Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of ThoughtJung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Philosophy
Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of Thought
Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Libido (Psychology); Mother and child; Psychoanalysis; Subconsciousness; Symbolism (Psychology)
This is typical of Hiawatha’s deeds. Whatever he kills, for the most
part, lies _next to or in the water_, sometimes half in the water and
half on the land.[647] It seems that this must well be so. The later
adventures will teach us why this must be so. The buck was no ordinary
animal, but a magic one; that is to say, one with an additional
unconscious significance. Hiawatha made for himself gloves and moccasins
from its hide; the gloves imparted such strength to his arms that he
could crumble rocks to dust, and the moccasins had the virtue of the
seven-league boots. By enwrapping himself in the buck’s skin he really
became a giant. This motive, together with the death of the animal at
the ford,[648] in the water, reveals the fact that the parents are
concerned, whose gigantic proportions as compared with the child are of
great significance in the unconscious. The “toys of giants” is a wish
inversion of the infantile phantasy. The dream of an eleven-year-old
girl expresses this:
“I am as high as a church steeple; then a policeman comes. I tell him,
‘If you say anything, I will cut off your head.’”
The “policeman,” as the analysis brought out, referred to the father,
whose gigantic size was over-compensated by the church steeple. In
Mexican human sacrifices, the gods were represented by criminals, who
were slaughtered, and flayed, and the Corybantes then clothed themselves
in the bloody skins, in order to illustrate the resurrection of the
gods.[649] (The snake’s casting of his skin as a symbol of
rejuvenation.)
Hiawatha has, therefore, conquered his parents, primarily the mother,
although in the form of a male animal (compare the bear of Mudjekeewis);
and from that comes his giant’s strength. He has taken on the parent’s
skin and now has himself become a great man. Now he started forth to his
first great battle to fight with the father Mudjekeewis, in order to
avenge his dead mother Wenonah. Naturally, under this figure of speech
hides the thought that he slays the father, in order to take possession
of the mother. Compare the battle of Gilgamesh with the giant Chumbaba
and the ensuing conquest of Ishtar. The father, in the psychologic
sense, merely represents the personification of the incest prohibition;
that is to say, resistance, which defends the mother. Instead of the
father, it may be a fearful animal (the great bear, the snake, the
dragon, etc.) which must be fought and overcome. The hero is a hero
because he sees in every difficulty of life resistance to the forbidden
treasure, and fights that resistance with the complete yearning which
strives towards the treasure, attainable with difficulty, or
unattainable, the yearning which paralyzes and kills the ordinary man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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