DRAFT For Panelists

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 1
Chapter 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
Teaching literature has always been a challenge among language teachers.
Most teachers would aver from teaching poems, short stories, novels and other
literary forms to the students because of their inability to give justice in teaching
them. This claim is attested in an online blog named Anang (2015) which claims
that teaching literature is difficult because “Doing it well requires scholarly and
critical sophistication, but it also requires a clear idea of what literature is, of what
is entailed in reading and characterizing. It requires, in fact, some very self-
conscious theorizing.” Consequently, these literary pieces are almost always used
simply as springboards in teaching the English language. Hence, language
teachers fell that they need not to dig deeper into the subtleties of these literary
pieces. Teachers would only be scratching beneath the surface which will not
result to a full understanding and appreciation of these literary treasures.
Basing on the researcher’s experience, teachers today are no longer
exposed to literature. In the advent of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram, teachers, like most people, also spend their leisure time in these
instead of reading poems, novels and plays. Gone are the days when teachers talk
about the latest book of Sidney Sheldon, or the latest film adaptation of William
Shakespeare’s plays. Isagani Cruz (2013) attests this in his column “Mini Critique”
in the Philippine Star by saying that “High school students used to read
Shakespeare, memorize Whitman, and even write their own poems and short
stories. Nick Joaquin was a household word (more prescisely a campus word) in
public schools back in the good old days.” These days, conversation topics among
teachers and students alike are nothing but inanities from showbiz gossips to latest
mobile applications. Instagram, Twitter, and FB are now the household names.
If one would check into the curricula of language teachers in colleges and
universities, one would notice that only a couple of subjects are intended for
literature. In the same column of Isagani Cruz (2013), he writes:
“At the moment, literature as literature is taught only in

college, in two General Education subjects required of all
humanities, social sciences, and communication majors –
Literatures of the Philippines and Literatures of the World.
Literature is only an elective for students majoring in other
fields, and many Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) choose
not to teach it.”
How unfortunate would it be for teachers who enroll in schools which do not
offer Literature classes? Even during the training period of these language
teachers, there is already a scarcity of training in dealing with literature subjects.
We can assume that these teachers were not immersed in the world of literature.
They themselves have not discovered the wealth of our literary heritage. As the
saying goes, ‘we cannot give what we don’t have’. Most language teachers do not
have the knowledge and skills in teaching literature in the first place so it is no
wonder that once they are in the classroom, they would be as ignorant as their
students in the realm of literature.
Moreover, literature is no longer a separate subject in the secondary
curriculum. This has largely contributed to the inefficiency of the language teachers
to handle literature subjects. If Literature is not a subject in itself, then language
teachers would have the excuse of not teaching it. Using literary pieces
springboard for teaching the English language would be a consequential
compromise that teachers would be willing to make.
The researcher does not expect a major change in the Academic curricular
scheme as an outcome of this study. It is safe to believe that it is only something
that the researcher wishes for. The researcher believes that literature should be
given its due. Literature should be in the mainstream where it belongs. Literature
has an important place in the history of humanity. Literature is not just an adjunct
feature of the English language. This work wishes to explore the richness and
wealth that literature offers through the exposition of an archetypal analysis as an
alternative method of literary analysis which provides layers of meaning of literary
pieces such as short stories and poems.
Background of the Study
Nick Joaquin’s work is instrumental in this study. The researcher believes that
there is such immense power in the work of Joaquin worthy of his distinction as a
National Artist. He certainly would not have been a National Artist for nothing. His
works received many acclamations here and abroad. But Nick Joaquin seems to
be a stranger among Filipino students. The research thinks that Filipinos should
benefit from the rich literary legacy he left for us.
Jose Garcia Villa has these words about Nick Joaquin:
“… the only Filipino writer with a real imagination – the

imagination of power and depth and great metaphysical
seeing – and which knows how to express itself in great
language, who writes poetry, and who reveals behind his
writings a genuine first rate mind.” (Culture and History p.
iii)
This is perhaps the best attribution of a National Artist from a fellow National
Artist. Nick Joaquin is indeed a first rate mind for being regarded as the greatest
Filipino writer of the 20th century.
Joaquin’s book “May Day Eve and Other Stories provides us pertinent
information about his life. Nicomedes Marquez Joaquin, popularly known as Nick
Joaquin is a poet, playwright, journalist, novelist, biographer and historian. He was
born in Manila in 1917. He was a son of a colonel in the revolutionary war and a
school teacher. For some time, Nick Joaquin lived with his sister-in-law after his
father’s death working as a stage manager for her sister-in-law’s acting troupe.
Nick Joaquin earned no degrees in his lifetime. He had but a little formal
education but nevertheless, became one of the best minds in the field of literature.
He was awarded by a scholarship sponsored by the Dominicans to St. Albert’s
College in Hong Kong but he later abandoned his studies in 1950. One of the top
Universities in the Philippines offered him an honorary doctorate in letters but he
politely declined it.

Joaquin started writing stories at an early age of twenty. He wrote under the
pseudonym Quijano de Manila. He has a distinct preoccupation in his stories with
superstitions, religious beliefs and Filipino practices. His first work was titled Prose
and Poems, a collection of his early writings. This work includes his play A Portrait
of the Artist as Filipino and the story A Woman Who Had Two Navels. This novel
won the Cultural Heritage Award and the first Stonehill award. His works have
appeared both in local and international magazines and newspapers such as the
Philippine Free Press, the Hudson Review, and Partisan review.
In 1976, Nick Joaquin was named a National Artist. He was also conferred
the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative
Communication Arts (the Asian counterpart of the Nobel Prize) in 1996. He also
received the Tanglaw ng Lahi award the following year. He continued to write
journalistic pieces until his death on April 29, 2004, at the age of 86. A truly devout
disciple of literature and only death stopped him from doing his craft.
The researcher has read the book of Nick Joaquin titled “History and Culture.”
Such reading was an inspiration of the researcher to choose Nick Joaquin as a
subject for literary study. The book proves the vast knowledge of Nick Joaquin of
the Filipino culture and the Spanish heritage.

Theoretical Framework
“The individual’s desire to know the self and reach into the depths of
consciousness is the basis for all storytelling as we instinctively try to understand
this deeper nature through metaphor” – Carl Gustav Jung
This study on Nick Joaquin’s short stories will be examined and analyzed in
the light of the archetypal criticism of Carl Gustav Jung. In his book “The
Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious”, Collected Works Vol. 9 Pars I, he
defines the concept of the collective unconscious in these words:
“The collective unconscious is part of the psyche which can

be negatively distinguished from a personal unconscious by
the fact that it does not, like the latter, owe its existence to
personal experience and consequently is not a personal
acquisition. While the personal unconscious is made up
essentially of contents which have at one time been
conscious but which have been disappeared from
consciousness through having been forgotten or repressed,
the contents of the collective unconscious have never been
in consciousness, and therefore have never been
individually acquired, but owe their existence exclusively to
heredity. Whereas the personal unconscious consists for the
most part of complexes, the content of the collective
unconscious is made up essentially of archetypes. (p. 99)
Jung also provides us the definition of the concept of archetypes:
The concept of the archetype, which is an indispensable

correlate of the idea of the collective unconscious, indicates
the existence of definite forms in the psyche which seem to
be present always and everywhere. Mythological research
calls them “motifs”; in the psychology of primitives they
correspond to Levy-Bruhl’s concept of “representations
collectives,” and in the field of comparative religion they have
been defined by Hubert and Mauss as “categories of the
imagination.” Adolf Bastian long ago called them
“elementary” or “primordial thoughts.” From these references
it should be clear enough that my idea of archetype—literally
a pre-existent form—does not stand alone but is something

that is recognized and named in other fields of knowledge.
(p.99)
Madran (2004) who made a study on archetypal analysis gives us a clear
understanding on archetypal analysis in relation to the archetypes and the
collective unconscious as defined by Carl Gustav Jung. In his study he says that:
“An Archetypal criticism shows how mythical structures,

patterns and archetypes enable the author to
communicate his vision of reality and how they function in
a work of art. The myth critic’s task is to evaluate a work
of art in the light of the function of myth and mythical
motifs and archetypes. His/her task is to show how
mythical motifs, archetypes and primordial images
function in a work of fiction and how they enable the
author to communicate his vision of reality, which is
essentially timeless.” (p. 14)
It is therefore the aim of this study to analyze selected short stories of Nick
Joaquin, and how he used mythical motifs and archetypes to express his vision of
reality. It seeks to understand how Joaquin uses archetypal symbols to showcase
the Filipino culture and the Filipino psyche. Understanding how Joaquin
communicates his vision would then help the teachers and students alike
understand the essence of his short stories.
Character archetypes such as the anima, animus, self, persona, and
shadow; situational archetypes such as the quest, the journey, the death and
rebirth; and the symbolic archetypes such as Light vs. Darkness, Water vs. Desert,
Supernatural Intervention, and Heaven vs. Hell, will be the focus of this study.
Other archetypes will also be given light in the process of analyzing the selected
short stories of Nick Joaquin. The focus will be on the common archetypes outlined
by Philip Wedgeworth based on Jungian Archetypes. This study also attempts to
draw out the significance of this literary criticism in for the understanding and
appreciation of the literary works of Nick Joaquin.
The researcher also believes that there is a scarcity of studies about
archetypal criticism in the Philippines. There is an abundance of studies in
stylistics, linguistic analysis, discourse analysis, feminist criticism but not so much
on the archetypal field. Archetypal criticism is an alternative literary analysis
approach that needs to be discovered and enriched. Teachers who have
knowledge in this field can provide better learning experience for the students. The
researcher hopes that this study would contribute to the enrichment of Philippine
literature.
Conceptual Framework
The figure below presents the paradigm of this study:
INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT
Selected Short Selection of Understandin

Stories of Nick Short Stories g and
FEEDBACK
Joaquin by Nick Appreciation
1. May Day Eve Joaquin of Nick
And Joaquin’s
2. Summer Analysis of the Short Stories
Solstice Archetypal in the
Symbols Teaching of
3. Legend of found in the Literature in
the Dying Selected Short ESL (English
Wanton Stories of Nick as a Second
Joaquin Language)
4. Dona Classes
Jeronima
Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework of this study shown in Figure 1 makes use of the
input-process-output schematic presentation. This graphical presentation shows
how the study was undertaken. The study aims for a better understanding and
appreciation of the short stories of Nick Joaquin through an Archetypal Analysis
based on Carl Gustav Jung’s concept of archetypes.
The first box, under the heading INPUT provides the variables of the study.
Specifically, these are the selected short stories of Nick Joaquin: “May Day Eve”,
“Summer Solstice”, “Legend of the Dying Wanton”, and “Dona Jeronima”.
The second box under the heading PROCESS shows the methodology or the
process involved in the analysis of the selected short stories through the
application of Jungian concepts of archetypes.
The third box under the heading OUTPUT presents the expected result of the
study which is the understanding and appreciation of Nick Joaquin’s short stories
after an archetypal analysis of the data presented.
Below the three boxes is the FEEDBACK with an arrow that points back to
the INPUT from the OUTPUT. This shows the feedback mechanism in the
paradigm which is a continuous flow of the process. This means that this study can
also serve as a basis for future studies that would either supplement or alter the
conclusion of the study.

Statement of the Problem
The purpose of the study is to conduct an archetypal analysis of some
selected short stories of Nick Joaquin. Specifically, the study seeks to answer the
following questions:
1. What archetypes are manifested in the following selected works of Nick
Joaquin:
1.1 “May Day Eve”;
1.2 “ The Summer Solstice”;
1.3 “Legend of the Dying Wanton”;
1.4. “Dona Jeronima”?
2. In the analysis of these archetypes, how are these classified according to
Jungian concepts as:
2.1 The Self Archetypes;
2.2 Situational Archetypes;
2.3 Character Archetypes;
2.4 Symbolic Archetypes?
3. What are the implications of the study of archetypal analysis in the in the
understanding and appreciation of short stories by Nick Joaquin?
4. How suitable is this study of archetypal analysis for the English language
teaching?
Scope and Limitations
This study which aimed to conduct an archetypal analysis of selected short
stories of Nick Joaquin is not an exhaustive study on Archetypal Criticism because
it does not follow Frye’s and Frazer’s mode of archetypal criticism.
This study is limited to the functions and significance of archetypal and
mythical images represented in the selected short stories of Nick Joaquin in the
light of the Jungian Concepts of Archetypal Criticism.
The selection of the short stories is based on their similarities of themes,
archetypes, myths and cultural backgrounds of the rich Filipino-Hispanic culture.
The following factors were considered in the selection of the short stories.
1. The short stories were limited to those written by the National Artist Nick
Joaquin in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Philippine Literature.
2. The short stories should contain elements of myth, legend or cult
predominant in the Philippine folk literature.
3. The short stories should have archetypes which can be interpreted in the
light of Jungian concepts of archetypal analysis
4. The short stories should also manifest the rich cultural heritage of the
Filipinos inherited from centuries of Spanish colonization.

Significance of the Study
This archetypal analysis of selected short stories of Nick Joaquin is intended
to shed some light on Joaquin’s use of myth, archetypes and recurrent images in
his works which have undoubtedly depicted the Filipino culture in one way or
another. The researcher hopes that this study will be useful in the academe
specifically to the following:
Students. This study will greatly help the students better understand the
short stories. Recognizing the images and archetypes in them will also elicit
appreciation of the works of Nick Joaquin. These archetypes which reflect the
culture and psyche of the Filipinos will hopefully inspire the students to learn more
and discover the different facets of Filipino culture.
Teachers of Language and Literature. This work will also benefit the
Language and Literature teachers because by understanding archetypal analysis
they will be able to utilize short stories effectively in their respective lessons.
Teachers who have a better understanding of short stories will definitely be able to
help their students appreciate short stories and literature in general.
Curriculum Planners. The findings and insights of this study will help the
curriculum planners in designing programs that utilize short stories in language
learning. In most cases and in current practice, short stories are only used as
springboards for language learning. With the help of this study, the researcher
believes that curriculum planners can design programs that focus on short stories
as the object of study in itself.

