Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1978

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Coyle, William

Abstract

Four mythical archetypes--the fool, the scapegoat, the trickster and the temptress--appear in the initiation experiences which Ralph Ellison's hero undergoes during his mythical search for Selfhood. The hero functions primarily as the wise fool who is continually duped into various initiation processes by the trickster figure. The trickster officiates at each of these ceremonies. At the completion of each initiation the hero becomes the scapegoat and is cast out of his immediate surroundings into new surroundings and into the hands of a new trickster. The temptress acts as a pseudo-anima force as she attempts to lure the hero-initiate away from his true quest--union with the universal feminine forces and ultimate self-knowledge. Ellison's hero experiences four, such initiation periods, each of which acts as a springboard to a new experience and the hero's eventual union with the Jungian "anima."

Extent

71 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1978.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT13904

Format

pdf

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