mandela or circle, and these four functions form its “cardinal points”; the self resides at the mandela’s center (Frye 25).

As noted previously in this paper, Carvel Collins has described how the three Compson brothers might correspond with one or the other of Freud’s concepts of id, ego, and superego, but Collins’s analysis fails to account for the fourth Compson sibling Caddy. While it is true, Caddy does not have her own narrative section in   The Sound and the Fury   , she is, nevertheless, an important presence in the novel. With this in mind, I propose to demonstrate how each of the Compson children correspond in nature to a different psychic function as delineated by Jung: Quentin to thinking, Jason to feeling, Benjy to sensation, and Caddy to intuition; further, I will suggest that each of these characters/functions represents an aspect of the writer’s self. Together they form a magic circle with Faulkner’s self at center.

Quentin Compson is above all a thinking man. Throughout the novel he is associated with the intellect by his connection with school. As children when Quentin and Caddy are arguing about who knows more, Quentin seems to win the argument when he says, “I’m older than that [...] I go to school” (Faulkner 20). The watch he breaks on the day of his suicide and which receives an almost absurd amount of his attention in the beginning of his narrative is a gift given to him by his father on the day of his high-school graduation, and therefore symbolic of his intellectual achievement. Further, Quentin’s hyper-awareness of time and struggle against it contrasts sharply with Benjy, who as a result of his lack of intellectual capacity, “exists as much outside of space as outside of time” (Polk 141). As time is a concept of the human mind, Quentin’s obsession with it marks him as a man concerned with order, a thinking man. Quentin is the brother who went to Harvard, the Compson’s own Harvard boy. At Harvard, he is enrolled in a psychology class, a course which concerns itself with the study of the mind. Further, one of his college friends Shreve defends him as a man more driven b logic than lust when he says of Quentin, “Ah, let him alone [...] if he’s got better sense than to chase after dirty little sluts, whose business” (Faulkner 96).

Quentin’s narrative proves him a man prone to contemplation. For example, he frequently ruminates over previous conversations he’s had with his father. His narrative begins with one such memory of a rather philosophical discourse on the nature of time and the human attempt to “use it gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience” (Faulkner 93). Any conversation which includes Latin is likely to be a conversation among the learned, the educated, the intellectual. Quentin and his father speak together of the nature of being: “Father said a man is the sum of his misfortunes” (Faulkner 129) and “...Father was teaching us that all men are just accumulations dolls stuffed with sawdust swept up form the trash heaps where all previous dolls had been thrown away...” (Faulkner 218). Still another remembered conversation links Quentin to the life of the mind a discussion of books: “   Father said it used to be a gentleman was known by his books; nowadays he is known by the ones he has not returned   ” (Faulkner 99). This memory comes as Quentin stacks his own books in the sitting-room in his dorm, the ones he “brought from home” and others.

A closer reading of Quentin’s narrative also reveals his tendency toward thought. For example, in the brief passage cited below, ten words related to thinking or knowing are noted:

When I first came East,   I kept thinking   You’ve got   to remember to think   of them as coloured people not niggers, and if it hadn’t happened that I wasn’t thrown with many of them, I’d have wasted a lot of time and trouble before   I learned   that the best way to take all people, black or white, is to take them for what   they think   they are, then leave them alone. That was when   I realised   that a nigger is not a person so much as a form of behaviour; assort of obverse reflection of the white people he lives among. But   I thought   at first that I ought to miss having a lot of them around me because   I thought   that   Northerners thought   I did, but   I didn’t know   that I really had missed Roskus and Dilsey... (Faulkner 106, italics mine).