School Administrators. The school administrators have a vital role in
curriculum planning. With the help of this study, they may suggest literary materials
that would be helpful in shaping students that are conscious of the richness of their
cultural heritage. Literature is a potent tool in shaping a nation that is culturally
conscious.
Future Researchers. This study on archetypal analysis can be used as a
reference for future studies. Other researchers can explore more on the works on
Nick Joaquin or they can also study on archetypal analysis of other Philippine short
stories. Insights and findings of this study will help researchers realize the depth
and beauty of Philippine literature.
Definition of Terms
The following terms or expressions are defined conceptually and operationally
in order to achieve a common understanding of these in this study.
Archetypes. These are primordial images reflect basic patterns or universal
themes which are present in the unconscious. These symbolic images exist
outside space and time. Examples: shadow, animus, anima, the old wise person,
the innocent child; nature archetypes are fire, ocean, river, and mountain. While
the form of an archetype is universal, the specific content is individual, and is filled
in from personal experience, and cannot be predicted from knowledge of the form
alone.
Anima. This refers to the archetype symbolizing the unconscious female
component of the male psyche. Tendencies or qualities often thought of as
“feminine.” Anima is a Latin word for “soul” or “breath of life” – that which animates.
In a society in which woman is dominated by man, anima is crucial. It is a
personification of the feminine values.
Animus. This term refers to the archetype symbolizing the unconscious male
component of the female psyche. Tendencies or qualities often thought of as
“masculine.” In women, animus refers to developing the kind of assertive, capable
powers often attributed primarily to men.
Archetypal Analysis. A form of criticism that is concerned with the discovery
and analysis of the original pattern or model for themes, motifs, and characters in
poetry and prose. This approach to literature is based on the idea that narratives
are structured in accordance with an underlying archetypal model: the specific plot
and characters are important insofar as they allude to a traditional plot or figure or
to patterns that have recurred with wide implications in human history.
Collective Unconscious. This refers to that aspect of the unconscious which
manifests inherited, universal themes which run through all human life. Inwardly,
the whole history of the human race, back to the most primitive times, lives on in
us. It has a universal character: Its structure is more or less the same everywhere
and in all individuals.
Dreams: Carl Gustav Jung viewed dreams as specific expressions of the
unconscious that have a definite, purposeful structure indicating an underlying idea

or intention. The general function of dreams is to restore one’s total psychic
equilibrium. They tend to play a complementary or compensatory role in our
psychic makeup.
Folklore/ Folktale. Whereas myth has at its core the origins of a people, and
is often sacred, folklore is a collection of fictional tales about people and/ or
animals. Folktales describe how the main character cope with the events of
everyday life, and the tale may involve crisis or conflict. Superstitions and
unfounded beliefs are important elements in the folklore tradition.
Individuation: It is the process of coming to know, giving expression to, and
harmonizing the various components of the psyche. If we realize our uniqueness,
we can undertake a process of individuation and tap into our true self. Jung
translates individuation as “coming to selfhood” or “self-realization.” Jung further
believes that the goal of every individual is to attain a balance of the different parts
of the psyche.
Legend. A legend is a story purported to be historical in nature, but without
substantiation. Prominent example include: King Arthur, Blackbeard and Robin
Hood. Where evidence of the existence of actual historical figures exists, figures
like King Richard are legends due in large part to the many stories that have been
created about them. Legend also refers to anything that inspires a body of stories,
or anything of lasting importance or fame. The story is handed down from earlier
times, but will continue to evolve with time.

Mana: It is a Melanesian word for extraordinarily effective power emanating
from a human being, object, action, or event, or from supernatural beings and
spirits. It is also health, prestige, power to work magic and to heal. Mana may refer
to a primitive concept of psychic energy.
Myth. Myth is a traditional story, which may describe the origins of the world
and/ or of a people. A myth is an attempt to explain mysteries, supernatural events,
and cultural traditions. Sometimes sacred in nature, a myth can involve gods or
other creatures. And, a myth represents reality in dramatic ways. Many cultures
have their own version of common myths, which contain archetypal images and
themes. Myth criticism is used to analyze these threads in literature.
Persona. The “mask” or image we present to the world which is designed to
make a particular impression on others, while concealing our true nature. To a
certain extent, it is a figure in the unconscious – that is, we do not realize that we
are wearing the mask. It prescribes conduct in accord with requirements of
everyday life. The persona also represent conscious ego with its many variations.
It is the person’s adaptation to the world; the manner he or she assumes in dealing
with it. It must not be mistaken for the whole person. If person identifies fully with
persona, this becomes a denial of the other parts of the personality, including the
rest of the unconscious.
Psyche. Psyche is the totality of all psychic processes, conscious as well as
unconscious. The term ‘psyche’ is used rather than ‘mind’ since mind is used in
common parlance to refer to the aspects of mental functioning which are

conscious. Jung maintained that the psyche is a self-regulating system like the
body.
Shadow. The side of our personality which we do not consciously display in
public. It may have positive or negative qualities. If it remains unconscious, the
shadow is often projected onto other individual or groups. The Real Bad Dude, for
example, may push his friendly, nourishing sides into the shadow. To know our
shadow involves recognizing dark aspects of personality as present and real.
Shadow wants to do all the things we do not allow ourselves to do.
Symbol. It refers to a name, term, or picture that is familiar in daily life, yet
has other connotations besides its conventional and obvious meaning. It is a key to
discovering feelings or preferences of which we are unaware. It implies something
vague and partially unknown or hidden. Many different symbols may be essentially
equivalent and reflect the same reality. Dream symbols bring messages from the
unconscious to the rational mind.

CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
This chapter presents the summary of important ideas, concepts and theories
that are used as a basis for this study. This contains a review of articles from
books, journals and magazines both print and non-print. The researcher also
looked into a number of foreign and local studies relevant to this study on
archetypal criticism.
Foreign Literature
It is imperative that one should understand first the meaning of ‘archetype’
as used in this study. The word ‘archetype’ defies simple definition according to De
Coster (2014) in his article “The Collective Unconscious and Its Archetypes”. The
word derives from a Greek compound of “arche” and “tupos.” Arche or ‘first
principle’ points to the creative source, which cannot be represented or seen
directly. Tupos or ‘impression’, refers to any one of the numerous manifestations of
the ‘first principle’ (p. 6) One cannot just give an exact definition of archetypes
because according to De Coster, even Jung himself had many different thoughts
about archetypes throughout his professional life. It is thus helpful to circle around
‘archetype’ by looking at some of the ways Jung described it in his collected works.
In Jung’s terms, ‘Archetype’ is defined as the first original model of which all
other similar persons, objects, or concepts are merely derivative, copied,
patterned, or emulated. These patterns derive from a universal ‘collective

unconscious’ which in metaphysics is called the Grids, Akashic Records, Sea of
Consciousness, that which creates our reality. In this context, archetypes are
innate prototypes for ideas, which may subsequently become involved in the
interpretation of observed phenomena. (De Coster p. 8)
Michael Delahoyde (2014) in an online article titled “Archetypal Criticism”
defines archetypes with these lines:
“Archetypes are the unknowable basic forms personified

or concretized in recurring images, symbols, or patterns
which may include motifs such as the quest or the
heavenly ascent, recognizable character types such as
the trickster or the hero, symbols such as the apple or the
snake or images such as crucifixion (as in King Kong, or
Bride of Frankenstein) – all laden with meaning already
when employed in particular work.” (p. 1)
Especially in mythologies, folk tales and legends, archetypes are images
and symbols which have meanings in themselves and will therefore aid us in our
understanding of these works of literature.
Victor Daniels (2014) in an online article titled “The Analytical Psychology of
Carl Gustav Jung defines archetypes in the following words:
“…These primordial images reflect basic patterns or

universal themes common to us all which are present in
unconscious. These symbolic images exist outside space
and time…. The word archetype has been in use for
centuries and means the original pattern or prototype from
which copies are made. In the collective unconscious
contents, we are dealing with archaic, primordial types
universal images that have existed since remotest times.”
Some examples of these archetypes are the animus, anima, shadow, an
innocent child, and an old wise man. Examples of nature archetypes are mountain,
forest, river, ocean, fire, earth, island etc.
Guerin, Wilfred et al., also provides us a definition of archetypes from their
book “A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature.” Archetype is defined as
such:
“Archetypes are universal symbols, motifs, or themes that

may be found among many different cultures. They recur in
the myths of people worldwide. These symbols carry the
same or very similar meanings for a large portion, if not all,
of mankind….. certain symbols, such as the sky father and
earth mother, light, blood, up-down, and others recur again
and again in cultures so remote from one another in space
and time that there is no likelihood of any historical influence
and causal connection among them.” (p. 157)
It can be gleaned from the definitions presented that an archetype has an
element of universality. Archetype is something that is common to all or shared by
humanity because it is stored in the human psyche called “collective unconscious.”
J D’Amico (2014) in his article “Archetypes in Literature” enumerates the
characteristics of archetypes in Carl Jung’s collective unconscious.
1. These are not individual, but we share them with humanity.
2. These are an inherited part of being human which connects us to past and
we experience a common source.
3. These archetypes are not directly knowable, but instead express
themselves in forms (situations, symbols and characters).
4. They grow out of man’s social, psychological, and biological being.

5. These archetypes are universal. From gladiators to astronauts, they are the
same.
6. They cannot be explained by interaction among cultures because
geography and history made it impossible.
7. These archetypes are recurrent; appearing slightly altered in present day
situations and relate them to the past in order to get the meaning in the
contemporary world. (p. 1)
Based on the characteristics outlined by J D’Amico, no particular culture has
its own set of archetypes and no particular person has his own because of its
universality in nature. This source of archetypes is what is referred to as the
collective unconscious. These archetypes themselves do not have meaning of their
own. Their interpretations vary on the person experiencing it. These interpretations
also vary depending on man’s experiences in different aspects of his life. People
from all walks of life share the same archetypes whether they are old or young, rich
or poor etc. People from Alaska and people from Tahiti could not have interacted in
a way so it proves somehow the effect of this collective unconscious of humankind
but then these peoples show similarities in some aspects of their culture. Lastly,
these archetypes have an element of timelessness although. They occur again and
again in different ages although it slightly varies in their appearance. For example,
the Biblical Delilah might be an image of a temptress in the past but in the present,
the Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe might take that iconic image of a temptress.
It is also imperative to understand the nature of this “collective unconscious”
outlined by Carl Gustav Jung in his studies. J D’Amico in his article ‘Archetypes in
Literature’ calls this ‘collective unconscious’ a “psychic inheritance.” It is like a
reservoir of human experiences or a kind of knowledge that is infused with us
when we are born. But this kind of knowledge or experience is something hidden in
our subconscious. We are not even aware of it. J D’Amico says that “it influences
all of our experiences and behaviors, most especially emotional ones, but we only
know about it indirectly, by looking at those influences.” (p. 1)
Common among humans is the feeling that “you’ve been here or done this
before” oftentimes called ‘déjà vu’. This is a manifestation of the so called
‘collective unconscious’ which can be felt in some experiences such as a bad
omen or love at first sight. Another manifestation of this so called ‘collective
unconscious’ is the similarity of all cultures in the way they form myths and
legends, in the way they explain natural phenomena and the creation of the world,
in the way they answer questions about life and death. Knowing that these people
never had any contact with each other, how can they have similarities in their
fantasy images no matter how primitive they maybe? J D’Amico opines:
“Grander examples are the creative experiences shared

by artists and musicians all over the world and in all
times, or the spiritual experiences of mystics of all
religions, or the parallels in dreams, fantasies,
mythologies, fairy tales and literature.” (p. 1)
Sometimes, similarities in myths, tales and legends across cultures make us
wonder. How could possibly these cultures, far apart from each other, could have
exchange and share their experiences? As explained by J D’Amico in his article,
these are all but part of what Jung calls the ‘collective unconscious’ that we all
share with mankind regardless of time and place.
Philippe L. De Coster (2014) in his article The Collective Unconscious and Its
Archetypes also sheds some light on “collective unconscious.” He writes:
“The contents of the collective unconscious are called

"archetypes," which means they are original (i.e., primal),
inherited patterns, or forms of thought and experience. They
are the ancient, unconscious source of much that we think,
do, and say as human beings. They are the "givens" in our
psychological makeup, the patterns that shape our
perceptions of the world, the furnishings that are present in
our psychological home from the moment of birth. We inherit
the same forms, but each of us fills in the content by the way
we experience our lives. Thus, Father might be a positive
archetype to one person, but it might be filled with negative
meaning for another.” (p. 4)
Therefore, although humans share the same archetypes in their collective
unconscious, they might have different meanings of these archetypes depending
on the way they experience their lives. Based on the example of De Coster, the
Father archetype could either be positive or negative depending on the person’s
experience with his or her father. A battered child would certainly have negative
impressions on a Father figure.
De Coster further said the following words about the significance of
archetype in his article:
“An Archetype is an inner guide, which presents us with the

deep structure for our experience, motivation and meaning.
These Archetypes aid us on our own unique life’s journey or
pilgrimage. They help us to discover our personal

