NCHS AP English Language

Ishmael's Archetype - Samantha Sauza

An archetype, according to Jung’s theory, is one of two parts of the unconscious mind. It is where images and symbols that appear in dreams that can be connected to religion and mythology themes. It is also an “original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies.” Our archetypes were derived from when we were little. It was how we were brought up, how we were raised, and what we were taught to do. It is what makes up our culture and how we react towards things. It is present in the unconscious part of our brains. We don’t think of how we act or think before we act to do something, because it’s a habitual action or just a normal thing to do as in an unconscious reaction to a conscious or unconscious stimulus. Our archetypes make up who we are, what we are, and how we act.
Moby Dick doesn’t talk much of Ishmael’s family or friends, we assume that Ishmael is an outsider who has no one and feels “[he] find [himself] growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in [his] soul”. With a strong desire to go whale hunting, and with no experience what so ever, of whale hunting, he feels like an outsider among the men on the Pequod , who only know life as whale hunting and living on the sea. He especially feels like an outsider when he meets the captain of the Pequod, Captain Ahab, who’s leg has been eaten by the great Moby Dick. Ishmael’s name has a religious theme to it, an archetype. In the Bible Ishmael was Abraham and Hagar’s son, but Sarah, Abraham’s wife, wanted Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. God told him to do so, and Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael into the desert, like outcasts, the way that Ishmael felt on the Pequod, an archetype. Also, Ishmael’s name means “God listens” and is an archetype.

Samantha Sauza

posted by NCHS AP English Language III @ 8:29 PM