NCHS AP English Language

Ishmael as an archetype - Nathan Sheptock

True archetypes, as stated by Carl Jung, are

"identical psychic structures common to all, which together constitute the archaic heritage of humanity...innate neuropsychic centres possessing the capacity to initiate, control, and mediate the common behavioural characteristics and typical experiences of all human beings. Thus, on appropriate occasions, archetypes give rise to similar thoughts, images, mythologems, feelings, and ideas in people,
irrespective of their class, creed, race, geographical location, or historical epoch. An individual's entire archetypal endowment makes up the collective unconscious..."

Put more simply, archetypes are pre-existing, unconscious, universal, mental "forms;" all indistinguishable and all possessing the ability to minds and lifestyles without our knowledge. These "forms" are always with us and have always been since the earliest of man, shaping our unconscious which in turn gives rise to the shaping of our active conscious. This ability allows for our inability to recognize them at work in our daily lives and mindsets. Because of our collective inability, along with the fact that these "forms" are all identical, all of us-irregardless of any type of diversity- are drawn to possess nearly identical active consciousness in certain situations, giving rise to identical thoughts, feelings, ideas, experiences in, and perceptions of those certain situations.

Ishmael is but one true example of this archetypal role present in our society throughout time and its ability to present itself in any form, even one as simple as a fictional character within a book. In the book, Ishmael fulfills the role of an archetype in that he is unconsciously driven to be separated from the present situation, the other characters within the book, and even to himself. This can closely coincide with man’s separation from the rest of the world around him, as well as the unexplainable mysteries of the unknown universe which forever surrounds him. This unavoidable feeling and belief of separation was brought forth by the archetypes which helped to shape the collective unconsciousness of the first humans on earth. This feeling and belief is undoubtedly just as present, if not even more present, within the mindsets of all humans, all of us and all those who share our world today. As we grow closer and closer to discovering more about the mysteries of the unexplainable within the universe, we are now more that ever filled with the sense of separation from the explainable within our world and the unexplainable outside of it. This is nearly identically mirrored in Ishmael’s unexplainable feeling of disconnection with his life on land, the other members of the whaling voyage, his part in the voyage, and even his own religion. It is simply in his, like all other’s unconscious to feel disconnection with the world around him and the unexplainable which surrounds him. Our human nature, forever shaped by the work of the archetype, compels us to present this universal severance with all aspects of our lives along with that which we cannot explain with forms which we can explain, which we can fully grasp, possibly in some futile attempt to defy the immortal form of the archetype which we can never fully grasp, never control, never understand, never separate from, never escape.

posted by NCHS AP English Language III @ 10:42 PM