motivations and what gives our lives, brands, and business
their unique meaning. We encounter Archetypes in a variety
of ways, some of the most common through advertising, art,
literature, television and the cinema. They invoke a variety of
responses that decide how we think and act.” (p. 6)
In other words, archetypes somehow help us understand ourselves better.
They help us discover our inmost motivations and desires. By knowing these
archetypes, we come to a realization about ourselves.
Michael Delahoyed (2014) in his online article “Archetypal Criticism” also
sheds some light on the “collective unconscious” of Jungian concept. He says that
these images called archetypes are stored in humankind’s “collective
unconscious”. The texts that we read in any piece of literature do not exist in a
vacuum. They do not exist in themselves. We arrive at a realization or
understanding because these images represented meanings based on our
experiences that we share with the rest of humankind. Reading fairy tales,
legends and myths will therefore allow us to participate symbolically the beliefs,
practices of our very own culture in our time. Delahoyde concludes by saying:
“These archetypal features not only constitute the intelligibility of the text but also
tap into a level of desires and anxieties of humankind.” (p. 2)
In the book titled “Contemporary Literary Theory,” Richard F. Hardin gives us
an overview of Archetypal Criticism which is the heart of this current study. Hardin
says that Archetypal criticism is almost synonymous with “myth criticism” because
myths are the purest expression of such images—archetypes in most human
experience.(Hardin, 42)
In the article, Hardin uses the Scottish ballad “The Twa Corbies” (The Two
Crows) as an example of a literary piece which contains archetypal images. The
poem about a knight’s tragedy has stark images of death such as two birds of prey,
the bones, the eternal wind, the blue eye pecked from the skull etc. Hardin says
that these are archetypes because they speak the same meaning to almost any
culture, any time. The universal experience of death in nature insures the
universality of this image. (Hardin, 43) The situation of the poem has equally deep
appeal. Hardin writes:
“The hero slain by treachery (he is “new slain,” and his lady
already has “another mate”) appears in almost all literatures
of the world. Not only the images and plot but the characters,
undeveloped though they are, are also archetypal: the
handsome, competent knight-hero; the shadowy femme
fatale and her lover. The “I” of the poem and the talking birds
also find counterparts in poems and stories throughout the
world. Archetypal qualities may even seem to occur in the
colors and the numbers.” (Hardin, 43)
Hardin also cites Sir James Frazer’s and the Cambridge anthropological
school as the source of some idea of the aims and results of archetypal criticism.
Hardin says that Frazer, a Victorian rationalist, was out to show the common
patterns of human delusion as expressed in the rituals and myths of religions
around the world including the Roman Catholicism. Although Frazer dissociated
himself from the Cambridge school, the latter followed Frazer and other 19 th
century ethnologist in believing that a myth was “a fiction devised to explain an old
custom, of which the real meaning and origin had been forgotten.” And from this
was derived the “the ritual theory of myth” – the idea that myth existed only to
justify the celebration of a rite whose original meaning had been lost. (Hardin, 46)
It is interesting to note that Hardin also makes a distinction between the
Jungian concept of archetypes and Frazer’s view of archetypal analysis. Frazer’s
archetypal analysis is closely linked to Frye’s. In the Jungian concept, Hardin says
that archetypal criticism can be developed from a psychological as well as from an
anthropological perspective, as was demonstrated in Maud Bodkin’s Archetypal
Patterns in Poetry. Bodkin approached literature with a fully Jungian sense of the
archetypes. Quoting Bodkin, Hardin writes: “Archetypal Patterns was written when
she had acquired a fuller sense of the unexplored wealth of the heritage
communicated through language and custom, influencing unawares all our
conscious individual thoughts and actions.” (p. 50)
Hardin adds that Bodkin’s “Archetypal Pattern” sets out to test Jung’s
hypothesis that certain poems derive their power to stir us from their appeal to
“primordial images”. An “archetypal pattern” is that within us which leaps in
response to the effective presentation in poetry of an ancient theme and that in
poetry we may identify themes having a particular form or pattern which persists
amid variations form age to age, and which corresponds to a pattern or
configuration of emotional tendencies in the minds of those who are stirred by the
theme. (Hardin, 50)

Frye’s view on archetypal criticism on the other hand is unlike other
archetypal critics. Hardin says that Frye sees literature as a system closed off from
the author’s psyche, even from History itself. (p. 52). An archetype is not an image
derived from Jungian racial memory (collective unconscious)—or, rather, it makes
no difference whether it is so derived or not. In his book “Anatomy of Criticism:
Four Essays” Northrop Frye as quoted by Hardin says:
“An [archetype] is principally a symbol, usually an image,

which recurs often enough in literature to be recognizable as
an element of one’s literary experience as a whole. It is a
symbol which connects one poem with another and thereby
helps to unify and integrate our literary experience.” (p. 52)
Hardin concludes that Frye, shows his penchant for scientific method and
anticipates the structuralists in seeking to organize a model of the whole literary
tradition across historical boundaries—synchronically. It is evident that Frye’s
method is one of classifying rather than analyzing. (Hardin, 53)
This study is veered towards the Jungian concepts rather than Frye’s
because the researcher believes that one can experience literary appreciation in
analyzing rather than classifying.
In an online article of Lisa Schade Eckert (2014) titled Archetypal/
Mythological/Jungian Approaches to Literary Criticism, she writes about the
Primary and Secondary archetypes of Carl Jung which will be useful in the
archetypal analysis. She reiterates the Jungian belief that inside our subconscious
mind, we harbor a universal, shared consciousness that connects all human
beings. This part of consciousness cannot be accessed or known to the conscious

mind because we did not experience them as individuals. These are experiences
of our forebears that were accumulated over the generations and kept into our
subconscious mind. What we are aware is the SELF – which is the center of the
collective unconscious.
Eckhert writes about the SELF:
“According to Jung, the self, or the psyche, is the

consciousness that an individual can recognize. The self
includes three primary aspects: the ego, the shadow, and
the anima/animus. The ego represents that small portion of
the mind that we recognize as thought, maturity, and reason.
In the realm of the ego, we identify who we are, what we
think and believe about the world and our place in it. The
shadow, much like the Freudian id, is the dark side of self,
the hiding place for repressed desires, instinctive drives, and
negative emotions. The anima (feminine) or animus
(masculine) is the part of the self that harbors characteristics
of the opposite sex; a man has an anima and a woman an
animus lurking in the depths of their self. Jung argued that
the goal of the individual is to achieve a balance or
recognition of the different aspects of self, and called this the
process of individuation or self-actualization. (p. 1)
Eckert then classifies the Archetypes in two— the Primary Archetypes of Self
and the Jungian (secondary) Archetypes. Under the Primary Archetypes of Self are
the Self, Ego, Shadow, Persona, Anima, Animus, Individuation and
Transformation. The Jungian (secondary) Archetypes are classified into three—
Character Archetypes, Situational Archetypes, and Archetypal Symbols and
Associations. Examples of Character Archetypes are: The Hero, The Scapegoat,
The Outcast, The Devil Figure, The Wise Old Man, The Child, The Star-Crossed
Lovers, The Sibling, and the Woman Figure which includes The Earth Mother, The
Temptress or Seductress, The Platonic Ideal, and the Unfaithful Wife. The
Situational Archetypes includes the following: The Quest, The Task, The Initiation,
The Journey, The Fall, Death and Rebirth, Creation and Origin, and Destruction.
Archetypal Symbols and Associations include: Light-Darkness, Water-Dessert,
Heaven-Hell, and other symbols such as colors, geologic features- mountains,
forests, gardens, rivers, etc.
Victor Daniels in his article titled: The Analytical Psychology of Carl Gustav
Jung also defines some of the terms that will be useful in this current study on
archetypal analysis. These definitions are outlined in the Definition of Terms
section of this study. Some of these include the definitions of Archetype, Anima,
Animus, Collective Unconscious, Dreams, Individuation, Mana, Persona, Shadow,
and Symbol. Definitions of these terms are based on the Analytical Psychology of
Carl Gustav Jung. Though scientific in nature, these definitions are useful in the
process of analyzing the archetypes in the short stories under study.
Based on the definitions presented by Daniels, it can be gleaned that
Analytical Psychology is a science that deals with the human psyche. According to
Daniels, Jung believes that psyche is a great world within. This interior world called
psyche is as great as the world without.
In the book “Pathways to Bliss” by Joseph Campbell, he claims that Carl Jung
first was the first one to apply the term ‘archetype’ to literature. Jung believes that
there are universal patterns in mythologies, legends and tales regardless of culture
and historical period. He hypothesized that there is part of the human mind that
contains the collective unconscious which is shared by the rest of humanity. The
term archetype can be applied to an image, a symbol, a theme, an idea, a
character type or a plot pattern. These can also be expressed in myths, dreams,
literature, religions, fantasies, and folklore. Archetypes are generally classified as
situational archetypes, character archetypes and symbolic archetypes.
Philip Wedgeworth designed this Table of Archetypes which he derived from
the work of Carl Gustav Jung. These archetypes are classified as situational,
character and symbolic.
Situational Archetypes
ARCHETYPE DESCRIPTION
The Quest What the Hero must accomplish in
order to bring fertility back to the
wasteland, usually a search for some
talisman, which will restore peace,
order, and normalcy to a troubled land.
The Task The nearly superhuman feat(s) the
Hero must perform in order to
accomplish his quest.
The Journey The journey sends the Hero in search
of some truth that will help save his
kingdom.
The Initiation The adolescent comes into his maturity
with new awareness and problems.
The Ritual The actual ceremonies the Initiate
experiences that will mark his rite of
passage into another state. A clear sign
of the character's role in his society
The Fall The descent from a higher to a lower
state of being usually as a punishment

for transgression. It also involves the
loss of innocence.
Death and Rebirth The most common of all situational
archetypes, this motif grows out of a
parallel between the cycle of nature
and the cycle of life. Thus morning and
springtime represent birth, youth, or
rebirth, while evening and winter
suggest old age
or death.
Battle between Good Obviously, a battle between two primal
and Evil forces. Mankind shows eternal
optimism in the continual portrayal of
good triumphing over evil despite great
odds.
The Unhealable Wound Either a physical or psychological
wound that cannot be fully healed. The
wound symbolizes a loss of innocence.
Character Archetypes
ARCHETYPE DESCRIPTION
The Hero The Hero is a protagonist whose life is
a series of well-marked adventures.
The circumstances of his birth are
unusual, and he is raised by a
guardian. He will have to leave his
kingdom, only to return to it upon
reaching manhood. Characterized by
courage, strength, and
honor, the hero will endure hardship,

even risk his life for the good of all.
Leaves the familiar to enter an
unfamiliar and challenging world.
Young Man from the The Hero returns to his home and
Provinces heritage where he is a stranger who
can see new problems and new
solutions
The Initiates The Initiates are young heroes or
heroines who must go through some
training and ceremony before
undertaking their quest.
Mentor The Mentor is an older, wiser teacher
to the initiates. He often serves as a
father or mother figure. He gives the
hero gifts (weapons, food, magic,
information), serves as a role model or
as hero’s conscience.
Mentor - Pupil In this relationship, the Mentor teaches
Relationship the Hero/pupil the necessary skills for
surviving the quest.
The Threshold Tests the hero’s courage and
Guardian worthiness to begin the journey
Father - Son Conflict In this relationship, the tension is built
due to
separation from childhood or some
other source when the two meet as
men.
Hunting Group of These are loyal companions willing to
Companions face hardship and ordeal in order to
stay together.
Loyal Retainers The Retainer's duty is to reflect the

nobility and power of the hero.
Friendly Beast An animal companion showing that
nature is on the side of the hero
The Shadow A worthy opponent with whom the hero
must struggle in a fight to the end. Must
be destroyed or neutralized.
Psychologically can represent the
darker side of the hero’s own psyche.
The Devil Figure This character is evil incarnate.
The Evil Figure with A devil figure with the potential to be
Ultimately Good Heart good. This person is usually saved by
the love of the hero.
The Creature of A monster usually summoned from the
Nightmare deepest, darkest part of the human
psyche to threaten the lives of the
hero/heroine. Often it is a perversion or
desecration of the human body.
The Scapegoat An animal, or more usually a human,
whose death in a public ceremony
expiates some taint or sin of a
community. They are often more
powerful in death than in life.
The Outcast A character banished from a social
group for some real or imagined crime
against his fellow man, usually destined
to wander form place to place.
The Platonic Ideal A woman who is a source of inspiration
to the hero, who has an intellectual
rather than physical attraction to her
Damsel in Distress A vulnerable woman who needs to be
rescued by the hero. She is often used
as a trap to ensnare the unsuspecting

hero.
The Earth Mother Symbolic of fruition, abundance, and
fertility, this character traditionally offers
spiritual and emotional nourishment to
those with whom she comes in contact.
Often depicted in earth colors, has
large breasts and hips symbolic of her
childbearing capacities.
The Temptress or Black Characterized by sensuous beauty, this
Goddess woman is one to whom the protagonist
is physically attracted and who
ultimately brings about his downfall.
May appear as a witch or vampire
White Goddess Good, beautiful maiden, usually blond,
may make an ideal marriage partner;
often has religious or intellectual
overtones.
The Unfaithful Wife A woman married to a man she sees
as dull or distant and is attracted to
more virile or interesting men.
Star-Crossed Lovers Two characters engaged in a love affair
fated to end tragically for one or both
due to the disapproval of society,
friends, family, or some tragic situation.
Symbolic Archetypes
ARCHETYPES DESCRIPTION
Light vs. Darkness Light usually suggests hope, renewal,
or intellectual illumination; darkness
implies the unknown, ignorance, or
despair.
Innate Wisdom vs. Some characters exhibit wisdom and
Educated Stupidity understanding of situations instinctively
as opposed to those supposedly in
charge. Loyal retainers often exhibit
this wisdom as they
accompany the hero on the journey.
Supernatural Spiritual beings intervene on the side of
Intervention the hero or sometimes against him.
Fire and Ice Fire represents knowledge, light, life,
and rebirth, while ice, like the desert,
represents ignorance, darkness,
sterility, and death.
Nature vs. Mechanistic Nature is good while technology is evil.
World
The Threshold Gateway to a new world which the hero
must enter to change and grow
The Underworld A place of death or metaphorically an
encounter with the dark side of the self.
Entering an underworld is a form of
facing a fear of death.
Haven vs. Wilderness Places of safety contrast sharply
against a dangerous wilderness.
Heroes are often sheltered for a time to
regain
health and resources
Water vs. Desert Because Water is necessary to life and
growth, it commonly appears as a birth
symbol, as baptism symbolizes a
spiritual birth. Rain, rivers, oceans, etc.
also function the same way. The
Desert suggests the opposite.

Heaven vs. Hell Man has traditionally associated parts
of the universe not accessible to him
with the dwelling places of the
primordial forces that govern his world.
The skies and mountaintops house his
gods, the bowels of the earth
contain diabolic forces.
The Crossroads A place or time of decision when a
realization is made and change or
penance results
The Maze A puzzling dilemma or great
uncertainty, search for the dangerous
monster inside of oneself, or a journey
into the heart of darkness
The Castle A strong place of safety which holds
treasure or princess, may be
enchanted or bewitched
The Tower A strong place of evil, represents the
isolation of self
The Magic Weapon The weapon the hero needs in order to
complete his quest.

