During the twentieth century many novels describing journeys have been published. Two well-known examples of such novels from the twentieth century are Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. To write about adventurous journeys is in no way unique. There are in the history of literature several narratives describing journeys. In the Bible we can read about Moses' journeys from Egypt to the Promised Land. In the Odyssè Homer describes the journeys of Odysseus. There are also more recent examples like Douglas Adams' The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Jack Keuroack's On the Road. In these narratives where the main theme is a journey one often finds a far more profound meaning than simply the description of how a person gets from one geographical point to another. What is far more important about these novels is the way they describe the inner development of the protagonist. The journeys describe, on a metaphorical level, the protagonist's search for meaning and understanding of his life. The protagonist often sets out on his journey because the place he is in does not satisfy him. He/She wants to or has to be somewhere else. One could easily argue that this need to be somewhere else symbolises our search for a more profound understanding of our existence. Our lack of knowledge about his essence and the meaning of our existence do not satisfy mankind at all. We want more. We want to understand the nature of our innermost being and we need to find ourselves and these journeys often represent our search for this understanding. According to C.G. Jung's theories, the dissatisfaction man feels about his existence and his obvious need to seek a situation different from the one he is currently in depends on a split in the personality. Jung found that there is a split in the personality of modern man. This split is caused by a separation between the ego and the Self, and it makes modern man oblivious to the essence of his being which in turn makes it impossible for him to understand his situation and the meaning of his existence. There is nothing more upsetting to modern man than the feeling that he does not know what or who he is. If man wants to find the answers to all the questions that arises out of this dilemma he needs to come in contact with the innermost parts of his psyche, the core of his soul. Jung calls the inner journey towards this core of the soul the process of individuation. This theory is easily applicable to the developments or achievements of the protagonists in fiction that centres on a symbolic journey of discovery. It is my intention with this essay to show that in both Heart of Darkness and The Lord of the Rings, the Jungian theories about the process of individuation are applicable. I will show that in both novels the journey performed in the external world that the protagonists inhabit is analogous to the journey towards the Self in the internal world. This would show that there is, as Jung claims, a certain pattern of Archetypes and events which has to be followed if a person wants to reach understanding of his Self, his innermost being. This pattern is strongly connected to the inner development of protagonists in journey-novels. I also intend to show that, although, the individuation process is applicable to both narratives there is a big difference between the narratives regarding the result of the process. In The Lord of the Rings the protagonists reach the goal of the individuation process, but in Heart of Darkness the protagonist fails in reaching that goal. I intend to explain how these two books can be seen as two different examples of the individuation process, and that Tolkien's novel describes a successful individuation process, whereas Conrad's describes a failed individuation process. In Conrad’s Heart of Darkness the character who represents the ego that is subject to the process of individuation is the protagonist Marlowe. He alone is the only possible representative of the ego and there fore it is only possible to identify one single process of individuation in Conrad’s novel. In Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, however, one finds several individuation processes at work. At least all the nine members of the fellowship of the ring each represent separate egos that undergo the individuation process. I will concentrate on the hobbit, Sam, however, because he is one of the more important protagonists of the novel and his actions strongly affect the outcome of the book. The individuation of Frodo might seem as a more natural choice, but it works on a level so different from the profane plane on which the individuation of Marlowe is enacted. Frodo represents an individuation which is very spiritual and almost of a religious nature. His reward is eternal life in a paradise and his task is to save the world. One could go so far as to call him the Messiah of Middle-earth and thus a comparison between Frodo’s grandiose and Marlowe’s more trivial individuation would seem most unfair. Sam, on the other hand, represents an individuation, which is more profane and his reward is more mundane. Thus, Sam is more similar to Marlowe as a representative for the ego, as both their processes are set on a more profane plane, and have no religious features. This is why I chose to compare Marlowe’s