Not only is Quentin thinking about race here, he is also thinking about how he should think, and he’s thinking about how he should feel. At one point as he looks out across the water at the bridge where he plans to commit suicide, he seems to be thinking, like Hamlet in his “To be or not to be” soliloquy, of the consequences of self-inflicted death, “   If it could just be hell beyond that   ” (144). Then later, Quentin thinks about what he used to think of death: “It used to be I thought of death as a man something like Grandfather [...]” (Faulkner 281). He even goes as far as to describe how he thinks sensations into being when he imagines death: “Just by imagining the clump [of cedars] it seemed to me that I could hear whispers secret surges smell the beating of hot blood [...]” (Faulkner 219). Jung describes thinking types as those who are almost “exclusively oriented by what they think, and simply cannot adapt to a situation which they are unable to understand intellectually” (   Psychological Types   519). While Quentin reports other functions (e.g., he says he misses Roskus and Dilsey [feeling] and hears and smells death [sensation]), he accesses those functions primarily through thought. Richard Feldstein writes that Quentin characteristically “lives ‘in the mind’ of necessity as a way to avoid emotion” (9).

If Quentin is characterized by the function of thinking, Jason’s predominant function is feeling. “In the same way that thinking organizes the contents of consciousness under concepts, feeling arranges them according to their value” (Jung   Psychological Types   435). In the Jungian sense, being a feeling type has much to do with making judgments about the value of objects, people, and experiences. Jason is constantly judging and de-valuing people. His narrative begins with this kind of judgment, “Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say” (Faulkner 223). Terrell Tebbets points to a number of other such judgments Jason makes about people, including “old woman...dam little slut...old half dead nigger...dam squirts...nigger wench...no-count nigger...dam eastern jews...dam redneck...and Great American Gelding” (Faulkner qtd. in Tebbets “Giving” 82). Barker and Kamps suggest that Jason “operates in the world of language as if   he   were the arbiter of every man’s virtue” (390), and such an interpretation is consistent with my classification of him as a feeling type.

Just as Quentin’s narrative is noted for numerous references to words having to do with thinking, a close reading of Jason’s narrative reveals almost constant references to judging and valuing. For example, when Jason goes to send a telegram to Caddy and Doc Wright mistakes his message for a code about buying stock, Jason advises, “That’s all right about that [...] You boys use your own judgment [...] You boys follow your own judgment” (Faulkner 239-240). Then about money, Jason suggests “After all, like I say money has no value” (Faulkner 241). The following conversation with a customer at the store whom Jason refers to as a “damn redneck” centers around the value of the quality of a “hame string”:

‘You’d better take that good one,’ I says.

‘If this one aint any good,’ he says, ‘why have you got I on sale?’

‘I didn’t say it wasn’t any good,’ I says, ‘I said it’s not as good as that other one.’

‘How do you know its not?’ he says. ‘You ever use airy one of them?’

‘Because they don’t ask thirty-five cents for it,’ I says. ‘That’s how I know it’s not as good’ (Faulkner 242).

It is difficult to find a passage in Jason’s narrative where he isn’t judging someone or something.

Jason is also associated with two extremes of feeling throughout the novel: sadness and rage. In what seems uncharacteristic of the adult Jason the reader comes to know, the child Jason is depicted crying at several points in Benjy’s narrative. For example, Benjy describes one such occasion, “They fought. Jason began to cry. ‘Caddy,’ Father said. Jason was crying [...] Jason lay on the floor crying” (Faulkner 78). A bit further in the same section, Jason’s response to having to sleep in the room “where we have measles” and not with his grandmother is to cry (Faulkner 89). By the time he reaches adulthood, however, his crying seems to have turned to anger. Thinking often turns to feeling for him. For example, as he’s thinking about either Quentin’s or his father’s burial, he explains, “I got to thinking about that and watching them throwing dirt onto it, slapping it on anyway like they were making mortar or something...and I began to feel sort of funny” (Faulkner 250). Then a bit later, “I got to thinking about when we were little and one thing and another and I got to feeling funny again, kind of mad or something, [...]” (Faulkner 252). In the closing scene of the novel, Jason comes to fully embody the   Fury   of the title when “With a backhanded blow he hurled Luster aside and caught the reins and sawed Queenie about and [...] slashed her across the hips. He cut her again and again [...] Then he struck Luster over the head [...] reached back and struck Ben” before finally threatening to kill Luster (Faulkner 400). The language Faulkner uses here to describe Jason’s actions toward everyone signifies his extreme rage.

