Individuation in Toni Morrison's Beloved, Sula and The Bluest Eye

Abstract

This thesis explores Jungs concept of individuation in Toni Morrisons three novels Beloved, Sula, and The Bluest Eye. It demonstrates how individuation in these three novels is arduous to attain because of factors such as slavery, race, and gender. The characters in these works consist of black African-Americans that the existent white society has excluded from the American life because of their race. Their "double-consciousness" expresses a reality that contradicts the American social values. The process of individuation introduced by Carl Jung, expounds that human beings have to accept the negative aspects of their personalities as an integral part of their selves and resolve to transform them into good qualities. Jung clarifies that every individual aims at attaining individuation throughout his/her lifetime. Each person is expected to progress towards that goal. In order to reach individuation, the person should have a sufficient amount of knowledge concerning the different archetypes of the collective unconscious (the shadow, the persona, the anima/animus, and the self). Based on the Jungian definition of the term, I will analyze in this thesis the respective characters Denver, Pecola and Sula from Toni Morrisons novels ascertain whether they were capable of achieving individuation at some point in their lives.