individuation to Sam’s. They work on the same mundane level, which in my opinion makes this comparison fairer than would have been the case if I had compared Marlowe’s individuation to Frodo’s. C.G. Jung found in modern man a split, which he called ”psychic aberration”. He claims that this split is caused when the ego disconnects itself from the Self. The ego is a character’s centre and the Self is its essential being. Marie-Louise von Franz describes the Self as ”an inner guiding factor, the regulating centre that brings about extension and maturation of the personality.” She also claims that the extent of this development depends on how willing the ego is to listen to the messages of the Self. Thus, one could think of the ego as the part of the psyche that inhabits the external reality, the world of our senses. The ego exists in the conscious part of our psyche and is connected to a reality we are fully aware of. The Self on the other hand inhabits the unconscious, or the internal reality, which we are not aware of. From this internal reality the Self, who wants to connect with the ego, sends messages to the conscious. These messages are hard for the ego to accept, as they originate in a reality the ego is not aware exists, and thus the ego easily dismisses these messages as dreams or fantasies. This is what Von Franz means when she talks about the willingness of the ego to listen to the Self. A successful individuation process results in a reunion between the ego and the Self, but if the ego is going to be able to reunite with the Self it must accept the existence of the unconscious reality and trust in the messages from the Self. The split between the ego and the Self emerges when the ego gains awareness of the world and wants to break free from the influence of the unconscious. This search for awareness separates the ego from the Self and thus it gives rise to a great inner conflict between the conscious and the unconscious. This Conflict makes man feel as if he has lost a part of himself and his existence can only become meaningful and acceptable if he finds this lost part of his psyche. The lost part is obviously the Self and to be content and once again experience a sense of wholeness the ego must reunite with the Self. Von Franz claims that what Jung meant with the individuation process was not as many believe just a realisation of the ego or a substantial strengthening of the me-personality and the own identity. The individuation is far more spiritual and it means a reunion with the divine core of the soul, which Jung calls the Self. One could say that the goal of the individuation is for man to find God within his own soul, and this happens if the ego manages to reunite with the Self. Such a reunion would be a return to the innocence of childhood. Thus the individuation process implies, as Torsten Rönnerstrand suggests, a swing from the unconscious to the conscious and then back to the unconscious again. The ego must return to the unconscious, which is the controlling part of a childhood-psyche. In this Jung’s theories about the individuation is very analogous to the way Christ describes the way to salvation, which is that man must become a child again to find God. Jung thinks that this is the goal of the individuation process, to find God within our own souls and thereby reach the understanding and ability to accept our destiny. In other words, individuation brings about such profound changes within our souls that we are able to accept our situation and feel forever content with ourselves. Because we find the God of our souls, at the end of a successful individuation all the mysteries of the mind are explained and we have no more worries but feel that our search for the understanding of ourselves has been satisfied. It is obvious that the individuation process implies an internal journey toward the centre of the unconscious. Both Heart of Darkness and The Lord of the Rings describe such a journey and the journey made in the external world is analogous the internal journey of the egos in the novels. The goals the protagonists set out to reach strongly support the interpretation that these two narratives describe internal as well as external journeys. In both narratives the goal is darkness. In Conrad’s novel Marlowe sets out to reach the heart of darkness and in Tolkien’s novels the goal is of a similar nature. Sam sets out to reach the dark land called Mordor, which to him holds approximately the same values as the innermost station does to Marlowe. What is obvious is that both narratives describe a journey towards darkness. This darkness both scares and intrigues the protagonists. It lies beyond their comprehension. Neither Marlowe nor Sam knows what to expect when they reach the darkness and thus it is fair to say that the darkness represents something they know nothing about. It represents their unconscious. According to Rönnerstrand, darkness is a very common symbol for the unconscious. This symbolic meaning is quite natural, because the unconscious is a field of consciousness that is not available to us. It represents an area we cannot know anything about, and it is almost natural for us to let darkness symbolise the things we do not know. In the same way we let the light symbolise the things we know. Light reveals and darkness conceals and thus it is