Psychological Analysis of the Novel “In Search for Walid Masoud” ‎by Focusing on Jung’s Archetypes

Archetype is one of the well-known terms in Jungian psychology. It is defined as universal pattern of human behavior or inherited tendencies existed in the collective unconscious that is rooted in longtime ago, human ancestors. Shadow, anime, persona, ego, wise old man, and etc. are of archetypes in human life. Jabra Ibrahim Jabra’s “Bahth An Walid Masoud” (literally: in search of Walid Masoud), one of the contemporary and symbolic novel that describes the mental journey of the main character Walid Masoud, a journey namely “Tafarod” (individuation) in which Walid, the hero, manifests the collective unconscious in form of imagination and in a way that happened to the Sindbad the Sailor, and this is the beginning of a journey that guides Walid toward individuation and rebirth as archetypes. Therefore, study and knowing archetypes and their functions in the above-mentioned novel can help reader to better understand symbols in it. This thesis sought to study the archetypes in the novel and explore Walid’s psychological evolution to the stage of “rebirth” and “happiness” (Masoud). The results of this research showed that Jabra Ibrahim Jabra effectively employed Jung archetypes (shadow, anime, persona, and wise old man) to describe Walid the hero en route of perfection to reach the stage of rebirth. Walid, the hero of Jabra’s story that is some sort of Palestinian writer’s representation, can be a symbol of all human being who look for a common goal that is individuation.