Archetypal Lens In The Children Of Men

The dystopian society that has been in established in P.D. James’s novel, “The Children of Men”, presents difficult challenges for the characters to overcome. This novel directs the reader’s attention to the importance of fertility and the parallels between humanity and extinction. In this novel, the protagonist, Theodore Faron, describes the humiliation and failure that homo sapiens experience due to their inability to reproduce. As a result, the civilization of mankind faces events of cultural illness, cruelty, and hopelessness; becoming a staple in their everyday lives. However, when examining “The Children of Men” through an archetypal lens, one can attest that the character’s journey provides a chance to end universal infertility through

the power of hope. Firstly, the protagonist in this novel embarks on a journey, in which, his attitude changes towards human extinction. Furthermore, members of the Five Fishes work together while setting their differences aside to achieve their desired goal.

Finally, the character’s advance the theme of fertility and hope, igniting their desires to end humanity’s extinction. The character’s actions and skills can either prevent the solution to human infertility or provide a chance to end it.

In this novel, the protagonist’s unique characteristics assist in ending society’s hopelessness towards infertility. As the text unfolds, the protagonist, Theodore “Theo” Faron, who is a skeptic and past-obsessed individual, becomes intrigued by the possibilities of humanity’s future on Earth. Furthermore, the theme of misery is present in the novel’s first page, as Joseph Ricardo, the final human that was birthed on Earth, is pronounced dead. Additionally, this causes Theodore to begin writing many diary entries, which is where the reader witnesses Theodore’s attitude change from hopeless to hopeful, as he strives towards the possible thought of ending human infertility. As a result, Theodore’s odium towards humanity’s inability to

reproduce is witnessed as he says, “We are outraged and demoralized less by the impending end of our species, less even by our inability to prevent it, than by our failure to discover the cause” (James 5). Through close inspection, Theo writes in his diary of a “humiliated” world which has descended into a peculiar blend of chaos and ennui in the wake of a mass fertility crisis.

This ignites his need and want to find a cure, and put an end to humanities infertility crisis. Furthermore, human society, which worshipped Western science and medicine as if it were a “god,” has been completely unable to find any cure, cause, or even a semblance of an answer as to the reason why no human being has been born on planet Earth in over twenty years. Moreover, the complete failure of humanity to find a way to prevent its own end, as that end slowly and gradually creeps closer, is a source of both anguish and shame for the entire world. This shame and humiliation colours James’s narrative throughout the novel. It also serves as an excuse for some characters—like Theo and Jasper—to retreat into solitude. However, as the text unfolds, Theo goes from being a selfish human, into being an activist, who strives to see change in the world that he lives in. The Omegas, the last generation of humans born on Earth, exist on a different class or race. Theo describes the Omegas as strikingly beautiful and handsome, but almost categorically arrogant and even cruel, as he says, “if from infancy you treat children as gods they are liable in adulthood to act as devil” (James 11). Furthermore, the ways in which the Omegas are treated as gods

or saints in the year of their births, have transformed them, through a combination of nature and nurture, into disaffected, amoral, and often even destructive or seemingly evil individuals. In addition, humanity, in a last-ditch grab at preserving and revering their final generation, has created monsters. Theo, as an arbiter of history, knows that the answers to what not to do, and how not to treat the Omegas, lie in the pages of human history; which he shares with members of the Five Fishes, who are a group of individuals that are also displeased with the future of humanity. Julian, who is a female member of the Five Fishes, approaches Theodore to help because he is closely related to the ruler of England, Xan Lyppiatt. For change to happen in the world, he must talk to Xan and convince him to do something about the Omegas and the infertility crisis, in hopes that Xan will listen to his ideas about stopping the Omegas. As a result, this demonstrates how Theo begins to think about others rather than himself. This also portrays Theo as a ‘hero’ archetype because he undergoes transformations with his personality, as he strays away from being selfish when embarking on his journey to end human infertility with members of the Five Fishes.