obvious why the two opposites have the symbolic meaning we usually bestow upon them. It might be argued that darkness is more likely to symbolise evil as this is a more common use of darkness. Conrad’s novel has often been interpreted as describing a descent into hell. The heart of darkness would then be the great concentration of evil, which is manifested by the ruler of the underworld, Satan. This way of interpreting the symbolic values of the darkness is, however, not very significant. The tendency to let darkness represent evil has very much to do with the way humans often fear the dark. The reason we fear the dark is that we cannot know what the darkness conceals. Thus, if one interprets the darkness as a symbol of evil it can just as well be interpreted as a symbol of the unconscious. Because the unconscious is beyond our knowledge and it scares us because we do not know what it is or what it contains. When it is established that darkness can be interpreted as a symbol of the unconscious, it can easily be argued that the two narratives describe an individuation process just as well as they can be interpreted as describing descents into the underworld. The individuation process is a journey into the unconscious, which on another symbolic level can be a journey into darkness. There is obviously throughout both narratives a struggle between the two binary oppositions, light and darkness. Ian Watt claims this is a ”moral and psychological conflict between light and darkness which goes on inside the individual.” This would strongly support the interpretation that Heart of Darkness describes an inner journey. Watt even argues that ”the particular episodes which are given the greatest emphasis seem selected to amplify or complicate Marlowe’s internal process … rather than to recount his journey.” This suggests that even though Marlowe claims he does not want to bother his listeners with what happened to him personally, this is just what he does by choosing to emphasise certain episodes. Even though he does not give many personal comments, his way of telling his story still shows how it affected him personally. In The Lord of the Rings the events are enacted in a fantasy world or a dream world called Middle-Earth. The displacement of the story into this dream world suggests that Tolkien is trying to describe a reality, which is set apart from the one we experience with our senses. This could very well be the reality of the unconscious. Also the way Sam follows Frodo into the darkness and comes back a stronger and wiser man is almost a perfect signifier for the successful individuation process. The chain of events are in both narratives important to the development of the protagonists and the way they are presented support the interpretation that both Heart of Darkness and The Lord of the Rings describe a process of individuation. As I stated in the introduction it is my intention to show how The Lord of the Rings describes a successful individuation process and how Heart of Darkness describes a failed one. There are several facts indicating that the individuation process in The Lord of the Rings is successful. For example, the protagonist is rewarded with the prize he has been seeking. Even though he has not before been fully aware of what his highest desires were, he has now found a totally satisfactory existence at the end of his journey. Sam is rewarded with a family, and with the aid of Galadriel’s gift he is able to restore Hobbiton to its former beauty. This might seem like quite profane and simple signs of a successful individuation process, but Sam is a simple soul and the Self he is seeking is, in fact, manifested in his friend and master, Frodo. Towards the end of the novel it becomes obvious that Frodo represents the Self that Sam is seeking on his internal journey, and that Frodo is, in fact, a manifestation of the divine core of Sam’s personality. The most obvious evidence is that, when Frodo leaves, Sam becomes the master of Bag End and thus he in a way becomes Frodo who was the former master of Bag End. This way Sam becomes the person he has always admired more than any thing in the world. Thus, it is fair to suggest that Frodo is the Self that Sam’s ego is seeking. Also supporting this idea are some passages earlier in the novel. When Frodo is defeated and poisoned by the Giant spider at the gates of Minas Morgul, Sam takes the ring and decides that he himself must finish the task, which was originally given to Frodo. This shows Sam’s ambition to become Frodo. At the end of the narrative Frodo also passes the task of writing the last pages of the story about the fall of the ring. He is like Horatio in Hamlet, given the task to be the voice of his dying master. Frodo knows he is going to have to sail across the sea and leave Middle-earth for good. This is to say he knows he is going to die from the wounds he sustained from carrying the ring, but he does not want to be forgotten so in order to live on he tells Sam to stay in Middle-earth and tell the story of their bravery. Sam volunteers to follow his master to the other side, but Frodo knows that Sam’s salvation lies in the world of Middle-earth and not on the other side of the sea. Frodo who reaches the goal of the individuation process earlier has already come to terms with what it is he must do in