Archetypal Criticism in The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Archetypal criticism follows a basic rule of categorizing or relating any work of literature into a set framework. It works from a subjective basis, it is used to determine and grasp the ideas of universal truths messages through literary work. The universal truths and messages are determined by identifying patterns like character types, storylines, settings, symbols. The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a novel that accurately exemplifies the principles of archetypal criticism. This narrative account associates the characters of a young minor and his father to encapsulate the ideas of archetypal criticism. McCarthy presents the novel by setting the scene of a death-defying journey through a post-apocalyptic wasteland of America. The young lad and his father pursue a long and difficult journey as they seek refuge in the southern coast of America to avoid the impending winter and death. The novel is full of dangerous encounters with thieves, cannibals, and series of death, testing both the Father’s will and the son’s innocence. The novel explores numerous literary aspects and goes in-depth on the themes of paternal guidance, good versus evil, and especially death and life. This novel provides an excellent illustration of the essence of archetypal criticism as the themes and patterns that are persistent in humanity are revealed.

The origins of Archetypal criticism come from the work of Carl Jung, a prominent Swiss psychiatrist, who recognized literary patterns in humanity. Jung suggested that humanity has a, “Collective unconscious that manifests itself in dreams, myths, and literature through archetypes: persistent images, figures, and story patterns shared by people across diverse cultures” (Murfin and Ray, 22). The literary images and...

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...t can be in a story because they help the reader seem the symbolism more clearly. By determining the archetypes in a literature readers are able to grasp the universal truth and messages the author is trying to show. With these patterns and symbols readers can connect the basic ideals of humanity in the real world.

Works Cited

Jung, C. G., and Herbert Read. The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Vol. 9, Part 1: Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. London: Routledge, 1990. Print.

Murfin, Ross C., Supryia M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms.

Boston: Bedford, 1997. Print.

Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. N.p.: Princeton UP, 1957. Print.

Bavota, Carl. "Archetype - Definition and Examples | Literary Devices." Archetype. Literary

Devices, 3 Feb. 2014. Web. 14 May 2014.

McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print.