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Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea explores what happens when ambition and pride drive a young wizard beyond his limits, unleashing a shadow that embodies his darkest impulses. This shadow is not just an enemy to be defeated but a reflection of Ged himself, showing how unchecked desire for power can fracture identity and turn selfhood into a site of crisis. The novel therefore presents a deeply psychological narrative in which the central conflict lies within the self rather than in the outside world.
This paper reads Ged’s journey through the lens of Carl Gustav Jung’s theory of the Shadow, which sees the “shadow” as the repressed, hidden side of the personality that must be acknowledged and integrated in order for the individual to become whole. Ged’s confrontation with his shadow illustrates this process of integration, making crisis a stage of growth rather than destruction. Alongside this, the paper draws on existentialist approaches to crisis, particularly Sartre’s and Kierkegaard’s views that moments of breakdown force individuals to take responsibility for their freedom and actively define themselves. Ged’s acceptance of his shadow, and of the mistakes that created it, can thus be understood as both a Jungian act of individuation and an existential embrace of responsibility.
By combining these two frameworks, the paper argues that Le Guin presents crisis as a necessary stage in the formation of identity. Ged’s struggle shows how facing, rather than fleeing, one’s inner darkness can transform vulnerability into maturity and ethical responsibility. In this way, A Wizard of Earthsea demonstrates how psychological crises of identity can serve as turning points that lead not only to personal integration but also to a deeper sense of connection with the wider world.
| Keywords | identity crisis, jungian psychology, existentialism, fantasy literature, Ursula K. Le Guin |
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| elifnaz.yuksel@metu.edu.tr |