An Analysis of Courage the Cowardly Dog
The emphasis on the unconscious mind was most notable to those who contributed to the different areas of the psychodynamic theories. One notable individual is Carl Jung, who established Analytical Psychology and one of its subcomponents includes the universal archetypes. One character's personality in particular, Courage from "Courage the Cowardly Dog" can be analyzed using Jung's universal archetypes. The synopsis of this animation includes the vast, barren land possibly in the middle of nowhere in Kansas, where a rundown farmhouse stands, home to a small purple dog named Courage. Throughout each episode, Courage endures bizarre situations to come to his owners rescue, protecting them from villains who come from the unknown.
Courage is a small purple dog that has the capability to perceive danger and anything out of the ordinary. Courage small size does not stop him from rescuing his owners despite the fact he is scared of the situation himself. In frightening situations, Courage will oftentimes express thoughts of hopelessness and doubts. In addition, Courage is very expressive in his gestures, easily frightened, and very anxious as noted in a few episodes where he is shown screaming. Courage also possess human qualities such as talking, ability to operate a computer, showing affection for his owners, and having virtues. Furthermore, when compared to other characters on the show, courage is the only one who knows what is going on but does not cope well when troubled. These behaviors include negative thoughts and the frantic gestures when trying to warn his owners Muriel and Eustace of danger. Furthermore, Courage's past is unknown and the only details revealed is that his parents were s...
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...nment. Courage's owners do not take him for a walk as courage is shown always inside the house or on the porch (unless he is saving them). Courage is also shown to be afraid of birds because they always make fun of him. Courage is also afraid of his shadow and is not naive as he is fully aware of the villains intentions. Courage is also shown trying to reach perfection in the episode titled "Perfection".
In conclusion, acts of devotion, loyalty, wisdom, bravery, and courageousness, are all what makes Courage posses the hero, the sage, and the faithful hound archetypes. The need for perfection and full awareness is what makes Courage lack the child archetype. In terms of Carl Jung's theory, these archetypal models are what makes Courage who he is but they are also what makes individuals in this world analogous to each other in terms of Jung's universal archetypes.
Courage is shown both mentally and physically in Hiaasen’s novel. The scenes in the book that best describe Hiaasen’s message to the readers--what the true meaning of courage is--are when the protagonist risks his life to return a panther cub to its mother, when the protagonist hangs on to the last bit of hope he has for his dad healing from an injury, and when a character has lost courage in himself. Courage is one of the unique traits that define us as a human being. Sometimes, we as humans, perceive courage differently than what the true meaning of courage is. Our minds see courage as someone saving the world, or being fearless, often overlooking mental courage. Hiaasen, in his writing, poses a question to the reader, one that makes them think about courage: Does courage always mean being fearless? Is courage always associated with overcoming a fear? Humans tend to be wired with the belief that a good story should be enthralling, and have courageous characters. Hiaasen alters the reader's stereotypical view of courage . Hiaasen does not provide readers with characters that fit the “stereotype” of courage. Maybe, Hiaasen wants the reader to observe the true, and imperfect human being. The reader’s mind then makes a startling discovery, as it stumbles upon a part in the story that forces the reader to redefine their perception of courage.
In the Jungian analysis of a character, there are three archetypes that must be considered. Carl Jung believed that the three archetypes that made up a person are the shadow, the anima or animus, and the persona (Dobie 64). In “Reading the Brothers Grimm to Jenny,” the narrator first introduces readers to Jenny’s shadow and animus. Jung saw the shadow as a human’s “darker side,” and the “part of ourselves we would prefer not to confront” (Dobie 64). Whereas the animus or anima is the “the life force within an individual,” and “life itself and the
courage as manifested in ways others act; and (4) respect for individuality of the human
Courageousness may seem to be measured by the people look on the outside. They look brave, heroic, and have some luck. Now, if someone looked on the inside of that person what would they see. Would they see a mentally strong person with high values in what they believe. On the opposition, the person might find out how scared, mean, and vulnerable they are. Courageousness is how little a person's values are affected when opposition and suffering happen in life. Also, doing things that they fear doing to boost their confidence and defeat their fears, this is courage. In A Separate Peace, The character Finny, who is bright and looking like he is brave all the time might seem to be the obvious candidate for being more courageous than Gene. Gene,who has little bravery an is weak. Gene though is actually the more courageous one because of his willingness to fight for his values and stand up in the face of opposition.
