The Revival Of Faith:Myth-Archetypal Interpretation Of The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry

As a senior British playwright, Rachel Joyce has written Radio script for over twenty years. Meanwhile, she is active in creating stage play and obtained myriad script awards. Then she changed to write novels. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is her debut novel, which is well-received upon its publication and enjoys high reputation. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is supposed to be an excellent work for that it wakens up the love and faith in human beings. This novel is the story of a sale rep, Harold Fry, who is recently-retired and keeps a low profile without any promotion and friends. Harold lives calmly from day to day in a small village with his wife, Maureen. They have been estranged to a high degree. Then, Harold is informed that his friend Queenie Hennessy is afflicted with cancer. Under depression, Harold wrote back to her. On an impulse, he decides that he should walk to see her. Finally, he reaches the other end of the country. During the walking, Harold reflects on his life and gradually he recovers from the sorrow of the past. Having searched domestic and foreign academic databases available, I find that there’s no systematic analysis of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry except for some book reviews.In reading this novel, I find that there’s close link between this novel and myth-archetypal criticism. Rachel Joyce underlines human being’s yearning for faith. Faith serves as an important guide in our life, which originates from our eagerness for betterment of life. The journey which is called pilgrimage in the novel title heals the ills of Harold. Harold’s illness suggests the illness of human beings. Faith leads human beings to get rid of spiritual predicament. In addition, Rachel Joyce focuses on Harold’s psychological development during the course. At last, Harold regains his faith in life and finds the direction of the future.This thesis employs major theories of myth-archetypal criticism to make a systematic analysis of this novel. Jung’s collective unconscious could find expression in Harold’s affection for Maureen, the dependency of Harold on Maureen, the emergence of the past in Harold’s retrospection and the horrors Harold experience in his dreams, Harold’s mother-complex and inner recovery. It manifests the influence of collective unconscious on human being’s psychology. Then, Maureen’s keeping David’s room as it was and the simulated dialogue between them indicate that Maureen’s love for her son and she cherished the memory with him, which can be explained from Frazer’s principles of sympathetic magic. Harold treats Wilf as his child, which embodies the law of similarity. Therefore, myth is not against the development of science. On the contrary, human beings seek for solace in myth unconsciously. Moreover, based on Fry’s theories of archetypes, this thesis analyses some typical archetypes in this novel, such as the archetype of "pilgrimage", and the archetype of "scapegoat". These archetypes emphasize the theme of faith.As mentioned in the title, the pilgrimage of Harold seems unlikely. But Harold regains his faith during the walking. Human beings who are faithless are unprepared for the future. It is through the revival of faith that Harold puts down the burden laid on him for twenty years. Each person is or is about to walk on his pilgrimage, and we ought to take up faith on the road.