I Am David Archetypes

Carl Jung defined an archetype as something that keeps on recurring over the course of time and is, in fact, any character, action or situation that represents the universal pattern in human behaviour (Headlee, 2014). In this essay I will be explaining the structural archetype of Birth, Death and Re-birth by stating how this applies the novel I am David by referring to how David discards his old life as a prisoner, the difficulties he has to face and how he reaches self-actualization.

One of the most common situational archetypes is that of Birth, Death and Re-birth. With this archetype the protagonist encounters a problem or faces a struggle that leads to self-actualization. The character transform in a way where he or she moves away from their

After David eats an orange for the first time, he becomes frustrated with himself because he doesn’t know anything about the world outside the concentration camp saying: “I don’t know anything! How can I stay free when I don’t even know what everybody else knows!” (Holm, 1965). David being ignorant about life outside the concentration camp, leads to him learning new things about the new word around him and this initiates the start of David’s rebirth as a new person.

Near the end of the novel David reaches self-actualization. When he is held against his will and forced to work on a farm, David accuses God of being cruel, but as he sits and reflects about his life, he realizes that he himself has also been cruel: “He had said God was cruel like Carlo and the farmer…when perhaps God just wanted to teach him where his own fault lay! He had been cruel himself.” (Holm, 1965).

When one considers the above-mentioned statements, it is clear to see that I am David fits the structural archetype of Birth, Death and Rebirth based on how David moves away from his old life and becomes a new person because of the difficulties he