Howl
Today we will finish watching Into the Wild. Then we will discuss its contents–scenes, images, plot elements, characters and themes. One question to lead the discussion: what has Christopher McCandless's journey to teach us about right living? He, after all, was in pursuit of the "Truth."
----------------Notes on the Persona, one of Carl Jung's Five Basic Archetypes--------
In dictionaries the word persona is defined as (1) person, and (2) the characters of a drama, novel, etc. It is related to the familiar words personality, personal, personify, personate, and impersonate, each suggestive of the individual identity, and the ways in which that identity is manifest or portrayed–distinctive appearance, behavior, attitudes, voice, etc. In Carl Jung's writings, the Persona–the social face or mask– is an aspect of the totality of Self. It, along with the Shadow, Anima and Animus, coexist in the greater whole. The Shadow/Unconscious Dark elements of Self stand in contrast to the Ego/Conscious Light elements and bear a compensatory relationship to each other. Shadow elements are associated with animal nature, the instincts, that which is wild and uncivilized within us, but which is a source of primal energy, creativity and spontaneity. Anima and animus are aspects of the Soul Image, an archetypal image of the opposite sex which may appear in dreams and fantasies and which is often projected onto others, particularly in the experience of falling in love. The study of archetypes and symbols encourages understanding of how opposites may be transcended or bridged, with the resultant experience being one of wholeness, consciousness and the unconscious melded. The psychic reality is an essential aspect of Jung's thought, and includes even what is strictly "illusory." Inner and outer worlds are perceived in images and the contents of psychic processes and experiences at times personified, as in the figures of gods and goddesses.
The ancient goddess figure called Aphrodite/Venus personified feminine beauty, the bloom of spring, love, and uninhibited, unself-conscious sexuality. Only the virgin goddesses Athena, Artemis, and Hestia were said to be immune from her power (Huffington The God of Greece). She has a heavenly and earthly aspect, a light and a dark side, to which our instinctual desire for love may have acquainted us. She is not to be toyed with. The arrows of her son Cupid (Eros) will magically transform some, and fatally poison others.
Venus at Her Mirror
In the Morning by Steve Kowit (1938- )
In the morning
holding her mirror,
the young woman
touches
her tender
lip with
her finger &
then with
the tip of
her tongue
licks it &
smiles
& admires her
eyes.
Cosmetics Do No Good by Steve Kowit (1938- )
Cosmetics do no good:
no shadow, rouge, mascara, lipstick–
nothing helps.
However artfully I comb my hair,
embellishing my throat & wrists with jewels,
it is no use–there is no
semblance of the beautiful young girl
I was
& long for still.
My loveliness is past,
and no one could be more aware than I am
that coquettishness at this age
only renders me ridiculous.
I know it. Nonetheless,
I primp myself before the glass
like an infatuated schoolgirl
fussing over every detail,
practicing whatever subtlety
may please him.
I cannot help myself.
The God of Passion has his will of me
& I am tossed about
between humiliation & desire,
rectitude & lust,
disintegration & renewal, ruin & salvation.
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