The Whirlpool Symbolizes the destructive power of
nature or fate.
Fog Symbolizes uncertainty.
Colors Red: blood, sacrifice, passion, disorder
Green: growth, hope, fertility Blue:
highly positive, security, tranquility,
spiritual purity
Black: darkness, chaos, mystery, the
unknown, death, wisdom, evil,
melancholy White: light, purity,
innocence, timelessness (negatives:
death, horror, supernatural) Yellow:
enlightenment, wisdom
Numbers 3—light, spiritual awareness, unity
(holy trinity), male principle
4—associated with the circle, life cycle,

four seasons, female principle, earth,
nature, elements
7—the most potent of all symbolic
numbers signifying the union of three
and four, the completion of a cycle,
perfect order, perfect number, religious
symbol
With these examples of archetypes, one can rightly claim the efficacy of
archetypes as a tool for literary criticism. These examples of archetypes with their
corresponding classifications will be used in analyzing selected literary pieces in
the archetypal realms.
The focus of this study is on the archetypal analysis of selected short stories
of Nick Joaquin which have some elements of myth. The researcher therefore
finds it imperative to understand the meaning of myth since myth is closely
associated with archetypal criticism.
Carol Shreier Rupprect in an online article titled “Archetypal Theory and
Criticism” writes that Archetypal theory and criticism is also known as Myth Theory
and Criticism. She says that the term ‘archetype’ can be traced to Plato but the
concept gained currency only in the twentieth-century literary theory and criticism
through the work of the Swiss founder of analytical psychology, Carl Gustav Jung.
In her own words she writes:
“Jung most frequently used “myth” (or “mythologem”) for

the narrative expression “on the ethnological level” of the
“archetypes,” which he described as patterns of psychic
energy originating in the collective unconscious and
finding their “most common and most normal”
manifestation in dreams. Thus criticism evolving from his
work is more accurately named “archetypal” and is quite
distinct from “myth” criticism.” (Rupprect p. 1)
Rupprect adds that in the mid 20th century, Canadian critic Northrop Frye
introduced new distinctions in literary criticism between myth and archetype. For
Frye, archetype borrowed from Jung, means a primordial image, a part of the
collective unconscious, the psychic residue of numberless experiences of the
same kind, and thus part of the inherited response-pattern of the race” Frye
referred this as “Jungian criticism”. Rupprect continues that Frye, however, notably
in his book Anatomy of Criticism, essentially redefined and relocated archetypes
on grounds that would remove him unequivocally from the ranks of “Jungian” critics
by severing the connection between archetype and depth psychology. Jung and
his school maintain the communicability of archetypes that is accounted for by a
theory of a collective unconscious. Frye on the other hand finds this an
unnecessary hypothesis in literary criticism. Frye therefore settles on a concept of
“archetype” as a literary occurrence per se, an exclusively intertextual recurring
phenomenon resembling a convention.
In this article, Rupprect’s deals with the literary theory and criticism that is in
agreement and which is derived from the psychological principles posited by Jung.
Included are all other forms labeled “Jungian” under the term “archetypal” because
Rupprect says that these forms operate on a set of assumptions derived from Jung
and accept the depth-psychological structure advanced by Jung.
Rupprect adds that the first systematic application of Jung’s ideas to literature
was made in 1934 by Maud Bodkin in his book “Archetypal in Poetry” in which an
attempt is made to bring psychological experience communicated by great poetry,

and to examine those forms or patterns in which the universal forces of our nature
there find objectification. Another significant development in archetypal theory is
that of Zurich-trained analyst James Hillman. Rupprect says that Hillman locates
the archetypal neither in physiology of the brain, the structure of language, the
organization of society, nor the analysis of behavior, but in the process of
imagination. But Rupprect believes that this burgeoning theoretical movement and
the generally unsatisfying nature of so much early “Jungian literary criticism” are
both linked to the problematic nature of Jung’s own writing on literature, which
comprises a handful of essays. These essays reveal Jung’s lack of awareness as
a reader despite his sent that they may show how ideas that play a considerable
role in his work can be applied to literary material. Rupprect concludes that
Jungian theory provided no clear avenue of access for those outside of
psychology, and orthodox Jungians were left with little in the way of models for the
psychological analysis of literature. She further says that many fell prey to Jung’s
idiosyncrasies as a reader, ranging widely and naively over genres, periods, and
languages in search of the universal archetypes, while sweeping aside culture and
text-specific problems, ignoring their own role in the act of reading and basing
critical evaluation solely on a text’s contribution to the advancement of the reader’s
individuation process, a kind of literature-as-therapy standard.
Rupprect in concluding her article writes:
“Archetypal criticism, then, construed as that derived

from Jung’s theory and practice of archetypal (analytical)
psychology, is a fledgling and much misconstrued field of
inquiry with significant but still unrealized potential for the

study of literature and of aesthetics in general.” (p. 8)
Dr. Robert T. Mason in an article titled “The Divine Serpent in Myth and
Legend” elucidates the meaning of myth. He says that the origin of myth lies in the
Greek concept of muthos, which as the definition of truth or knowledge predates
the use of the Greek word logos. It is interesting to know that myth is truth by
tracing the etymology of the word. Mason adds that myth for the early human
usually referred to as those realities which were known by experience or based
upon the cultural and ritual beliefs of human civilization.
In his article, Mason contextualized the meaning of myths as those which
have been at some stage, actually believed to be true by the peoples of the
societies that used or originated the myth. This therefore, is distinguished from the
use of the word myth in everyday speech, which as Mason puts it, basically refers
to an unreal or imaginary story. Mason also provides a distinction of myth from a
parable or an allegory which is a story made up to illustrate a moral point but which
has never been assumed to be true.
Mason also provides a historical background of myth saying that myths were
originally not expressed in either verbal or written form because language was
deemed inadequate to convey the truth expressed in the story. That is why myths
were chanted, enacted, costumed, danced, sung and imagined. Later in historical
time myth becomes often identified with the concept of “legend” form the Greek
word Legion or Logos which meant word or language. So, myth became a written
form and Mythos/Logos is the activity of human consciousness which translates or
transfers the underlying forms and powers from the unconscious to the conscious,
from the dream world to the world of activity.(Mason, 2)
Mason comes up with a collective definition of myth composed of theories
which he thinks meets the criteria for mythology. Here is his definition:
“Myths are stories, usually, about gods and other

supernatural beings. They are often stories of origins,
how the world and everything in it came to be in illo
tempore. They are usually strongly structured and their
meaning is only discerned by linguistic analysis.
Sometimes they are public dreams which, like private
dreams, emerge from the unconscious mind; they more
often reveal archetypes of the collective unconscious.
Myths are symbolic and metaphorical, and they orient
people to the metaphysical plane, address themselves to
the innermost depths of the human psyche.” (Mason, 2)
Mason concludes that in the original living form of the myth in any primitive
society is not a fairy tale but reality lived. He says that myths are human
experiences and when they are narrated it is not the speaker who speaks but the
wisdom of the forefathers speaking through him. Mason also claims that in our
‘modern’ world we have so discounted the power and reality of the myth,
denigrating them to the level of ‘fairy tales’ that we have lost contact with our
ground.
Lastly, Jane Cicchetti in an online article writes about the significance of
archetypes in myths and legends. In her words she says:
“In becoming familiar with the imagery of myths and legends,

we begin to understand some of the universal patterns
contained within the archetypes and in turn, learn at least a
bit about the human psyche. However, it is not enough to

rely on information from the past; we must investigate the
present meaning of the archetypes through individual
dreams and visions. It is the task of each age to understand
the archetypal symbols in a new way, as each age has its
own challenge.”
Through literature one can learn something from the human psyche. Myths
and legends have hidden treasures of meaning that is shared by humankind.
Learning these meanings gives us a better understanding of the human psyche—
therefore understanding ourselves better.
Local Literature
In an article titled “Towards an Understanding of Philippine Myth, Francisco
R. Demetrio, SJ, (2015) gives a clear understanding about myth. Demetrio says
that when people say “That’s a myth,” we have a notion that it refers to something
that is not true. The unpopularity which has stigmatized the concept of myth for so
many centuries has been primarily due to the fact that myth has been equated with
lack of hard truth or historical fact. He adds that myth is more ancient that science
of history. There was myth before philosophy and theology. Myth is as ancient as
the folktale, the riddle, the fable, like magic and religion—as ancient as man
himself (Demetrio, 36)
Demetrio asserts that the truth of myth is not the truth of history but the truth
of experience, of the real, of life, the holy, the sacred. He gives an example of a
man kneeling before an image of the Santo Nino for the recovery of his sick child.
A scientific sophisticate might think the man is superstitious allaying his fears with
religion but, as Demetrio asserts, the man is finding truth in his prayers. The truth
of myth is analogous to the truth of an anguished man finds once he has prayed to
God with all his might: the experience of peace, of resignation. (Demetrio, 37)
Demetrio also writes about the modern conception of myth. He
believes that with the help of modern psychology, especially psychoanalysis, there
has come about a better understanding of the value of myth:
“This understanding is premised not so much on the truth

of myth as seen in relation to history and the truth of
facts, but rather on truth of myth as related to its function.
The truth of myth is thus related to cult or ritual. Or rather
that myth and ritual are facets of one and the same
reality: the gut-experience of life, in its varied aspects.”
(Demetrio, 38)
Demetrio therefore comes up with a meaning of myth which is the spoken or
recited portion of a ritual or cult. He also defines cult as a ceremony which consists
in actual drama or presentation of an event in the distant past which has something
to do with the beginning of life or which sustains or increases life. Cult which is in
essence a worship of a deity for thanksgiving are usually intended for curing a sick
person, start and closing of the year, for baptizing a baby, for installing a king,
ordaining a priest, for harvesting, for planting, for marrying, for burying the dead. In
other words, as Demetrio pointed out, cult comes in at every significant human
event where the foundations of life and the increase or sustenance of life are
involved. Demetrio concludes with these words: “If myth is the accompanying
narration that goes with the cult, then we can assume that for every cult there was
a myth, and for every myth, there was a ritual or ceremony.” (Demetrio, 39)
For the purpose of this current study, it is expedient to provide a background
of the Philippine mythology and folklore because the selected works of Nick
Joaquin under study depicts the Philippine cultural heritage. The selected short
stories of Nick Joaquin have elements of myth with the Filipino-Spanish culture as
the backdrop.
The Philippines is rich in mythology and folklore. This is evident in its
Filipino literature which is laden with myths, folklore and legends. These are mostly
tales of love, compassion and heroism. In an article “Filipino Legends, Myths and
Folklores Abound”, the author Ciel S. Cantoria writes:
“Philippine literature abounds with fascinating tales of

legends and mythical stories of how the Earth, and
everything in it came to exist. Primarily, they’re entertaining
since they could amuse, inspire and sometimes scare; but
mainly, they impart lessons on how to live well with other
people.”
One of these is the legend about why do the Moon and Stars Appear Only
at Night. As the legend goes, a long time ago when the universe was still young,
the sun and the moon were married to each other. One day, the moon asked her
husband, the sun, to keep watch over their sleeping children, the stars, since she
had to gather food for the family. The moon, reminded her husband not to go near
the young ones for they would get burned by his intense noon day heat. The sun,
however, couldn’t keep from bending over to kiss the little ones. But, as his wife
had feared, the children slowly started to melt. His wife, the moon, became cold to
him an endlessly blamed him for deforming their children. One day, the sun’s fiery
temper got the better of him. He struck his wife’s face to stop her endless nagging.
Though he felt sorry for having done so, the moon never forgave him. Since then,
the sun and the moon became estranged .The latter took her children with her as
far as she could to get away from the sun. She and her children show up only
during the night when the sun is not around. That is the reason why we see the
moon and the stars only at night.
So, based on the local legend, the sun is associated with the father figure
while the moon is associated with a mother figure. It can also be inferred that the
day or daylight is attributed to male dominion while the night or night time is of the
woman’s turf.
Another popular myth is about the origin of pineapple and why it has so many
‘eyes’. As the story goes, there was once a pretty girl named Pina who was loved
dearly by her mother to the point of spoiling her. As Pina got older, she had
become lazy, inconsiderate and self-centered. One day, the mother fell ill and
could not manage to cook food for herself and for Pina. Left with no choice, Pina
was left to do the cooking herself. She forced herself to go to the kitchen grumbling
and resentful that her mother was sick. The girl haft-heartedly set out to cook rice
porridge the way her mother instructed her to do. While in the kitchen, Pina kept on
asking where her mother kept the things she needed. Her mother had to shout
several times over because Pina could not seem to find whatever it was she was
looking for. She kept on asking, “Where’s the rice keeper?”; “Where’s the ladle?;
“Where’s the salt?”; Where’s the bowl?” and so on. The mother had to shout at the
top of her lungs to answer Pina’s questions which made her feel worse. Feeling
weak and exasperated with Pina’s unending questions, the mother finally lost her
temper and let out a curse: “Heaven forbid child! But I call on all the gods to put
eyes all over your face so you can see the things you’re looking for.” Tired and
weak, Pina’s mother fell asleep. When her mother woke up, she called Pina but
she was nowhere to be found. She only found the unfinished cooking task. When
she was about to leaved the kitchen, she tripped on something that was on the
floor. She picked up the strange looking object, which was shaped like a human
head with tufts of leaves atop its crown. The mother had an uncanny feeling that
the brown circles scattered all over the object reminded her of Pina’s beautiful
brown eyes. Horrified, the mother remembered that she let out a terrible curse on
her daughter before she fell asleep. Thus, the strange looking fruit was called ‘pina’
or pineapple in memory of her daughter who vanished into thin air.
These two tales are examples of the legends and myth in Philippine literature.
There are several versions of these stories. Filipinos have their own way of
explaining the phenomena around them. They have a way of incorporating morals
in the stories they create.
In an article titled “Philippines at Spanish Contact: An Essay in Enthnohistory,
in the book Brown Heritage: Essays on Philippine Cultural Tradition and Literature
the author Felipe Landa-Jocano tries to reconstruct the basic features of Filipino
society and culture at the time the Spaniards came to Christianize and rule the
archipelago. His paper also tries to evaluate the attendant longer-term processes
of cultural persistence and change. Jocano writes:
“… the pre-conquest Filipino society was not swept away

by the advent of the Spanish regime. The basic values
and institutions of pre-Hispanic Filipinos have persisted
because the changes which have occurred within the
historical period, due largely to Western influences, have
been adapted to local patterns of doing, believing and
thinking. This is attested today by the manner in which
American and other outside influences are incorporated
into Filipino lifeways without drastically affecting the basic
framework of the existing social structure and cultural
pattern. ” (Jocano, 50)
In line with the aims of this study, the researcher focuses on the belief system
outlined by Jocano in his paper. The selected short stories of Nick Joaquin utilize
myths and local legends in depicting the cultural background of the Filipino people.
Jocano writes that the best way to understand a people is to know their belief
system. The people’s concept of the world such as their outlooks in life, their
cultural predispositions, their social relations, and codes of behavior lies in it.
Jocano says that the pre-conquest Filipinos had a body of beliefs which has
survived the onslaught of time and functions in many rural and upland areas today
as points of reference in various action processes. (Jocano, 83)
Here are some of the myths believed by Filipinos according to Jocano:
“In the beginning there as only the sky and the sea.
There was no land at all. One day a kite appeared.
Having no place to alight, it decided to set at the sea
against the sky. Accordingly, the sea declared war
against the sky by throwing her waters upwards. The sky
seeing this, made a treaty of peace with the sea. After
wards, to avenge himself upon her for having dared to