order to save Sam; to help Sam find his Self. It is very common that the Self is represented by a saviour and Frodo becomes Sam’s saviour as he helps Sam to achieve the reunion between the ego and the Self. Sam does, on several occasions, complain that he is torn between his master, Frodo and his wife, Rose. Frodo realises that he has to leave if Sam is ever to feel whole again, and when Sam has realised that Frodo is about to leave Middle-earth, he asks if he can join Frodo on his last journey, but Frodo tells him he cannot and explains why: Do not be too sad Sam. You cannot be always torn in two. You will have to be one and whole, for many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be, and to do. It is obvious that Frodo leaves so that Sam can find the wholeness that signifies a successful individuation. Also, supporting the interpretation of Frodo as Sam’s saviour is the almost messianic features he displays when he explains to Sam that often when things are in danger some must give them up so that others may keep them. What he means is that in order for Sam to lead a happy life in the Shire Frodo has to give up all hopes of doing the same. Because as long as he stays Sam can never find the wholeness he deserves, but will always be torn between Him and Rose. According to Von Franz, the Self is often manifested by a dominant symbol of the collective consciousness. Often this symbol is a king or a religious leader and the individuation process often implies a replacement of an old leader. In Sam’s case he replaces Frodo as the master of Bag End and this shows how Frodo is the Self that Sam is seeking. This way Bag End becomes Sam’s mandala or main symbol for the wholeness he reaches at the end of his individuation process. It works well as a mandala in that it is a central building in Hobbiton and it is the place where Sam finally is given the peace of mind he has sought. Bag End is also the place where Sam is to live with his wife Rose. The two were reunited upon Sam’s return from his heroic journey and a reunion between man and woman is often a symbol for the reunion between the ego and the Self. Sam says about Bag End when he has moved in there with Rose ”the only place I really want to be in is here.” Another example of how Bag End should be seen as Sam’s mandala, is the episode at the very end of the book where Sam returns to Bag End, to his wife and daughter and says, ”Well, I’m back,” because Sam has indeed come back. Once again he is back in the comfort and safety of the unconscious, symbolised by the Shire, which he left to satisfy his greed for knowledge of the world outside. Now he has found his Self and is forever content with the situation life has provided for him. It is obvious that Sam succeeds in uniting with his Self, and it is equally obvious that Marlowe fails in doing this. When Marlowe has finished his story he sits in the same state of consciousness unable to make the ultimate connection with the unconscious and the Self. Because Marlowe does not understand the meaning of the things he has experienced he can never find the peace of mind he should have found if his process of individuation had been successful. The very last paragraph of the novel holds several symbolic suggestions that Marlowe has not achieved the goal of his individuation process; that he has not found the sense of wholeness, which is the result of the unification of the ego and the Self. Marlowe ceased, and sat apart, indistinct and silent, in the pose of a meditating Buddha. Nobody moved for a time ‘We have lost the first of the ebb,’ said the Director, suddenly. I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky - seemed to lead into the hart of an immense darkness. Just as he did before he started telling his story, Marlowe sits in the traditional position of one seeking enlightenment, cross-legged like a meditating Buddha. The fact that he is still sitting like this at the end of his narrative shows that his search is not yet over. This supports the interpretation that he has not yet understood the essence of his being. He has not reached the Self, the divine core of his psyche, and thus he still, despite of his eventful inward journey, cannot understand the meaning of his existence. The way he sits suggests he is still seeking enlightenment or understanding of his existence. It is not at all a coincidence that Marlowe sits like this when he tells his story. The purpose of telling a story is often to, reach some sort of understanding about what has happened by reconstructing the chain of events. The way Marlowe sits supports the idea that he is telling his story because he wants to understand what has happened. He obviously feels there is more to what he has experienced than he has yet understood and because of this he tells his story to see if it makes more sense when he brings the events back to life, using his own words. Thus, the way Marlowe sits shows he is telling his story to gain understanding of the events he has experienced, and the fact that he still sits like this when he has finished his story suggests that his search for meaning has not been successful. If Marlowe's journey is to be seen as an internal journey, the understanding he seeks must be the understanding the ego gains when it finds the Self at the innermost parts of the psyche. The