Familial Archetypes In Carl Jung's Shades Of Gray

Familial archetypes prevail as one of Carl Jung’s most commonly known achievements. In the book, “Shades of Gray”, many characters represent some of of Jung’s familial archetypes as they overcome the struggles that the civil war has brought upon them. Will must learn to understand and grasp his uncle’s reasoning for making the decisions that he does, and by doing so he shows numerous characteristics of the child archetype. The archetypes portrayed in this story are Uncle Jed as the father figure, Aunt Ella as the mother figure, and Will himself as the child. Uncle Jed stands as the first character to possess one of Carl Jung’s familial archetypes. Uncle Jed acts as the father figure in Will’s life. In the story, Jed works as the head of the family and he uses his …show more content…
In the story Will becomes forced to start over with a completely new family than what he felt used to. When his family had died during the war, his only salvation persisted as living with his family of whom he did not know. Will seems unhappy about this, but he learns to cope with his thoughts and opinions and he begins to develop a healthy relationship with his new family. Will realizes that his mother wanted this for a reason and that she had always wanted the best for him. “ “I know how you feel about coming here,Will,” he said, “but it’s what your mother wanted. Her instructions were quite clear-- if anything happened to her and your father, you children were to go to her sister” ”. (Ch. 1) Furthermore, Carl Jung has developed many theories. Some of many of Jung’s creations: the lie detector test, Briggs-Myers personality test, and familial archetypes. Some of these archetypes prevail in this publication, “Shades of Gray”, by Carolyn Reeder. Uncle Jed portrays a father figure of Will along with Aunt Ella as a mother figure. Then Will himself represents the child, because of the new beginnings and salvations he lived