While Quentin and Jason stand as polar opposites representing the two extremes of Jung’s rational functions, Benjy’s personality clearly represents the psychic function of sensations, a function Jung describes as an irrational “elementary phenomenon” that is “strongly developed in children and primitives” (Jung   Psychological Types   462). Because of his stunted intellectual development, Benjy is child-like or primitive in his functioning. He sees, hears, and smells the world around him without making logical judgments about it. He does respond to the information he senses, but doesn’t seem capable of processing intellectually what happens around him. For example, in the beginning of the novel, Benjy reports what he sees and hears “between the curling flower spaces” (Faulkner 1), and he reacts in response to the golfer’s calling for a caddie because he can’t intellectually distinguish between the meaning of the words   Caddy   and   caddie   . Readers know he reacts to what he hears, not because Benjy reveals that he feels sad, but because Benjy reports Luster saying to him, “Listen at you now [....] Ain’t you something, thirty-three years old, going on that way” (Faulkner 1). Faulkner once described Benjy as incapable of thinking or feeling. “Benjy wasn’t rational enough even to be selfish. He was an animal. He recognized tenderness and love though he could not have name them [...]” (qtd. in Stein 14).

Like an animal, Benjy has a more keenly developed sense of smell than most human beings. For example, he identifies people by their smell, making frequent references to Caddy smelling like trees (Faulkner 5, 8, 50, 51, 54, 88). He reports liking the smell of Versh’s house (Faulkner 33) and later says, “Versh smelled like rain. He smelled like a dog too” (Faulkner 84). Benjy also reports that his father smells like rain (Faulkner 79), and he even seems capable of smelling death. On the night of one death in the family, as T.P. hurriedly dresses Benjy to get him out of the house, Benjy keeps repeating in his narrative, “I could smell it,” but never identifies what   it   is. When T.P. and Benjy go outside, the dog, Dan, is howling. T.P., referring to Dan’s howling, says, “He smell it” to Benjy, then “Is that the way you found out” (Faulkner 41). The reader is left to infer that both Benjy and the dog know that someone has died because they can smell it. Benjy’s strong reliance on his sense of smell aligns him with the primitive, which Jung associates with the function of sensation.

It is not the sense of smell alone that allows Benjy to represent Jung’s psychic function of sensation. Benjy is also associated with sensation in other ways throughout the novel. His constant moaning and bellowing connects to the “Sound” in the book’s title. He is the sound. This becomes clear in the novel’s end as Luster drives him the wrong way to the cemetery. Faulkner writes, “For an instant Ben sat in utter hiatus. Then he bellowed. Bellow on bellow his voice mounted with scarce interval for breath. There was more than astonishment in it, it was horror; shock; agony; eyeless; tongueless; just sound” (Faulkner 400). Further, Benjy finds comfort in visual and tactile stimulation. He likes to watch and listen to fire and look into mirrors. Fires are built or he is frequently led to them to stop his bellowing. One memory he has is of Caddy hushing him, telling him “   You can look at the fire and the mirror and the cushion, too   ” (Faulkner 80). He is frequently given objects to hold to quite him Caddy’s old slipper, a flower. Dilsey identifies his need for tactile stimulation when she explains to his mother, “Give him a flower to hold [...] That what he wanting” (Faulkner 10). Her statement confirms Benjy’s primary reliance on the psychic function of sensation.