assert herself, they say that he showered upon the sea
all the islands of this archipelago, in order to subdue her;
and that the sea ran to and fro without being able to rise
again. On one of these islands a reed grew. The kite,
now having a place to alight, came down and pecked at
the reed. The reed broke into two sections and out came
the first man and woman. At first the woman hesitated to
marry the man but later consented after having consulted
the tunas of the sea, the dove, and the earthquake. From
the union of this original pair came many children.”
(Jocano, 83)
Jocano writes another variant of the above quoted myth in Bisayas, which
tells of the marriage of the land breeze and the sea breeze. Out of the union of
these two supernatural beings, came a reed, the latter having been willed by the
god Captan to be born to the two. When the reed became mature it broke into two
and out came two person—Sicalac (male) and Sicavay (female). As in the other
story, the people of the world came from the union of this first couple.
Aside from these mythical stories, Filipinos also believed in an “all powerful
god” The Tagalogs for instance worshipped “Bathala” through the mediation of the
anitos. They believed that the “Bathala” was too remote to be reached that is why
they asked the anitos to intercede for them for only the anitos could speak to
“Bathhala.” Tagalogs also worshipped the sun, the moon and the stars because
they believe that these were representations of the might of Bathala.
Jocano also cites another important aspect of the ritual complex which is the
auguries. An example is if a person sneezed, if he heard the tigmamamuquin bird
sing, or if he saw a rat or snake along the way, he returned home because these
animals and sounds meant bad luck. Supplementing auguries was the practice of
divination. Causes of death and illness were divined in order to determine whether
or not a sorcerer or witch was responsible for such misfortune. (Jocano, 85)
Jocano believes that the Filipinos believed in a myriad of environmental spirits
which actively participated in their lifeways. Idols were carved in representation of
these spirits. Sometimes these idols were anointed with fragrant perfumes, such as
must and civet, or gums of the storax tree and other odoriferous woods, and they
praised them in poetic songs sung by the officiating priests, male or female, who
are called catalonan.
In conclusion of his essay Jocano writes:
“The belief system is another area where change is

minimal. The same auguries and divination are practiced
in many rural and upland areas as these were done in
the past. In fact, the manner in which the Filipinos
reinterpret the function of the santo in their Catholic
religious life is very good example of cultural persistence
in Philippine society.” (p. 85)
The researcher wishes also to provide a background of the works of Nick
Joaquin, whose short stories are utilized in this study. These articles, printed in
local journals and books provide us a better understanding of the works of Nick
Joaquin and its relevance to this study.
Joseph A. Galdon wrote an article in Philippine Studies titled Tropical Gothic:
Nick Joaquin Revisited. Tropical Gothic is a title of Joaquin’s book which was
printed in Australia in 1972. This book was a collection of Joaquin’s short stories
about a culture in which East and West, Pagan and Christian, enjoy turbulent
marriage. Stories in the book present the Philippines form the time of the Spanish
conquistadores, to the contemporary political activists. In this book, the Filipino is
depicted as Spanish colonial, as Yankee colonial, as postwar displaced person, as
mod swinger, as an Asian with a Gothic soul. The themes are religion, sex, history,
and the mystery of time. Galdon asserts that the present work of Joaquin
represents no significant step forward in his writing. However, the publication of
which does provide an opportunity to review at the Early Joaquin and speculate on
the direction of Joaquin’s work.
In this article, Galdon describes the works of Joaquin differentiating him as
Early Joaquin and Late Joaquin. The stories of Tropical Gothic are a
representative anthology which best characterize the Early Joaquin. Galdon adds
that Joaquin’s power and greatness lie in his themes, in his deeply intellectual
analysis of Philippine culture. The late Joaquin according to him has an admittedly
small output but perhaps a new period of creativity can be detected. The late
Joaquin has no new veins, but he is digging deeper into their riches. Perhaps, what
characterizes the late Joaquin is a literary statesman, existential filosofo, rather
than a tropical gothic.
The Theological Dimension of Joaquin’s works is noteworthy. Galdon says
that literature as a reflection and /or critic of culture, inevitably reflects the presence
or absence of a God dimension in the culture of a people. The “Theo and Lit”
approach makes a good deal more sense in the Philippines where the culture has
so obviously contained, at least since the sixteenth century, an obvious Christian

God dimension, distorted though it may be in individual manifestations. He
questions if the pasyon a piece of theological data which happens to be written in a
literary form, or it is a piece of literature which contains theological data. Galdon
claims that Nick Joaquin has been studied largely by the literary men and they
have delighted in the obvious theological dimensions of his writings. He cites
“Dona Jeronima,” “The Legend of the Dying Wanton,” and “The Mass of St.
Sylvestre” as examples of short stories which have obvious theological themes
drawn from the Spanish tradition. Galdon quotes Leonard Casper in his work “New
Writing From the Philippines” with these words:
“ the past which Joaquin actually counts is not always

Christian or cosmic, but pagan and primordial. Constantly
there is an urge for physical regeneration, renewal of youth,
which rarely seeks sublimation or spiritual consummation.
Such works are at least accurate records of contradictions
within Philippine culture… In his most successful stories
Joaquin seems repelled by his own fascination with this
brute world and its cults; or seems convinced that to
embrace a religious view of this world is to accept the
implications of sin as well.”
It is apparent as most critics according to Galdon that most of Joaquin’s stories are
a mixture of pagan and Christian beliefs. Galdon affirms the theological dimension
in Jaoquin’s writings. He further believes that the origin of which is Joaquin’s early
piety, his desire to be a priest, and his venture into the Dominican seminary in
Hong Kong.
Galdon in his article also says that Theology in Philippine culture is largely
ambiguous, and a strange mixture of orthodoxy and superstition. The Christian
theology is often merely an overlay on a basically pagan base. These elements of
magic and superstition play a large role in “Dona Jeronima,” “The Summer
Solstice,” “The Legend of the Dying Wanton,” “The Mass of St. Sylvester,” and
“Guardia de Honor.” In these stories, there is this dogmatic “split level” theology,
where the dichotomy is not on the ethical level between belief and/ or profession
and realization and /or action, but between belief which is Christian and belief
which is pagan.
Galdon adds that the second theological theme of the Early Joaquin which
emerges from Tropical Gothic is the emphasis on history and time. The main myth
which Joaquin uses to describe this pertinence of the past is the Spanish tradition.
This is manifested in stories like “May Day Eve,” “Guardia de Honor,” and “The
Order of Melkizedek.” This is also present as thematic background in “Dona
Jeronima,” “The Legend of the Dying Wanton,” “The Summer Solstice,” and “The
Mass of St. Sylvestre.” Galdon again quotes Casper:
“This fixation with time and patterns of recurrence has

been described as nostalgia, repentant that the present
cannot measure up the past. But this infatuation with the
past is more than nostalgia. It is, in literary language and
metaphor, an affirmation of the perdurance of the
individual and the God relation, and an affirmation of the
basic theological reality of the Philippine culture – the
past, lie the present, is “an intermingling of Christian and
pagan values.” (p. 7)
As Galdon mentioned in his article, Theology in the Philippine culture is a
mixture of orthodoxy and superstition. This is evident in some stories of Nick
Joaquin as Galdon pointed out. It is therefore imperative to learn a little
background on the Philippine culture during the Spanish era.
Lourdes Busuego Pablo (1972) also provides us a background of Nick
Joaquin’s stories in her essay titled “The Spanish Tradition in Nick Joaquin” in the
book Philippine Fiction. In her essay, Pablo contends that a study of Nick Joaquin’s
writings reveals an emphasis of the restoration of the national awareness of our
Catholic Spanish heritage. She mentions the threefold historical heritage of the
Filipinos: the Oriental Malayan, the Spanish, and the American. (p.61). The
Spanish cultural heritage for some reasons has been obscured and therefore
Joaquin contends that “it must be rightly interpreted and portrayed in its true colors
if historical truth and cultural balance are to be restored.(p. 61).
Pablo writes further that Joaquin’s preoccupation with the past is “not merely
a romantic sighing for the “good old days,” nor the nostalgic musings of a modern
man for an older, more gracious and far-off era” (p.73). The reason is the desire of
Joaquin to preserve the age old beliefs, to preserve the faith and the spiritual and
moral conviction. Pablo even asserts that Joaquin can be called a “cultural apostle”
because he points out in his stories that the solution of the present day ills can be
found in the virtues of the past. Here is how she describes Joaquin:
“It has been said that Joaquin dissects the violent waste-land
of so-called modern culture, and diagnoses the evils of the
present age in terms of the sturdy virtues of the living past.
In his stories, the past exists as a standard, a norm, as the

textbook say, with which to compare and against which to
judge the imperfect present.”
In her essay, Pablo claims that a distinct and unifying thread which holds
Joaquin’s short stories together is the theme of the past. The short stories: “The
Mass of St. Sylvestre, “The Legend of the Virgin’s Jewel,” and “Legend of the
Dying Wanton” are examples of short stories which have the setting of Spanish
colonial period which gives a glimpse of the life of our Spanish past. These stories
show the dominant Catholic tradition.
In conclusion, Pablo says that Joaquin has stressed the virtue of the historic
past—the Catholic Spanish era so that the cultural balance upset will be restored.
She says that “Too much emphasis has been placed of late on material and
economic progress; too little on moral and spiritual values.” (p. 73). And Joaquin
spotlighting the valuable aspects of our Spanish Catholic heritage is indeed
restoring a balanced national outlook.
The researcher wants to present this article of a popular critic of Nick Joaquin
named H.B. Furay in order to provide an overview of Joaquin’s work which is
relevant in this study. In his article titled “The Stories of Nick Joaquin,” H.B. Furay
gives his analysis of the stories in Nick Joaquin’s Prose and Poems published in
1952 as well as critic on Joaquin’s overall writing style.
In Furay’s own words, “Mr. Joaquin’s writing has power and elements of
greatness.” But he says also that Joaquin’s writing has certain defects “both of
omission and commission.” Nevertheless, those defects do not make Joaquin less
of a great writer. Furay says that defects in themselves do not necessarily cancel
out the greatness of a writer, any more than they do that of a man. The writer may
have defects in the sense that there are some things he simply cannot do. Furay
has this critic on Joaquin’s style of writing “Mr. Joaquin’s writing, then has power
and elements of greatness. The power is in the richness and flexibility of his style,
the greatness is in his vision. He falls short in power because his kind of style
works most effectively with only certain areas of story material, and he does not
seem to have realized yet that fact about his style, or to have accommodated
himself to it. He falls short in vision because the vision itself falls short; it is
perception, often full and acute perception, of crises of the spirit, but it stops there;
yet crises are meant to be resolved.”
Explaining further about Joaquin’s Vision, Furay says that it is an amalgam or
a mixture of Joaquin’s Intent and Content. The Intent is not merely a surface
treatment of action but intends to penetrate beyond action to men acting, and
beyond men and what they do, to Man and what he ought to do. Furay adds that in
carrying out this penetration the stories try to bring in, the weight of the past on the
present, the sense of the past continuing in, or asking to continue in, the present;
and the stories thereby succeed in mustering up awareness of the ageless nature
of man’s problems and struggle. The Content, on the other hand as Furay defines
it means: what particular scenes does the author select as being most apt to
express, in and through human action, the pattern he has pre-drawn out of
apparent chaos, the primary vision he has seen? Furay concludes that although
Joaquin’s Intent is large and admirable, his Content does not yet entirely measure
up. His total vision therefore, does not yet fully or even adequately realize those
intentions although it has in it the intentions of greatness.
Furay further comments on Nick Joaquin’s style of writing by saying he has
this expertness and power. This expertness in style has to do with the tactical
disposition of scenes and characters as well as the handling of continuity from one
such scene to the next. This power of his style is manifested in the occasional long
sentences which heap together, in one breath as it were, running impressions side
by side with continuing action. Furay named this style “lush.” It is a type of style
also called ornate by William Faulkner out of Thomas Wolfe. But Furay cites two
drawbacks in this kind of style. First, the use of heaping of details necessarily call
for the constant use of lush. The second is that a predetermination on the use of
lush style predetermines and thereby limits the selection of Content. In conclusion,
Furay explains why Joaquin falls short: “My technique calls for heaped details;
heaped details call for the lush style; the lush style calls for acceptance of certain
types of subject matter only. We arrive thus at my initial statement that Mr.
Joaquin’s writing fall short in power because his kind of style works most effectively
with only certain areas of story material.”
With pun Furay writes “The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars or in the
persons but in the style.” He believes that the style is the reason of the alienating
and bizarre “strangeness” of Joaquin’s stories. Joaquin’s style is pre-chosen to the
matter, and the style so pre-chosen is lush, and the lush style must work with the
exotic. Since his style is lush, it works best with the exotic and to find exotic today
Joaquin must deal with eccentrics, self-searchers, women with two navels, and the
like. Furay concludes with these words: “Thus, when working with today, Joaquin
produces, finally, a picture which is only half the whole picture and that the
negative half; and so the very power of his style fathers a distortion of Content
which makes his total vision imperfect and imperfectly expressed.”
Foreign Studies
Cumhur Yilmaz Madran of Middle East Technical University conducted a
study titled An Archetypal Analysis of E.M. Forster’s Fiction. This study was
intended to shed some light on Forster’s use of myth, recurrent mythical images
and archetypal patterns in his works. The study analyzed Forster’s archetypal
images making particular references to his major works, namely, short stories,
Where Angels Fear to Tread, A Room with a View, The Longest Journey, Howards
End and A Passage to India. The study was confined to the functions and
significance of the mythical images and archetypal patterns represented in the
aforementioned works. In Madran’s words: “Forster tried to reflect the insecurity
and rootlessness of modern life through mythical motifs: he showed a modern man
who has become alienated from himself and nature.”
Madran further explains in his study that Forster use of mythology is evident
in the latter’s short stories. He said that it is a mythology which stems from earth
and nature, the two elements which act as unifying forces throughout his fiction.
Forster’s use of classical myth and his general attitude toward nature and earth are
found in all his fiction.
In his study, Madran used the archetypal criticism method which deals with
archetypes. These archetypes are primordial images received across culture,
inherited from time immemorial, issuing from a ‘collective unconscious’. An
archetype is a mythic symbol, which is deeply rooted in the unconscious, more
broadly based on a foundation of universal nature than an ordinary literary symbol,
and is more generally expressive of the elemental in man and nature.
Madran further notes that the purpose of his dissertation was to analyze E. M.
Forster’s use of myth, recurrent mythical images and archetypal patterns in his
efforts to communicate his vision of life. His study also argues that Forster
progresses from fantasy to prophecy and depending on his progress, Forster’s
archetypes evolve. This is the reason why he presented his study in an orderly
fashion. In chapter one, he identified the dominant archetypal approaches and
further selects the most appropriate framework for a study of myth and archetypes
in Forster’s work. In chapter two, he dealt with nature archetypes which find their
best expression in Forster’s short stories. In chapter three and four, Madran
focused on Forster’s character archetypes in his A Room with a View, and Where
Angels Fear to Tread. In Chapter five, Madran attempts to explore the tragic and
heroic aspects of the character archetypes in The Longest Journey. In Chapter six,
the focus was on Forster’s use of archetypal symbols in Howards End. In Chapter
seven, Madran focused on Forster’s prophetic vision in A Passage to India, in

