Background and Literary Thought

 This term is related to the psychology of Karl
Jung who holds that behind each individual’s
“unconscious”(blocked off residue of his/her past) lies the “collective unconscious” of the human race---blocked off memory of our racial past, even our pre human experiences.

 The “unconscious” is shaped by the repeated experience of our ancestors, and is expressed through myths, religions, literature and dreams.

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The literary critic applies the term to an image, a descriptive detail, a plot pattern, or a character type that occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion, or folklore; therefore, believed to evoke profound emotions in the reader because it awakens a primordial image in his/her unconscious memory; thus, calls into play illogical, but strong responses (the archetype).
The archetypal critic tends to see each work of literature as a portion of the total human experience.

 Point of View is how you perceive your environment. In a literary sense, the author’s point of view is determined by the way he/she manipulates reality.

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Romantic P.o.V: manipulates the character, conflict, and environment so that events are resolved (life makes sense).
Ironic P.o.V(existential): life makes no “real” sense---only the “sense you choose to make of it. Deals with the absurd series of events that each person tries to make sense of.

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WHAT IS REALITY?
“Reality” is the way people perceive the world around them.
Does everyone see or think reality the same way?
Objective Reality: “we” share it equally
-physical presence
Subjective Reality: the individualized way each of us “sees” experiences.

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ARE YOU NORMAL?
What is NORMAL?
-What everybody thinks is average
-Society, in general, views “normal” as everybody being the same
-Normal is situational
-Can the same reaction be normal and abnormal?
-Is normal an individual response or is it a collective?
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WHAT IS BEHAVIOUR?
-behaviour is the way in which someone acts, or the way someone acts towards someone/something.
-Behaviour, in clinical terms, an organism’s response to external stimuli. Behaviour depends upon FORMER experience.
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WHAT IS STIMULUS?
-stimulus is something that causes a response to any sort of environmental activity or change.

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Published in 1951
Written by J.D. Salinger
Holden Caulfield, 16 is the protagonist
Written in 1 st person, existential point of view
Set in 1950s, first chapters are set at an all boys boarding school Pencey Prep, rest of the book takes place in New York City

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Sees everyone and society as fake or phony(he uses this word excessively)
He is smart, well-read, and handsome, but he is viewed as a failure and loner
He has been expelled from several prestigious schools
He is from an upper class family, he is the 2 oldest of 4 nd
He often feels like he does not fit in, he gets depressed, he smokes, wants to drink, and uses profanity frequently

 He was a recluse---never went out of his house, lived in seclusion for more than 50 years.
 Died Jan. 27, 2010 at 91
 thought at one time to be the most important American writer to emerge since World War II
 sympathetic understanding of adolescence and its fierce if alienated sense of morality and distrust of the adult world, the novel struck a nerve in cold war America
 The Catcher in the Rye continues to sell more than
250,000 copies a year in paperback.