Like sensation, intuition is classified as an irrational function because it refers to knowledge that springs from feeling. It is a sense of knowing, not based on logic or derived from books. Caddy best represents this function in   The Sound and the Fury   . Her intuitive nature becomes evident in a scene from her childhood during an argument with Quentin. The two are arguing, not over how their mother is going to react to Caddy’s wet dress, but over   how each knows   how she will react. Versh says Caddy’s mother will whip her for getting wet. Caddy doesn’t believe she will. When Quentin asks Caddy how she knows what her mother will do, Caddy responds, “That’s all right how I know [...] I’m seven years old [...] I guess I know” (Faulkner 20). Caddy has no logical basis for her knowledge. She speaks as if it is just in her being to know. She has an intuitive knowing. On the other hand, when Quentin is asked how he knows how his mother will react, he cites logical evidence, “She said she was [going to whip Caddy if she got dirty]” (Faulkner 20). Later in life with Jason, Caddy’s intuitive nature comes through as well. She comes to town in hopes of seeing her daughter Quentin, but during her meeting with Jason, she asks to see bank statements. Caddy intuits that something isn’t right with the way Jason is handling the money she sends for Quentin, and her intuition is correct.

Caddy exhibits an intuitive attitude toward knowing in her interactions with each of her siblings, but most distinctively in her interactions with Benjy. For example, in the scene where Benjy remembers Caddy coming home from school and Versh taking Benjy out to meet her, Caddy attempts to intuitively determine what Benjy is trying to tell her. She asks a few times, “What is it. What are you trying to tell Caddy” (Faulkner 6). Though Benjy can’t talk, Caddy determines that Benjy must think it is Christmas. She says, “Did you think it would be Christmas when I came home from school. Is that what you thought” (Faulkner 6). She uses intuition to understand. Benjy again when he comes into her room crying, and she first tries to comfort him with the smell of perfume. When the perfume doesn’t work, Benjy explains how “She put the bottle down and came and put her arms around me. ‘So that was it. And you were trying to tell Caddy and you couldn’t tell her. You wanted to, but you couldn’t, could you. Of course Caddy wont. Of course Caddy wont’” (Faulkner 51). Apparently, Caddy understands what is wrong with Benjy here through intuition. Benjy doesn’t tell her. She just knows he seems to be afraid of her leaving.

Just as thinking and feeling exist as polar opposites on the same rational plane in the psychic functioning of an individual, sensation and intuition exist as polarities on the irrational plane, but their relationship is less oppositional and more compensatory than that of thinking and feeling. Understanding how Caddy represents the intuitive function requires reviewing Jung’s position on the nature of the relationship between sensation and intuition. Jung writes, “Like sensation, intuition is a characteristic of infantile and primitive psychology. It counterbalances the powerful sense impressions of the child and the primitive by mediating perceptions of mythological images” (   Psychological Types   454). Within the novel, Caddy functions as a counterbalance and mediator in her relationship with Benjy. It is Caddy to whom Benjy turns for comfort, Caddy who can quite Benjy’s disruptive sounds. For example, in the beginning of Benjy’s narrative, he is taken outside by Versh to meet Caddy. Though Versh tries to help him counterbalance the cold (a sense impression), it is Caddy who successfully performs this function. She rubs Benjy’s hands, takes him inside, and directs Versh to take him into the fire. In the example cited above, when Benjy enters Caddy’s room crying, and she tries to still him by giving him perfume to smell, she acts as a mediator and tries to calm and bring him into balance. Throughout the novel, Benjy pines for Caddy, at times being both comforted by her slipper, and sometimes tormented by the sound of her name spoken. Without her, he is always wanting, always bellowing, always somehow incomplete.

To even more fully comprehend how Caddy represents the intuitive function, we must move beyond the boundaries of the novel and back to the artist, back to the beginning of this paper to my discussion of the image which came to Faulkner, the image from which the story emerged: Caddy climbing a pear tree, her brothers looking up at her muddy drawers. Razenberg quotes Jung on the nature of the intuitive function in saying “She (intuition) offers the child the ability to perceive mythological images (the pre-phase of ideas) which are opposite to the sensational impressions of the child [...]” Further, Razenberg describes the intuitive function as the “image-creating (fantasy) function [...]” Caddy served Faulkner in just this manner; she arrived as an image, helping him to bring into consciousness the unconscious. She served as a mediator not just between Benjy and the world in the novel but as the medium through which Faulkner perceived mythological images. It seems important to note that Jung describes the intuition as “the matrix out of which thinking and feeling develop as rational functions” (   Psychological Types   454). Caddy’s character acts as such. While some feminists have argued that Caddy has no voice in the novel because she doesn’t have her own narrative section (See Porter for example), I would argue to the contrary that Quentin and Jason only have their voice because of the image of Caddy which emerged from Faulkner’s unconscious. It is her absence or the absence/rejection of what she represents (the feminine, the intuition) that leads each of her male siblings to despair.

