A Study of Ibn Arabi's Personality in the Novel Minor Death by Mohammad Hassan Alwan based on the Anime Archetype

Problem Statement: 

According to Carl Gustav Jung, in addition to the personal unconscious, human beings have a common part called the collective unconscious. The contents of this part of the soul and mind are archetypes. Archetypal critique is one of the main approaches of contemporary literary criticism that explores the nature and characteristics of archetypes and their role in literature. Among these archetypes in the present study, the archetype of anima is discussed. Anima is the feminine half of men’s existence that can change under the living conditions of any person and its positive and negative manifestations can be manifested. In the field of literature in different cultures, we also see the birth of strong themes by this archetype, so it is necessary to study products such as novels that are more dependent on the individual’s consciousness based on psychoanalysis. In this regard, the present study investigates the manifestation of this element in the psyche of Ibn Arabi in the novel Mawt Ṣaghir (Minor Death) by Mohammad Hassan Alwan, a prominent Saudi writer. Using a descriptive-analytical method, this paper shows that anima has a significant effect on the creation of events and incidents in the story and has created grounds for conflict between the characters. The findings indicate that the positive manifestations of the anima have been manifested in the form of lover, guide, otad, etc. 

Research Methods: 

One of the most popular types of literary criticism in recent decades has been psychological critique based on Jung’s theories. Jung’s school of psychology, known as Analytical Psychology, is especially famous for its collective subconscious and its contents, the archetypes. In addition to the individual unconscious, Jung believes in a deeper layer called the collective subconscious for the psyche, which is common to all human beings. One of the most important archetypes that Jung addresses in his theories is the anime archetype, which represents the female psyche. In other words, “Jung was the only twentieth-century psychologist to distinguish between male and female psychology” (Sanford, 1980, p. 5). This study analyzes the manifestation of this element in the psyche of Ibn Arabi's character in the novel Mawt Ṣaghir (Minor Death) by Mohammad Hassan Alwan, a prominent Saudi writer. Considering that the archetype of anima at different levels is reflected in the main character, familiarity and integration with one's own anime lead to what Jung refers to as the archetype of happiness, explaining why research is needed.

With the help of the evidence extracted from the novel, this paper deals with the similarities of Ibn Arabi's mistress to the concept of anima in Jung's theory and shows that the descriptive-analytical method has a significant effect on creating events and incidents in the story and the context of conflict it has created. The findings of the study indicate that the positive aspects of the anima are manifested in the form of lover, guide, otad, and so on. In sum, the characteristics of the anima that Jung referred to are consistent with the characteristics that Alwan intended for the characters. In other words, obvious manifestations of the archetype of anima can be seen in the Mawt Ṣaghir of Mohammad Hassan Alwan, which reminds us of the influence and role of the collective unconscious in the creation of this work.