Jung argued that myths recur across cultures and times because they are narrativ
ID: 3459037 • Letter: J
Question
Jung argued that myths recur across cultures and times because they are narrative and iconic manifestations of psychological archetypes which are themselves universal across times and cultures. Choosing a mythic pattern other than the flood story, give a narrative paradigm (=story pattern) from at least two sources from our assigned readings that you think might qualify as instantiations of such an archetype. What do the stories have in common? How are they different? Account for both the similarities and the differences. Some things to consider:
- Try to think about your narrative paradigm broadly. In other words, the flood pattern is pretty specific; thinking more broadly, how might certain hero stories show similarities, even if the heroes themselves are different from one another? Is there something common to mortals and their relationships with the gods? Can you identify any consistent lessons or patterns in this human-divine relationship? What about more abstract issues, such as oracles, or infant exposure?
- Don’t forget to craft a careful and specific thesis statement around which you build your argument. This essay is not a place simply to list similarities and differences between books. Examine the issue and provide analysis to prove your central argument
Explanation / Answer
Archetypes are themes having a particular form or pattern, which points amid variation from age to age and which corresponds to a pattern or configuration of emotional tendencies. In the midst of those who are stirred by them. Mythic writers have therefore based their work in the form of mythic novels. These novels include mythical references, symbolic characters, images, archetypal ideas, mythic time, value schemes, the common cultural experience of the race, indigenous practice of naming, and other linguistic devices. Rama-Savitri relationship in the myth therefore centres around the idea of perceiving the eternal in the individual self. Similarly, things fall apart and arrow of God are myths that perform mythical imitation as they behave in imitation of certain models from I bo cosmology like the title holding ancestors. The intrinsic motif is Bhakti or devotion like the focus of many more myths in literature. What the stories have in common are certain underlying themes such as devotion, search for self/soul that re-occurred across the narratives he spoke about. The differences on the other hand were in the way these myths and occurrences took place in terms of their form, shape, place, characters as well. The commonality between the heroes and their relationship with God was the fact they were directed towards that higher self and did everything as a devotion to that deity. The hero was one who fulfilled their duty with utmost sincerity and this is what gave them the heroic characteristic.