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  • Essay / A comparison of Sigmund Jung's Great Expectations?

    While Freud suggests that individuals have an innate desire to fulfill their wishes when their needs are not adequately met, Jung argues that individuals often project their own flaws and shortcomings onto others. In his essay, Jung uses an illustration of a child and his father to demonstrate the idea of ​​projecting these flaws onto others. Jung writes: “It is so true that every time he [the son or daughter] criticizes or praises his father, he unconsciously takes revenge” (562). In other words, Jung points out that when children feel annoyed by their parents' actions, they are actually seeing their own imperfections manifest in their parents. For example, Jung's theory would hold that an intrusive child may quickly become annoyed by a parent who asks a multitude of questions (eventually accusing the parent of interfering in his or her life), simply because the child sees his or her own fault by being intrusive. Jung further develops this idea by introducing the theory of a "shadow", or a character who embodies the darkest traits within an otherwise moral character. Jung explains that the shadow is "a moral problem that calls into question the personality of the self as a whole" and that the shadow "often behaves more or less like a primitive" (556). Perhaps the most compelling example of a shadow in Great Expectations is Pip's monstrous adversary, Orlick..