Carl Jung was a Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who developed many theories concerning the unconscious mind. Jung’s theories state that the unconscious part of a human’s psyche has two different layers, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The personal unconscious is unique to every individual; however, the collective unconscious “is inborn.” (Carl Jung, Four Archetypes, 3) The collective unconscious is present in everyone’s psyche, and it contains archetypes which are “those psychic contents which have not yet been submitted to conscious elaboration” (Jung, Archetypes, 5); they are templates of thought that have been inherited through the collective unconscious. Jung has defined many different archetypes such as the archetype of the mother, the archetype of the hero, the archetype of the shadow, etc. These Jungian archetypes are often projected by the collective unconscious onto others. If the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is examined through a Jungian archetypal lens it is possible to discern different archetypes projected by the protagonist’s unconscious self to illustrate the effects of the collective unconscious on character and plot analysis.
Courage is an act of sacrifice that allows you to face danger without showing fear. A time he showed courage was when he threw the first punch at the rumble between the Greasers and Socs. He threw the first punch for pride, he threw it for loyalty, but he was courageous while doing so. As Ponyboy stated on page 142, "... He was ashamed to be on our side..." It took a lot of courage to throw the first punch being on a side you were ashamed of being on. He was ashamed because the person he punched was what he could've been and that crushed Darry. It would take a lot of courage to look after two adolescent boys while they are growing up. Darry could've gone to college, become a national football player and have a better life than what he had. Darry instead sacrificed that to keep his brothers together after the death of their parents. If Sodapop and Ponyboy could stay together, Darry would've gone to college. Darry was incredibly courageous to give that up for his brothers.
Based on the Merriam Webster dictionary, courage is defined as the,“mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.” In the play, the characters are tested and forced to make life or death decisions, with
Courage is ‘the ability to do something that frightens one; bravery.’ I thought that at the start of the novel that charlie was a bit of a wimp that couldn't stand up for himself and was too afraid and didn't have enough courage to do anything for himself. I thought that charlie wished that he could overcome his fear and gain some courage, he sees some of the adults in his community and they are his only role models and they also do not have much courage. This novel has showed me that courage has become a bit of a rarity and it takes a lot of courage to stand up for someone such as when Miss Lu who is vietnamese gets bullied because of the war that was going on in vietnam and nobody stood up for her, this was partly because a lot of people
But this isn’t the definition of courage. Courage is being able to act in the face of danger or in an uncomfortable state. Being stubborn and brash is the exact opposite, as someone acting as such may danger others and/or may be comfortable by standing alone. A prime example is shown in 12 Angry Men, as Juror 8 and Juror 3 represent courage and arrogance. At one time in the film, they both stand alone against a room full of people thinking against them, but how they act to it makes them who they are. Unlike how Juror 8 sways others individually, Juror 3 refused to act politely and focuses on himself, making others not appreciate him and seeing him as a barrier to
Jung believed that archetypes existed within the collective unconscious, and suggested that these models are universal, hereditary and innate. Archetypes are unlearned, and serve to organize one's experiences.
The archetype of the hero is an expression of our imagination as well as a reflection of our experience. Carl Jung develops this idea in his essa...
Before examining Beowulf through the archetypical lens criticism, it must be explained exactly what an archetype implies and how it affects the work being examined. An archetype is a concept that was first defined by Carl Jung, a swiss psychologist who attempted to relate recurring themes in literary works to a collective unconscious that all humans have. Jung theorized that this phenomena of recurring themes of heroes, mentors, heralds, shapeshifters, and so on in literary works could be contributed to the idea that there was a collective set of innate emotions and ideas that resided in all humans. This theory has been able to account for several literary works analyzed through the archetypical lens criticism.
In order to understand Jung's theory of archetypes, the reader must first have an understanding of the reasoning behind them. Carl G. Jung explains the conscious mind by dividing it into three different psyches: the ego, the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. The ego is simply Jung's interpretation of the conscious mind. The personal unconscious is anything that is not presently conscious, but can be. The collective unconscious is a reservoir of human experiences that is passed from generation to generation. It includes the archetypes of self, which are archetypes for different kinds of people or characters in literature (Jung 67). They can be described as things such as déjà vu, or love at first sight. It is the feeling that what is being felt or experienced has been felt or experienced before.
Stevens, A. (2006). The Archetypes. In R.K. Papadopoulos (Eds.), The Handbook of Jungian Psychology: Theory, Practice and Applications. New York, NY: Routledge.
Neher, Andrew. (1996). Jung's theory of archetypes: a critiques. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 36, 61-92.