Final Paper Prospectus

I believe we were supposed to post our final paper proposal on here by today. So here you go:

Thesis: Romance provides us with a perfect incubator for the concept of individuation. Within the requirements of romance literature are the ingredients by which we realize our own individualized personalities. Throughout the collections of ancient tales, such as Daphnis and Chloe, and Lucius and the Ass, all the way up to and beyond Haroun and the Sea of Stories, elements of the story such as the quest, revelation and happy ending all lead to the hero and/or heroine realizing what is referred to in analytical psychology as "the self."

Long before Carl Jung and his colleagues presented the world with a framework for the concept of individuation, storytellers and authors were creating characters that descended into their own psychological hell, only to emerge stronger and more confident, leaving the audience with a picture of a fully developed human being. In the eyes of the reader, the hero and heroine, despite being fictionalized versions of themselves, can appear almost real in our imaginations. We empathize with them. We laugh at what they say or do. We cry tears of joy when they are reunited with their long-lost love.

But what is it about these characters and their journeys that draw us so close to them? What makes us forget, however briefly, that they aren't real? What causes us to draw parallels between our lives and theirs? I believe it's the need for all of us to become whole beings. I think it's because we're all on our own paths toward individuation and because fiction, however implausible it may seem to some, is a textbook for what it is to be human. And it helps us all toward our goal of realizing our true selves.

In essence, I think individuation answers the question, "what's the use of stories that aren't even true?" In order to realize our identities we must understand that the world we inhabit is much greater than what happens in our own lives. We build bubbles around ourselves, insulated from the people who walk by us on the streets and those living on the opposite side of this planet. Stories open us up to the experiences of others. Our lives are so short (and generally so dull) that we can hardly expect to encounter the number and scope of crises that our fictional friends experience in their lives. Stories open our minds to the world of the descent, of forbidden love, of death and destruction. They remind us of our humanity and, ultimately, of our fragility.

On the surface, they are just that - stories, lies. But within the literary world we like to think we take the time to look beyond the story, to read between the lines, to find the truth within. Even without deep analysis, the enduring works of literature have the ability to deliver its messages no matter how hard we're looking or listening.

Within this paper I plan to draw out examples of the individuation process from the texts we have read in this class. I also plan to analyze them in terms of what Jung called the symbols of individuation, namely the Shadow, the Senex and the Anima or Animas. I truly believe that a deeper understanding of this process will lead me to a more complete understanding of literature and the writing process. I welcome any comments and ideas on how to explore this further.