Abandonment and Resilience: The Jungian Orphan Archetype in Adam Johnson&rsquo;s The Orphan Master&rsquo;s Son

Shahab, Araw Satar; Hassoon, Ahmed Khalid

doi:10.25130/Lang.9.3.P2.9

	Abandonment and Resilience: The Jungian Orphan Archetype in Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son
Journal of Language Studies
Volume 9, Issue 3, Part 2, September 2025, Pages 128-135 PDF (541.96 K)
Document Type: Original Article
DOI: 10.25130/Lang.9.3.P2.9
Authors
Araw Satar Shahab; Ahmed Khalid Hassoon
Tikrit University, College of Education for Women
Abstract
The Jungian archetype of the orphan is a potent representing of themes of loss, resilience, and self-discovery. According to Carl Jung's idea of archetypes, the orphan negotiates a world that is either indifferent or hostile while seeking affiliation and self-actualization, therefore reflecting both vulnerability and possible change. This paper aims at examining the orphan characters depicted in The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson. It tries to explore how orphan characters convey the existential solitude, trauma, and systematic neglect, thereby reflecting more general concerns on displacement, identity, and survival in the contemporary society. It tries to portray how the orphans are depicted as helpless victims of destiny, modern stories usually place them as active agents who question repressive systems, rebuild their fractured identities, and create unusual kinds of kinship. It endeavors to present how the orphan archetype is a vital literary device expressing the changing dynamics of selfhood, belonging, and resilience.
Keywords
Orphan archetype, Jungian archetypes, identity, Psychological growth, Resilience, The Orphan Master’ s Son

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