which Forster exhibited a prophetic tone of voice and extended the scope of his
archetypes. In all, Madran’s investigation familiarizes the reader with how mythical
motifs and archetypes enable the author to communicate his vision of reality, which
is essentially timeless.
A similar study on archetypes was conducted by Hale Kizilcik of Middle East
Technical University. Kizilcik’s study was titled Jungian Archetypes in Samuel
Beckett’s Trilogy. In this study, He analyzed the Jungian Archetypes employed in
Beckett’s trilogy namely: Molloy, Malone Dies and the Unnamable. The purpose of
the study was to analyze Samuel Beckett’s use of Jungian archetypal features in
his trilogy in his efforts to express his vision of life. It also focused on how Beckett
employed archetypal motifs to communicate his dark philosophy. Kizilcik believes
that Beckett was greatly influenced by Carl Jung’s philosophy especially on Jung’s
ideas on human psychology. It is also evident in Beckett’s biography that he read
Carl Jung’s studies on archetypes and the collective unconscious and he was even
present in Jung’s 1935 Tavistock Clinic lectures.
In Kizilcik’s thesis, he examined the repeated use of the three central
archetypal patterns: the hero’s quest, the hero’s return to paradise, and the hero’s
rebirth, which fit one of Beckett’s principal themes – the battle of a meaningless
existence. The writer suggests that Beckett relates the archetypal patterns with
modern man and his existential suffering but contrary to Jung’s, Beckettt’s position
is different because Jung asserts that the individual can transform and create the
Self, and therefore, attribute meaning to existence if he succeeds in integrating the

unconscious elements that are represented by the archetypes. However, Beckett
uses and distorts the archetypal patterns to reinforce his view that life does not
have a meaning and that even if it has a meaning it is impossible to understand it.
Beckett’s stance on the matter is evident in the trilogy that was analyzed by
Kizilcik.
Kizilcik writes the following about Beckett’s trilogy:
“The trilogy is not an account of the progression of the

heroes at their attempts to create the Self, but it is the story
of their gradual regression and disintegration. Rather than
moving towards wholeness, the protagonists diminish both
physically and spiritually on their quests. Moran and Malone
set off actively questing for the Self and they fail. Malone is
incapable of motion, and he goes on his quest by means of
his invented characters, who are projections of his multiple
alter-egos. The Unnamable even loses his body and he just
feels anguish. He cannot distinguish himself from the
characters that he creates. Similarly, the protagonists’
quests as narrators end in artistic failure.” (p. 87)
Kizilcik concludes that the archetypal criticism aims to study the universal
patterns that make a literary work resonate in the reader’s psyche. And based on
this assertion, Beckett’s use of archetypes and their psychological power in the
trilogy will have a strong effect on the reader. Beckett and the reader, together with
the heroes in the trilogy wander in the depths of the psyche and try to make sense
of life.
Ainodin Aga in his study titled Northrop Frye as a Literary Critic gives a clear
overview of archetypal criticism, its historical development and also Frye’s
contribution to it. Aga cites the Encyclopedia Britannica’s definition of archetype

which is “a primordial image, character or pattern that recurs throughout literature
and thought consistently enough to be considered as a universal concept or
situation.”(p. 34) This is consistent with C.G. Jung’s belief that archetypes are
“transcendental symbolic forms found universally in the psychic life of man,
embodied in a collective unconscious, in which the individual psyche participates.”
(p. 34) Encyclopedia Britannica’s definition of archetype refers to a recurring
archetypal pattern acknowledged as a universal symbol. Jung’s definition also
refers to a universal transcendental symbolic forms but the latter locates the
symbolic forms in a collective unconscious with which the individual psyche
interacts. Aga suggests that these definitions reveal a kind of kinship between
myth and literature in their attempt to study literature by observing the underlying
patterns of collective experiences of the whole communities. Aga concludes that it
has been observed every community has its own mythology and authors and
artists expressed the mythological beliefs, symbols and images available in that
community.
As to the historical development of archetypal criticism, Aga notes that
archetypal criticism is also known as myth criticism. It has its origin in the concern
shown by critics for cultural mythology. As a newfound concern, a number of
scholars and critics turned to archetypal criticism to derive help in analyzing literary
works. Early critics and works were: James Frazer’s The Golden Bough (1915);
Carl Gustav Jung’s Contributions to Analytical Psychology (1928) and Edward
Taylor’s Primitive Culture (1931). According to Aga, these works had considerable
influence on archetypal criticism of later works written on the lines of archetypal
criticism. A definite direction to archetypal criticism was given by Ernst Cassirer’s
book The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms (1929), In this book, Cassirer departs
from the Wordsworthian notion of poetry as an expression of the personal
emotions of the poet and argues that poetry expresses pure feelings and is an
objective perspective for apprehending reality. In Maud Bodkin’s book Archetypal
Patterns in Poetry (1934) she expresses the theory of primordial images, agreeing
with Jung that some poems have special emotional appeal as they stimulate the
unconscious forces in the reader’s minds which are identified as archetypes.
Bodkin however, was skeptical in Jung’s position that archetypal patterns are
inherited by the individual in the physical structure of his brain. She regards
archetypes as symbols of a group tradition and as a pattern of the individual’s
emotions that respond to the familiar pattern of a poem. Aga continues on his
account on the history of this literary criticism that the period from 1940’s to 1960’s
was a particularly important for the development of archetypal criticism. In this
period, myths and archetypes were studied as constituents forming a pattern for
the explanation of motifs expressed in literary works and in the behavioral pattern
of individuals.
Aga believes that Northrop Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism is a point of departure
for archetypal criticism of the recent times. Frye defines archetype as “a symbol
which connects one poem with another and thereby helps to unify our literary
experience.” By ‘symbol’ Frye means, “any unit of literary structure that can be
isolated for critical attention.” It is in other words, a convention.
Aga in his study writes further:
“For Frye, an archetype is a repeated symbol which

unifies our literary experience and which also make it
possible for us to think of a theory of literature. Literary
symbol thus play a central role in the archetypal function
of literature. Frye believes that it is through the help of
these symbols that literature can function and
communicate the meaning in its totality.” (p. 40)
Frye’s theory of archetypal criticism is divided into two categories: Theory of
Archetypal Meaning and Theory of Mythois.
Aga writes that Frye’s theory of archetypal meaning depends upon three
types of imageries: apocalyptic, demonic and analogical. Without going further into
details, Aga suggests that these three types of imageries constitute the structural
principle of Biblical literature. In Frye’s view, these structural principles act as
literary symbols and play a central role in the understanding of the archetypal
function of literature. In other words, it is through the help of these symbols that
literature can function and convey the meaning in its totality.
Aga writes that Frye in Anatomy of Criticism defines mythois as “the narrative
of work on literature.” In Frye’s view, the four seasons Spring, Summer, Fall and
Winter correspond to four phases in the cycle of individual’s life, i.e. youth,
maturity, old age and death. He sees the interaction between four season of nature
with the four phases in human life in terms of two basic patterns of movements:
cyclical and dialectical. The cyclical pattern as Frye pointed out states that rituals
imitate the cyclic process of nature which includes the rhythmic movement of the
universe and the season, as well as the recurring cycle of human life. Frye
believes that literature, in its archetypal phase, imitates nature in the same way.
Aga further writes that the dialectical pattern, on the other hand, is derived from the
world of dream, where desire is in constant conflict with reality. From these cyclical
and dialectical movements, Frye identifies narrative categories of literature and call
them mythois or “generic plots.” Frye concludes that archetypal criticism is based
upon these two organizing patterns.
Therefore, the theory of mythois is different from the theory of archetypal
meaning in the sense that the former refers to man and nature relationship and his
cyclic view of life. Archetypal meaning on the other hand chiefly deals with Biblical
typology and Christian symbolism. Aga in his study on Northrop Frye Criticism
concludes:
“The two theories together constitute the main plank of

Frye’s archetypal criticism and give us an idea that
archetypal criticism for Frye is not simply the study or the
probe of archetypes but an independent school of criticism in
itself having a wide range of practical application since it
covers practically all kinds of literary works.”
Another study on Archetypal Criticism was conducted by Bobby Aaron Burton
of Texas Technological College. The title of his study is Prolegomena to Archetypal
Criticism. This study basically gives an overview of archetypal criticism focusing on
its background, historical antecedents, theoretical foundations and its critiques.

With regard to its background, Burton writes that archetypal criticism is a
burgeoning area of literary scholarship. This field of study was born of the
application of concepts developed in mythology and psychoanalysis to the study of
literature. Burton believes that through the analysis of the literature in the work of
Maud Bodkin and William Troy, archetypal criticism found a name and a
considerable application. Burton extensively cites Maud Bodkin in his study. He
writes that Maud Bodkin introduced a new term to literary criticism with the
publication of “Archetypal Patterns in Poetry in 1934. To the extent that her study is
restricted to the examination of recurrent literary motifs as archetypes—basic plot
patterns and character types—it is the seminal work of archetypal criticism.
Summing up Maud Bodkin’s work Burton writes:
“If criticism is to be more than a pedantic game, then it must

do so by distilling the wisdom of literature, by rendering
explicit the themes, the human values, universally implicit in
literature which makes it such a valuable part of our cultural
heritage. The recognition of universally-appearing motifs,
plot patterns and character types—archetypes—to the extent
that it assists this function, becomes one of the most
valuable approaches open to the critic of literature.”
With archetypal criticism’s historical antecedent, Burton writes that the
tendency to classify people and literary characters typologically dates into
antiquity, although the archetypal approach to literary criticism is a recent
innovation. Plato establishes five fundamental types of men in Book VIII of “The
Republic.” Aristotle on the other hand has typing of literary figures in “The Art of
Poetry,” where he supports his observations with examples drawn from his own
experience. The “Cambridge school” of mythology also attempted to establish the
origin of literature and the fundamental patterns of myth.
In this study, Burton also states that Jung’s concept of the collective
unconscious is simply unnecessary to archetypal criticism, in spite of the fact that it
is the historic source of the term which characterizes the field.
It is interesting to note here that Burton also cites the contrary position of
M.H. Abrams in his work “A Glossary of Literary Terms. The entry for “archetype”
says the following:
“Archetype is a term much used since the 1930’s, when it

was imported into criticism from the depth psychology of
C.G. Jung. Jung described archetypes as “primordial
images” formed by repeated experience in the lives of
our ancestors, inherited in the “collective unconscious” of
the human race, and often expressed in myths, religions,
dreams, and fantasies, as well as in literature. In literacy
criticism, the term “archetype” (or “archetypal image” or
“archetypal pattern”) is applied to a character type or plot
pattern or description which recurs frequently in literature
of folklore and is thought to evoke profound emotional
responses in the reader because it resonates with an
image already existing in the unconscious mind.” (p. 43)
Burton writes that this passage could lead to an erroneous assumption that
Jung equates “archetypes” with “primordial images”. Quoting C.G. Jung, he says
that the use of the term “archetype”, in the nominalistic sense to designate classes
of recurrent character, plot patterns, and motifs for comparative purposes in literary
criticism is not to be confused with its use in the realistic sense to designate “those
psychic contents which have not yet been submitted to conscious elaboration.”
And quoting Jacobi, Burton writes that one must constantly bear in mind that what
we mean by ‘archetype’ is in itself irrepresentable, but that it has effects which
enable us to visualize it, namely, the archetypal images. Burton here elucidates the
distinction of archetypes from archetypal images.
Burton continues that in this study, it is concerned only to point out that Jung’s
concept exists and that the theory of the archetypes of the collective unconscious if
fraught with a plethora of contradictions which would have to be resolved before
the theory could be consistently applied in toto to literary criticism. Burton
concludes that by restricting itself to the use of “archetype” in the nominal sense to
designate formal parallels between literary works, criticism is enabled to preclude
the necessity of that resolution. But Northrop Frye, one of the famous critics of the
archetypal school remarks that he is using the term in the nominal sense to
designate classes of recurrent character types, plot patterns and motifs which
appear in literature. Burton believes that if the concern of the critic is the objective
analysis of literature, this application of the term – nominal-- is quite adequate to
his purposes and he is under no obligation to deal with archetypes in the realistic
sense as Professor Abrams suggested.
The researcher also wishes to present studies on myths since the current
study deals with four selected short stories of Nick Joaquin which have elements of
myth in them. It is important to understand myth and try to analyze if Nick Joaquin
indeed is presenting an ideology in his narratives.

