The Apparatus of Brave New World: Jungian Literary Criticism Nathaniel Eastham 12th Grade

What makes up a positive and functional mindset? How should an individual behave, think, talk, or feel? Even more, what should they believe? The novel Brave New World bombards us with these unavoidable questions as we delve deeper into its context. The plot stands within a controversial spectrum of mindsets with regard to primitive and modernized living. Brave New World is influenced by Carl Jung and his theories of the psyche and of the archetypes, which are embedded throughout the plot. These theories govern the characters and through them give life to the assortment of philosophies introduced by Aldous Huxley.

Carl Jung adopted some of the concepts from Freud to create his own model of the psyche; “the persona, the shadow, the ego, the collective unconscious, the personal unconscious, the anima/animus, and the self” (Gale 31). Jung determines that there is a persona, which takes the role of the “mask” we wear in public, and that often dictates our conformity to society’s expectations (McLeod, 1970). Hidden behind this mask is the conscious ego which is comprised of our thoughts and feelings (McLeod, 1970). There is also a shadow that Jung identifies; the good or bad aspects of an individual that are ignored/repressed by the...