As a feminist, I have at times, struggled with Faulkner’s overt treatment of women in various novels. Like the students Judith Bryant Wittenberg describes teaching, I too am “bothered by the extreme negativity of the portrait of Mrs. Compson and by the biological and racial marginalization of the surrogate mother Dilsey” in   The Sound and the Fury   (76). I am disturbed by Jason’s continual references to women as bitches and sluts. However, from a Jungian perspective, I can look at Faulkner’s representation of women, not as a Freudian would, as evidence of Faulkner’s own personal pathology. Instead, I can read his stories for the truth they offer up from the unconscious, not just about Faulkner himself, but about human kind in general. From a Jungian perspective, “The poet becomes an instrument destined to give expression and form to those yet unformed ideas that lie dormant in our soul” (Jacoby 66).

So then, what is the idea that Faulkner’s work brings to consciousness? I propose it is work that laments the loss of the feminine. Caddy is both present and absent in the novel. She doesn’t have her own voice, she is lost to Benjy, she is rejected by Jason, she is desired by Quentin, and he can’t understand or accept her. Faulkner himself can’t tell her story properly, so she is inaccessible to him, too. He acknowledges this when he speaks of never being able to leave the story alone and never quite being able to tell it right. This interpretation is consistent with Faulkner’s conscious analysis of Caddy’s character. In 1933, Faulkner wrote an introduction to   The Sound and the Fury   (four years after the novel’s publication) in which he reveals “uncharacteristically, what Caddy means to him personally. He created Caddy Compson out of his own sense of loss; he meant for her to fill a lack created by two female vacancies the absence of a sister and the loss of a daughter” in his own life (Cohen and Fowler 51). Intuition spoke to the author about this loss by offering up this image of a woman climbing a pear tree to seek knowledge. The woman is ascending, she is above her brothers, and ironically, they look both up at her and down upon her. The brothers’ views of relationships with the sister are brought to light here. Through Faulkner’s work, we see the feminine as an aspect of the self, misunderstood, rejected and desperately needed by other aspects of the self. Faulkner’s work helps readers feel and understand the tragedy which follows the loss of the feminine or the inability to integrate and balance all aspects of the psyche within the self.

Works Cited

Barker, Deborah E., and Ivo Kamps. “Much Ado About Nothing: Language and Desire in   The

Sound and the Fury   .”   Mississippi Quarterly   46 (1993): 373-393.

Bockting, Ineke. “Psychoanalytic Approaches.”   A William Faulkner Encycopedia   . Westport, CT:

Greenwood Press, 1999. 301-304.

Cohen, Philip, and Doreen Fowler. “Using Faulkner’s Introductions to Teach   The Sound and the

Fury   .”   Approaches to Teaching Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury   . Eds. Stephen Hahn and Arthur F. Kinney. New York: MLA, 1996. 49-57.

Collins, Carvel. “The Interior Monologues of   The Sound and the Fury.   ”   English Institute Essays

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and the Fury   . Ed. James B. Merriwether. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing,

Faulkner, William.   The Sound and the Fury   . New York: Random House, 1929.

Feldstein, Richard. “Gerald Bland’s Shadow.”   Literature and Psychology   31 (1981): 4-12.

Frye, Northrop. “The Archetypes of Literature.” Jungian Literary Criticism. Ed. Richard P. Sugg.

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Porter, Carolyn. “Symbolic Fathers and Dead Mothers: A Feminist Approach to Faulkner.”

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