In the study of Aparna Halpe of University of Toronto titled “Between Myth
and Meaning: The Function of Myth in Four Postcolonial Novel, she writes that it is
difficult to arrive at any single definition of myth. To her, myths can be stories about
ancient events that define and sustain notions of community. Halpe cites Lincoln in
his work titled “Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology and scholarship in writing that
the idea that myth is an ideologically weighted narrative about figures or events
from a remote past which shape contemporary ideologies comes down to us from
about the seventh century BC, through Homer and Hesiod. Halpe says that Myths
are, by nature, both untrue and true and a peculiar affective quality or narrative
potency that carries its ideological matter in disguise, separate a myth from any
other kind of narrative.
In Halpe’s work, she also writes about Archetype and Archetypal Image. She
says that a critical frame for reading archetype in myth is essential because it
unmasks the ideological imperatives of a fictional work. She believes that Jung’s
theory of archetype and archetypal images remains the most helpful theoretical
exploration of the relation between archetypal narratives and the figurative
expression of individual and collective impulses.
Halpe cites Jung extensively with these words:
“For Jung, the human psyche attaches a sign to

an archetype in order to contain and “form” its meaning.
In “The Undiscovered Self (1959), Jung suggests that an
archetype, “when represented to the mind, appears as an
image which expresses the nature of the instinctive
impulse visually and concretely, like a picture”. An
archetype, which is a purely unconscious process, is
fundamentally unknowable. However, the archetypal
image, as symbol, is knowable and subject to the various

processes of analytical exploration. Jung goes on to
suggest that myths are made up of strings of archetypal
images—recognizable groups of archetypal images that
are ordered in relatively similar patterns of relation.” (p.
13)
So this study, therefore, seeks to identify the archetypes in the myths
embedded in the selected short stories of Nick Joaquin. The selected stories of
Nick Joaquin deal with legends and myths in the Philippine cultural background.
Local Studies
In the study of Jerry R. Yapo titled The Initiation Archetype in Fiction: A
reading of Hemingway’s “Indian Camp” and Yuson’s “Voice in the Hills”, he says
that many, if not all, of the situations we go through in life are archetypal in nature.
From the initial stage which is our birth and to the last stage which is death and all
else in between are complex realities that we all experience as human beings and
in the process we figure out how to reach to a point he calls apotheosis.
In this study of archetypes, Yapo focused on the ‘Initiation Archetype’ In
Yapo’s own words: “One of the fundamental archetypes of human existence is
initiation or awakening. Signifying the passing from darkness and ignorance to
enlightenment and maturity, this crucial process requires the individual to undergo
a series of excruciating ordeals as he is awakened to life’s harsh realities and
tragic events.” (p. 3)
Yapo utilized two stories: Hemingway’s “Indian Camp” and Alfred A. Yuson’s
“Voice in the Hills”. Both stories account a young boy’s initiation and awakening to
life’s realities through a rite of passage. This rite of passage is necessary for the
boy’s transformation from a life of innocence to a life of awareness. Although both
stories are of different cultural settings, Yapo says that both recognize the primacy
of initiation or awakening as a crucial stage by which an individual journeys from
darkness to enlightenment. The person who undergoes the initiation or the hero of
the story usually undergoes through the distinct but interconnected phases: 1)
separation, 2) transformation, and 3) return empowerment. As delineated in Yapo’s
study, in the separation phase, the initiated subject usually seeks temporary
company in solitude wherein he drifts away from the mainstream due to certain
contradictions within and outside himself. The dissonant nature of the separation
phase logically weaves itself into the transformation stage. The raison de etre of
the initiation process obviously rests on this crucial stage. It is where the initiation
subject needs to undergo certain ordeals or rites of passage to signify his
transformation from boyhood to adulthood. Yapo continues that the
transformation process of awakening or initiation results in an emotional
exhilaration. In “Indian Camp” it basically leads to a psychological rebirthing, while
in “Voice in the Hills” it turns out primarily as a physical experience. The
individual’s initiation or awakening culminates in the empowerment phase. Yapo
says that it is here that the initiation hero realizes his apotheosis. This is when the
hero manifests a newfound sense of maturity and security, coming to a full circling
of his journey to realize his identity. He now envisions himself as an integral
component or a full-fledged member of his re-discovered society.

Yapo’s study indeed proved that an archetypal approach is an interesting
“structuring principle” by which a writer constructs reality through the use of
archetypes and the readers on the other hand perceive reality through these. As
Yapo puts it, these archetypes become a recognizable and vital element of one’s
literary and human experience and as archetypal critic, what we do is discover how
works of art or literature shape or construct realities, especially as these reflect
primordial images to which readers manifest desire psychological or emotional
responses.
A study on archetypes was also conducted by Gianne Rensen V. Antonio of
University of Cebu. The title of her study is “Archetypes of Women in Philippine
Fictions”. In this study, Antonio analyzed female characters from Philippine fictions
based on the tenets of Archetypal and Feminist criticisms. She sourced the main
female characters from the following short stories: The Virgin by Kerima Polotan,
Mila’s Mother by Austrgelina Espina-Moore, The Witch by Edilberto Tiempo and
The Dog Eaters by Leoncio Deriada. The study revealed that the main female
characters of the four representative works of Philippine fictions personify the
archetypes of women as espoused by Carl Jung’s Archetypal Theory: Virgin,
Mother, Witch and Queen. Antonio concluded that Feminism has been practiced
by Filipino writers even before and that male authors can also be feminist in their
depictions of female characters in their works. Antonio further said that no matter
how women characters are treated in society, they still exuded the inherent drive to
survive if not transcend in a patriarchal space and time.

Antonio in her study pointed out that Carl Gustav Jung theorized that there is
a great deal of archetypes embedded in the human psyche. The focus of her study
is on the female archetypes: the mother (nurturing), the virgin (pure), the witch
(dangerous), and the queen (strong). These are characterizations of women in
literature. The study was aimed for both Feminist and Archetypal criticism so
Antonio’s examination of the selected short stories consisted of determining the
feminist trends in works and identifying the archetypes representative of the
woman character. To which particular image of a woman a certain character would
conform to the basis for the archetypal association and analysis.
In the short story The Virgin by Kerima Polotan-Tuvera, the main character
Miss Mijares personified the ‘virgin archetype’. Antonio says that for archetypal
studies, the term ‘virgin’ means something quite different and much richer and
more intriguing than an intact hymen. The ‘virgin’ in the Jungian sense means
‘complete unto oneself’. In Espina-Moore’s 1969 novella Mila’s Mother, the main
character Teresa embodies the ‘mother archetype’. But perhaps because of her
Feminist stance, Espina-Moore’s reformulated the image of Teresa from the
dependent, maternal, nurturing and submissive figure to a woman who deliberately
or un-deliberately expresses her hostility towards society. Espina-Moore’s Teresa
defies the stereotypical image of submissiveness among women and violates the
traditional roles assigned to her. In Edilberto Tiempo’s short story The Witch, the
main character Minggay personifies the ‘witch archetype’. Mingay, an old woman
living in the hinterlands, supposed to have powers, earned the reputation of being
a witch. Antonio says that the archetypes which Jung labeled as ‘the anima’ and
‘the shadow’ have a lot in common with the widely-accepted picture of the witch.
Lastly, the ‘queen archetype’ is personified in the character of Mariana in the short
story The Dog Eaters by Leoncio Deriada. In archetypal criticism, a queen is a
figure with power and authority but in Deriada’s story it depicts a negative aspect of
the queen called the Shadow Queen. Antonio writes that a Shadow Queen can
unconsciously teach those who are dependent upon them to be self-centered,
difficult, and numb to the needs of others. An outcome of which is that she
regularly becomes an unauthentic martyr who makes unhealthy sacrifices. The
ultimate characteristic of the Shadow Queen is that she can lack discriminating
value: one who does not reflect with logic, intelligibility, and discrimination, has a
tiny sense of that one value should have higher priority than another. In the case of
Mariana, she rebels against the stifling patriarchal structure by antagonizing Victor,
her husband when she resorts to aborting their second child and perhaps spiting
him to make him aware of his responsibility.
“The Urban Legends of Cagayan de Oro: Themes, Archetypes, Psyche is a
study about archetypes conducted by Ramil Philip Jones V. Sonsona of Mindanao
University of Science and Technology. The aim of the study is to orchestrate an
analytical mimetic anthology of the urban legends of Cagayan de Oro City, a city in
Northern Mindanao. The study delves into the following: a.) thematic categorization
of the urban legends, b.) archetypal analysis and c.) collective psyche of the
Cagayanun (the people of Cagayan de Oro City).

In this study, Sonsona says that the study of legends can be very helpful in
reconstructing the cultural history of the people. Legends are of great importance
to community life, being more closely bound to ethnological, religious, and social
factors than other kinds of folk material. He defines urban legend as stories
thought to be factual and not necessarily false by the people circulating them. Over
time, these urban legends or modern folklore are often exaggerated, distorted and
sensationalized.
The study is anchored on the following principles and theoretical arguments:
mimesis, mythological approach and archetypal motifs. With mimesis, Sonsona
quotes Abram and Adams saying they elaborate the first theoretical coordinate
which is mimetic concern. They two examined poem’s relation to a model of
external reality. Terms that fit within this approach are imitation, representation,
mimesis, and mirror. Painting for example is a mimetic term. Realism also is a
mimetic theory. Sonsona quoting Jung says that critics look for the recurrent
universal patterns underlying most literary works. A central concept in mythological
criticism is the archetype, a symbol, character, situation, or image that evokes a
deep universal response. J Campbell, quoted by Sonsona, identified archetypal
symbols and situations in literary works by demonstrating how similar mythic
characters appear in virtually every culture on every continent. Sonsona writes
further that while mythological approach which is also associated with archetypal
criticism to literature assumes that there is a collection of symbols, images,
characters, and motifs that evokes basically the same response in all people. For
archetypal motifs, Sonsona says that an archetype is a pattern from which copies
can be made. It is a universal theme that manifests itself differently on an individual
basis. Archetypes were the result of a collective unconscious. This collective
unconscious was not directly knowable and is a product of the shared experiences
of man’s ancestors.
The findings of this study identified three themes based on the categorization
of urban legends. These themes are cautions and warnings in daily existence,
protecting loved ones, and overcoming fear. Some of the archetypes in the urban
legends are black man, monster, Kawayanun Falls (waterfalls), big crow, dead
goat, child, evil bird, demonic pig, centaur, Balite tree (haunted tree), and ethereal
beings. And lastly, based on the findings of the study, the Cagayanun reveals the
collective psyche traits of superstitious, valiant and religious. Sonosona concludes
by saying that these were gleaned and reflected in the collected and analyzed
urban legends, which in a collective sense refers to one general Cagayanun trait
as being superstitious.
Since the stories of Nick Joaquin selected for the purpose of this study
revolve around myths and legends it is necessary to review a related study which
deals with myth. The researcher also presents these studies on myths which can
shed some light in archetypal or myth criticism.
In a study titled “The Concept of Supreme Being: Philippine Mythology and
Christianity, the author Apolonio Laroza Silva, gives a definition of myth, its
function and a differentiation of if from legends, folktales, fairytales and fables.

Silva quoting Dhavamony in “Phenomenolgoy of Religion” writes that the
word “myth” comes from the Greek word “muthos” which means a tale of
something one utters, in a wide ranges of senses: a statement, a story, the plot of
a play. Myth is a statement of a higher and more important truth, of a primeval
reality, which is still regarded as the pattern and foundation of primitive life.
In this study, Silva also provides the Function of Myth by quoting Malinowski
in his book Sex, Culture and Myth:
“Myth has an existential function for man. It is a story which

is told in order to establish a belief to serve as a precedent in
ceremony or ritual or to rank as a pattern of religious or
moral conduct. Mythology, therefore, or the sacred tradition
of a society, is a body of narratives woven in their culture,
dictating their belief, defining their ritual, acting as the chart
of their social order and the pattern of their moral behavior. It
is true accounts of sensational events which have has
shaped the constitution of the world, the essence of moral
conduct, and determines the ritual contact between man and
his maker or other power to be. (p. 28)
So, it can be gleaned from the aforementioned function that mythology is a body of
narratives that is connected with culture and society. In is in mythology that people
express their beliefs, social order and moral behavior. In relation to the current
study, the researcher wishes to discover the beliefs, norms and moral conduct
evident in the stories of Nick Joaquin which somehow shaped the Philippine
culture. Silva quoting again Malinowski in “Myth In Primitive Psychology” says that
the indispensable function of myth fulfills in primitive culture is “to express,
enhance and codify belief, to safeguard and enforce morality, to vouch for the
efficiency of the ritual and to contain practical rules for the guidance of man.” (p.
29)
Silva says that myth narrates sacred history and is to be understood as a
religious phenomenon and cannot at all be fully, or can not at all be, explained in
terms of non-religious such as literary, psychological, sociological and economic
categories. Silva presented comparisons and contrasts with other manifestations of
oral traditions to delineate myth:
1. Myth and Etiological Tales. Etiology refers to the description or assignment
causes from the Greek word “aitia”. An etiological tale explains the origin of a
custom, a particular condition or feature in nature, or the human or divine world. A
typical etiological tales answer the question “why.” A typical myth on the other
hand answer the question “whence” and thus dictates the basis of something or
the validity of a custom.
2. Fairytales and Folktales. Fairytales tells of extraordinary being and events
that resembles myth but it differs in other respects. The fairytale carries no
authority, even is sometimes a moral is presented. Although miraculous events
play an important part, the intent remains purely entertainment.
3. Fables. Fable is from the Latin word “fabula” which originally carried about
the same meaning of Greek “muthos” but it came to be used in the meaning of
fictitious or untrue story. Genuine myths on the contrary, are not presented as
fictitious or untrue.
4. Sagas and Epics. Sagas are tales with claims of truth which resemble myth
in that respect. The time of action is a specific time in the past. The saga usually
stresses specific location. The epic on the other hand is an extension of the saga.
The protagonists are usually great ancestors of the race or nation, heroes and
heroines. The epic as such however, is not of a mythical character. Instead, it
presupposes the reality of myths and a knowledge of myth among the listeners.
5 Legends. The notion of time in legends is similar to that in sagas. The
protagonists, as a rule, are great religious figures. The legend, however, carries no
authority comparable to that of myth. Rather, the legend illustrates a truth that is
known from another source.
A similar study on Nick Joaquin was conducted by Amelia L. Venus of the
University of Santo Tomas. Her thesis is titled “Tradition and Modernity in Nick
Joaquin. The thesis seeks to bring out a blend of tradition and modernity in Nick
Joaquin’s work and presents distinctive traits which make Joaquin a unique Filipino
artist.
Venus writes that during those four centuries of foreign domination, the
Spanish and American conquerors shaped and reshaped our National life—
infusing it with their own tradition and ideals and leaving us a unique spectacle of
an Oriental people with an essentially Occidental civilization.
Therefore, Venus thinks that there is a need for the Filipinos to understand his
own complex character and to close the gap between his past and his present.
She recognizes Joaquin as the poet, dramatist, essayist, novelist, short story writer
and journalist whose works are considered as a blend of tradition and modernity.
Joaquin is a writer in fiction who is most conscious of our Spanish heritage and
tradition. She cites a famous quote from Joaquin:
“To accuse the Spanish, over and over again, of

