Abstract
This paper investigates the idea of individuation as conceptualized by C.G. Jung and the archetypes associated with it in Zahrah the Windseeker. Individuation, according to Jung, is a natural process of transformation that takes place in the life of an individual, and each stage of individuation is associated with an archetype that is characterized by specific features. The archetypes of individuation as identified by Jung are as follows: the shadow, the anima and the animus, the wise old man and the wise old woman, and the Self. This investigation will interrogate certain aspects of the novel to determine to what extent it conforms to Jung’s theory of individuation. The paper concludes that Nnedi-Okorafor Mbachu’s Zahrah the Windseeker is not only a speculative fiction but a textual paradigm of Jung’s psychotherapeutic theory of individuation.
Key Words: Archetype, individuation, shadow, C.G.Jung, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu.
Published by The Muse: A Journal of English and Literary Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
No. 47
August, 2019
Pp. 16-29
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Chibuzo Onunkwo is a senior lecturer in the department of English and Literary Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he teaches English Literature: The Renaissance period, African Fiction, English Literature: Modern Period, and Studies in Drama. His critical essays have appeared in several home and international journals.