Five Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious in Larissa Lai’s When Fox Is A Thousand

• Main Authors: Yun-hui Chien, 簡韻慧
• Other Authors: Wen-chuan Chu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/97211910143117535515

碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 101 === In this thesis, I aim to explore Carl Gustav Jung’s five archetypes of the collective unconscious to analyze the characters in Larissa Lai’s When Fox Is A Thousand as examples. The idea that I choose a Jungian psychoanalytical reading of this novel results from the protagonist of this text, Artemis. In this novel, she cannot deal with her negative feelings and is mired in them. This plot makes me remind of the concept of the shadow in Jung’s archetypes. Later, I try to find other archetypes of Jung in this novel. There are significant discoveries that from their behavior or thinking, some characters possess certain archetypes based on Jung. Therefore, I begin with this thesis and plan to explore Jung’s five archetypes of the collective unconscious to analyze the characters in When Fox Is A Thousand as examples. This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One introduces the author, Larissa Lai, and her works, several literature reviews, the aim of this thesis, and the concept of the collective unconscious and five archetypes. Chapter Two explores Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious and the five archetypes: the anima, the animus, the shadow, the persona, and the Self. Each of them exists in the collective unconscious of human beings and has crucial influences on psychological activity. Chapter Three aims to illustrate Jung’s five archetypes with the five characters in When Fox Is A Thousand: Eden, Mercy, Artemis, Diane, and the Fox. They are chosen to interpret the five archetypes because from their behavior or thinking, a certain archetype is revealed the most obviously. Finally, Chapter Four sums up the main points of this thesis. When readers read this chapter, they will get the whole essence of this thesis quickly. Keywords: Larissa Lai, When Fox Is A Thousand, Carl Jung, archetypes, the collective unconscious