having brought us all sorts of things, mostly evil, among
which we can usually remember nothing very valuable,
except perhaps religion and national unity, is equivalent to
saying of a not very model mother that she has given her
child nothing except life” (Venus, p 23)
But Joaquin’s preoccupation in Spanish tradition is not merely nostalgia of the
past. Venus writes that Joaquin, in an interview, told her that there is more to just
his love for the past. In recreating the past, he also seeks to build a bridge between
our grandfather’s generation and ours, by bringing our grandfather’s into our
literature.
In this thesis, Venus analyzed Joaquin’ short story,
“Guardia de Honor”, his play, “A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino, his novel, “The
Woman Who Had Two Navels, and his legend, “Dona Jeronima.” She believes that
the works selected best exemplify the unusual blend of tradition and modernity of
Nick Joaquin.
A doctoral dissertation titled “An Archetypal Analysis of Selected Maranao
Folk Narratives” by Eva E. Mala of Philippine Normal University is also relevant to
this current study. The study attempts to use archetypal analysis as an approach to
literary criticism. Mala used the theory of archetypes and collective unconscious of
Carl Gustav Jung and Sir George Frazer in the archetypal analysis.
Mala uses both the concepts of Jung and Frazer in her study. Jung examined
dreams while Frazer examined rituals and the fusion of their work in anthropology,
psychology and literature lead to the formation of archetypal criticism. In her study,
Mala uses the theory of Jung in the dream interpretation, character interpretation
and name symbolism. She also used Frazer’s comparative analysis as well as the
social and political life of the people as articulated in the folk narratives.
Mala’s study makes use of selected Maranao narratives. The primordial or
archaic images, themes and archetypal patterns were analyzed. Mala used three
episodes of the Darangen epic to represent the pre-Islamic period and the
Maharadia Lawana Tale to represent the Islamic period. The study also seeks to
answer the question – Can the rituals, myths and taboos as reflected in their folk
narratives support their claim that they have similarities with the heroes in the
Darangen epic? In her study, Mala compares the social, political, and ritualistic
elements found at present and in the folk narratives in order to prove their
similarities.
After the comparison of customs, traditions, beliefs, rituals and taboos as
articulated in the folk narratives, findings reveal that the practices of the present
Maranaos and the heroes in the folk narratives have similarities. Mala says further
that these practices are found to be similar to Islam and was already present in the
Maranao society even before Islam was introduced as reflected in their fold
narratives. Games, amusements, and festivities mentioned in the folk narratives

are still evident in the festivities of the present Maranaos. Customs considered as
taboos in the folk narratives are also considered taboos by the Maranaos.
Mala says that the comparative analysis indeed proved the theory of Carl
Gustav Jung and Sir George Frazer as valid even as applied to Philippine
literature. She concludes by saying that “..many archetypal images, motifs, and
patterns found in other people’s literature are also found in Maranao literature
giving justice to the claim that archetypal really universal.” (Mala, 107)
Synthesis and Relevance of the Reviewed Literature and Studies
The cited literature and studies are parallel to the present study on the
archetypal analysis of the four short stories of Nick Joaquin. These articles and
studies both foreign and local were very useful in providing a framework for this
current study. The ideas, concepts and theories reviewed in this chapter prove to
be a strong basis for this academic endeavor.
Some of the works cited here do not have direct relevance to the topic of
this study but the researcher considers them nevertheless because they represent
original works in the area of archetypal criticism or myth criticism. These works
proved to be helpful as models in certain aspects of this current study.
The section on Foreign Literature focuses on the background of the study
which is archetypal criticism. The articles written by De Coster, J’Damico,
Delahoyed, and Hardin give us an overview of the archetypal criticism or
archetypal analysis. Among the materials that relate to the theoretical purpose of
this study are the works of Eckert, Victor Daniels, and Philip Wedgeworth. They
are indeed used extensively in the analysis of the short stories of Nick Joaquin
using archetypal approach. Rupprect and Mason’s articles on the other hand give
us solid background on myth criticism which is also relevant in the current study.
The Local Literature on the other hand provides us the articles written by
Demetrio about myth in the Philippine context and Cantoria about Philippine
folklore, myths, and legends. The articles written by Joseph Galdon, Lourdes Pablo
and H.B. Furay prove useful in providing background information about the works
of Nick Joaquin.
The section on Foreign Studies gives us samples of studies that made use
of archetypal criticism. This current study would be most similar to the works done
by Madran, Kizilcik and Burton. Madran’s study is on the “Archetypal Analysis of
E.M. Forster’s Fiction” using the Jungian Concepts. Kizilcik’s study titled “Jungian
Archetypes In Samuel Beckett’s Trilogy” is also using the Jungian concept of
archetypes. Also presented in this section is the comprehensive work of Ainodin
Aga which focused on Northrop Frye. Although this current study would be focused
on the Jungian concepts, the work of Aga is presented to have a point of
comparison between the works of Jungian concepts and Frye’s concepts of
archetypal analysis. The researcher admits that there are only few studies cited in
this section but these studies prove sufficient to the current study. The scarcity of
the materials on foreign studies is nevertheless compensated with the abundance
of related literature on archetypal criticism.

There is indeed a dearth of Local Studies on archetypal criticism. This is
one of the reasons that the researcher embarked on this not so popular research in
order to contribute to the academe in the field of literature. The works of Yapo titled
The Initiation Archetypes in Fiction: A Reading of Hemingway’s “Indian Camp” and
Yuson’s “Voice in the Hills”; Antonio titled “Archetypes of Women in Philippine
Fictions”; Sonsona titled The Urban Legends of Cagayan de Oro City: Themes,
Archetypes, Psyche; and Mala titlted “An Archetypal Analysis of Selected Maranao
Folk Narratives” which have common ground on archetypal criticism would be most
similar to the current study. Other studies cited in this section such as the study of
Laroza and Venus were also helpful in providing background information on myth
criticism and the works of Nick Joaquin.
Nick Joaquin is the choice of the researcher because he believes that
Joaquin did not become a National Artist for nothing. The researcher believes that
the work of the National Artist is a literary heritage that should be benefited by the
Filipino students. This current study also aims to find out the implications of the
archetypal analysis in the understanding and appreciation of the short stories of
Nick Joaquin. It is the hope of the researcher that the outcome of this study would
be of much help to the teachers and students alike in the teaching and learning
language through literature, foremost of which are the macro skills of listening,
reading, writing, and viewing.

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The aim of this study is to conduct an archetypal analysis of some selected
short stories of the famous National Artist Nick Joaquin. This chapter outlines the
research methodology which includes the following elements: method of research
used, the research instrument, and the data-gathering procedure. Since the nature
of the study is qualitative, some elements in a typical research such as population
and sampling, instrumentation, and statistical treatment of data are disregarded.
Those elements are treated as inapplicable to this research.
Method of Research
Qualitative research is a type of scientific research which consists of an
investigation and collection of evidence to seek answers to a question. It is also
systematically uses a predefined set of procedures to answer the question and
produces findings that are applicable beyond the immediate boundaries of the
study. Additionally, it seeks to understand a given research problem or topic from
the perspectives of the local population it involves. Qualitative research is
especially effective in obtaining culturally specific information about the values,
opinions, behaviors, and social contexts of particular populations. (ccs.neu.edu)
The researcher made use of the descriptive method of research. This method
requires the gathering of facts, the means to describe them, the standards of
bases on which they are to be described, the goals which such standards are
supposed to reach, and the plan by which the goals and the standards are made to
meet. This method is adopted to describe the nature of a situation as it exists at
the time of the study and to explore the causes of some specific phenomena.
Thus, it enables the researcher to answer questions concerning the current status
of its subject (Pascual p. 52)
The researcher also made use of content analysis which is often used in
qualitative and quantitative research methods. It is a technique for examining
information, or content, in written or symbolic materials. In this kind of analysis, the
researcher first identifies a body of materials to analyze and then creates a system
for recording specific aspects of it. The system might include identifying how often
certain themes occur. The researcher then, finally records what has been found in
the materials. Qualitative content analysis typically does not transform the content
into numeric patterns but instead analyzes recurrent themes, typologies, and
illustrations of particular issues (Tarrayo p. 43)
In the analysis of the selected short stories, the researcher examined each
material for archetypes, symbols and myths that were either explicitly or implicitly
manifested. These were then explained and given justifications based on the
circumstances and motives of the characters of the story.
Research Instrument
This study utilized a pre-selected four (4) short stories by the National Artist
Nick Joaquin. These four stories have similarities such as Filipino-Hispanic culture
as the backdrop, abundance of myths and legends of old, and characterization of
the Filipino culture in general.
The researcher used a descriptive analytical method in analyzing and
interpreting the following short stories: “May Day Eve”, “Summer Solstice”, “The
Legend of the Dying Wanton” and “Dona Jeronima”
A set of criteria in selecting the short stories of Nick Joaquin included in this
study was also prepared by the researcher. These are the following:
1. The short stories were limited to those written by the National Artist Nick
Joaquin in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Philippine Literature.
2. The short stories should have an element of myth, legend or cult which is
supposed to be predominantly believed by the Filipinos.
3. The short stories should have archetypes which will be interpreted in the
light of Jungian concepts of archetypal analysis.
4. The short stories should also manifest the rich cultural heritage of the
Filipinos that they inherit from the centuries of Spanish colonization.
Data-Gathering Procedure
In conducting this study, the following procedures were followed:
1. The four selected short stories of Nick Joaquin were closely read and
studied by the researcher. The researcher carefully took note of the archetypes,
symbols and myths evident or manifested in the short stories.

2. Extensive review of the local and foreign literature and studies was done by
the researcher to gain background knowledge of the nature of the study. The
researcher was able to acquire information that was useful in interpreting and
analyzing the short stories. An extensive review on the Jungian concepts of
archetype was also conducted in order to have a thorough interpretation of the
archetypes evident in Joaquin’s short stories.
3. The researcher made use of a narrative style in interpreting and analyzing
the short stories highlighting the archetypes, myths and symbols and explaining
these based on the actions of the characters and the circumstances manifested in
the stories.
4. The researcher made a tabular summary of the archetypes in the four
selected short stories and tried make comparisons. The researcher also attempted
to analyze the general psyche of the Filipinos apparent in the cultural make up
depicted in the stories.
5. The researcher also presented the implications of these archetypes in the
language teaching and learning process. The researcher also tried to outline how
archetypal criticisms can be helpful in understanding and appreciation of Nick
Joaquin’s short stories.
The researcher also made an extensive review of materials both print and
non-print in order to gather materials necessary in conducting the study. The
primary source of the material was a book titled “May Day Eve and other Stories”
by Nick Joaquin published by Anvil Publishing Inc. Books on language and

literature both from the web and libraries contributed much to this work. Articles,
blog entries, journals read and browsed from the internet were also instrumental in
this academic endeavor. Libraries in PUP Graduate School, University of Santo
Tomas, De La Salle University, Philippine Norman University, were also utilized by
the researcher.

DRAFT For Panelists

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

DRAFT For Panelists

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Teaching literature has always been a challenge among language teachers.

is entailed in reading and characterizing. It requires, in fact, some very self-

simply as springboards in teaching the English language. Hence, language

result to a full understanding and appreciation of these literary treasures.

Basing on the researcher’s experience, teachers today are no longer

literature. In the same column of Isagani Cruz (2013), he writes:

“At the moment, literature as literature is taught only in

teachers, there is already a scarcity of training in dealing with literature subjects.

students in the realm of literature.

Moreover, literature is no longer a separate subject in the secondary

to handle literature subjects. If Literature is not a subject in itself, then language

springboard for teaching the English language would be a consequential

compromise that teachers would be willing to make.

scheme as an outcome of this study. It is safe to believe that it is only something

wealth that literature offers through the exposition of an archetypal analysis as an

alternative method of literary analysis which provides layers of meaning of literary

pieces such as short stories and poems.

Background of the Study

benefit from the rich literary legacy he left for us.

Jose Garcia Villa has these words about Nick Joaquin:

“… the only Filipino writer with a real imagination – the

Filipino writer of the 20th century.

Joaquin is a poet, playwright, journalist, novelist, biographer and historian. He was

He was awarded by a scholarship sponsored by the Dominicans to St. Albert’s

Universities in the Philippines offered him an honorary doctorate in letters but he

politely declined it.

pseudonym Quijano de Manila. He has a distinct preoccupation in his stories with

Philippine Free Press, the Hudson Review, and Partisan review.

the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative

Such reading was an inspiration of the researcher to choose Nick Joaquin as a

the Filipino culture and the Spanish heritage.

consciousness is the basis for all storytelling as we instinctively try to understand

this deeper nature through metaphor” – Carl Gustav Jung

Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious”, Collected Works Vol. 9 Pars I, he

defines the concept of the collective unconscious in these words:

“The collective unconscious is part of the psyche which can

Jung also provides us the definition of the concept of archetypes:

The concept of the archetype, which is an indispensable

a pre-existent form—does not stand alone but is something

Madran (2004) who made a study on archetypal analysis gives us a clear

understanding on archetypal analysis in relation to the archetypes and the

“An Archetypal criticism shows how mythical structures,

reality. It seeks to understand how Joaquin uses archetypal symbols to showcase

understand the essence of his short stories.

Character archetypes such as the anima, animus, self, persona, and

by Philip Wedgeworth based on Jungian Archetypes. This study also attempts to

appreciation of the literary works of Nick Joaquin.

The researcher also believes that there is a scarcity of studies about

archetypal criticism in the Philippines. There is an abundance of studies in

on the archetypal field. Archetypal criticism is an alternative literary analysis

approach that needs to be discovered and enriched. Teachers who have

The figure below presents the paradigm of this study:

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Selected Short Selection of Understandin

input-process-output schematic presentation. This graphical presentation shows

appreciation of the short stories of Nick Joaquin through an Archetypal Analysis

based on Carl Gustav Jung’s concept of archetypes.

“Summer Solstice”, “Legend of the Dying Wanton”, and “Dona Jeronima”.

application of Jungian concepts of archetypes.

after an archetypal analysis of the data presented.

conclusion of the study.