The Eternal Return

Written by J. D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey (1961) continues the issue that is covered in The Catcher in the Rye (1951), the adolescents' spiritual crisis on entering adulthood. It examines the issue with a deeper insight, which is more self-referential and reflective. However, due to its abstract and reclusive tendencies, Franny and Zooey has not received enough attention, especially when compared to the great volume of work written on The Catcher in the Rye. The theme of Franny and Zooey is the archetypal quest for spiritual peace or enlightenment, while traces of oriental thoughts, including Taoist thoughts, are shown in the book. Therefore, this paper intends to carry out a Taoist study on the archetypal quest in the story.The main research question of the thesis is: How can the archetypal quest in Franny and Zooey be interpreted from the Taoist perspective? This main question is further divided into two sub-questions: what is the purpose of the quest? How do the characters carry out the quest?The theoretical framework of the thesis involves Jungian archetypal theory and Lao Tzu's philosophy. Theories on the archetypal approach are mainly concerned with the archetypal quest for enlightenment and its accompanying journey, which usually consists of three phases, namely, "separation" "transformation" and "return." Lao Tzu's Taoist ideas employed in the analysis include the unification of "Tao" (the cosmic order) and "Te" (the representation of Tao in individuals or the inner tranquillity of individuals) as a harmonious state of existence, the idea of spontaneity as the key to the union between Tao and Te, as well as the idea of "Fan" (the motion of Tao, meaning both "reverse" and "return").The analysis begins with a study of the purpose of the characters' quest, which is spiritual purity and peace (enlightenment). This harmonious state of existence can be interpreted as the unification of one's Te with the cosmic Tao. The paper then...