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Deliverance James Dickey Analysis

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Deliverance James Dickey Analysis
Deliverance

Human beings are nothing short of complex. Whether that be in the way we think or the way we act. Carl Jung was a famous psychiatrist that came up with a theory about the human mind. His theory in short says that we all have a collective unconscious were which all our primal instincts derived from our ancestors is stored. Along with the collective unconscious Jung says that we all have a shadow which encompasses our true selves. We all also have a persona that which is a mask that society has molded for us. Jung’s theories are seen in the novel “Deliverance” by James Dickey which is demonstrating both the needs of the shadow and Persona. And when we satisfy both humans can live a satisfying life.

Through the adventure into the
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Leading society to suppress these core needs of the human being. We now have the persona, a fake mask everyone wears to fulfill their everyday lives. The needs of the persona are very different from the shadow. The persona is driven by the different roles that the person in question plays. Ed feels most of his roles are fake. For example, Ed and his wife “lay entangled like lovers” (Dickey) the use of the word like gives a fake sense of what he is doing. It’s as he is doing something that he is not satisfied with or he is not entirely happy with what his roles are. There are multiple instances that we see Ed not satisfied with his persona, but we don’t really see why. Let’ talk about Bobby he is a unique character and Ed describes him as a “pleasant surface human” (Dickey). This in many ways is interesting it shows that Bobby seems to play pretend well because I get the feeling that deep down he is one of the hillbillies and just doesn't know it. He is too wrapped in society’s expectations that he just puts a happy mask on and that's it. Bobby is too much of a city boy and can’t get in touch with his shadow, that is why he gets raped. He expects society to take care of him. Ed does seem pretty unhappy with himself but doesn't know why, he is only fulfilling his persona and not his

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