divine core, which lies in the heart of darkness, the Self, makes it possible for the ego to understand the meaning of its existence. If Marlowe, at the heart of darkness, had recognised his Self and accepted it he would undoubtedly have succeeded with his individuation. Now he retells the events in another attempt to understand but like Coleridge’s ancient mariner Marlowe is doomed to retell his story over and over until he understands where he went wrong and why he cannot understand what his journey was all about. Also supporting the idea that Marlowe fails in connecting with his Self is the way he and the rest of the crew on the yawl ”Nellie” still seem to be heading into the unknown. Marlowe is not yet finished with his unconscious, and thus he still travels towards the darkness seeking the core of his soul. The director says: ”We have lost the first of the ebb,” and the ebb was explained, before Marlowe started telling his story, to be necessary if the yawl was to reach the sea, which has earlier been described as the seaman’s true home. The sea had thus been a very natural Mandala or symbol of the unification between the ego and the Self. Thus, when it is said that they have missed the ebb it is obvious that the Mandala is now out of reach and Marlowe will not succeed with his individuation but must continue his search for the Self. So far, I feel I have shown that Marlowe does not succeed with his individuation but Sam does, but it still remains to be explained why Marlowe fails and Sam succeeds. A person’s individuation goes through three stages of maturity. First a person must pass through the initial stage or phase which is the childhood. This phase is experienced as a state of total unawareness. The ego is strongly connected to the unconscious, and has almost no knowledge of anything. Its way of perceiving the world is very romanticised, much like the dreams and fantasies of a child. As the ego is tightly connected to the unconscious it is also connected to the Self, and thus, this state of unawareness is not, as one might suspect, a troublesome stage. The unawareness does not bother the ego because it is not aware of its own lack of knowledge. It does not know the difference between reality and fantasy and it believes anything that it is told. One could describe this stage as a state of blissful unawareness. Even though, this stage might be a comfortable state of unawareness it is not a healthy state for the ego to remain in. As the childhood is a stage where the ego is subjected to a childish ignorance the ego is also totally under the rule of archetypes, which at this stage of the individuation process hold an immense power over the senses. Thus the ego does not act on its own accord but performs after the will of different archetypes. This is why the ego enters the second stage, which involve emancipation from the unconscious and the rule of the archetypes. Of the two novels only The Lord of the Rings describes this first phase at any length. Marlowe has obviously already gone through this phase and when his story starts he is at the end of the second phase ready to enter the third. Marlowe speaks of his childhood in a way, which would suggest that he has passed through that phase a long time ago: ”When I was a little chap I had a passion for maps. I would look for hours at South America, or Africa, or Australia, and lose myself in all the glories of exploration.” (Conrad, 11) During his childhood Marlowe was obviously interested in maps and as is significant for the childhood phase he had a very romanticised view of the world suggested to him by the maps. He often dreamed of exploring the blank parts of the world. He dreamed of adventure and excitement, which was supposed to wait outside the boundaries of his consciousness. Because of the lack of knowledge he has to use his imagination instead. The young Marlowe’s fantasies are, like most childish fantasies, very positive and romanticised. At one point he describes the developments of the maps. (Conrad, 11) This could be seen as a description of his own inner development. Marlowe says that when he was a child there were many blank spaces on the maps but since then most of the blank spaces have been filled. This would suggest that the blank spaces of his childhood have been filled if one views Marlowe’s own development as analogous to the development of the maps. In other words the unconscious childhood where the ego exists in a state of blissful unawareness has changed into the state of awareness and knowledge that signifies the second phase of the process of individuation. Marlowe is, when he decides to make the journey up the river to the innermost station, obviously experienced from a hard seaman’s life, but he is not content with his situation. He has lived the second phase where the ego gains knowledge and awareness. Still, in spite of all the experience Marlowe has gained on the sea, there is a place he has not been that he desperately wants to visit. He wants to travel the river he says resembles an uncoiled snake. He claims the snake has charmed him and that his need to get there was so great that he even used his relatives on the continent to get there. (Conrad, 12) This is something he has never done before, because Marlowe has always been an outsider going his own way, but this time he is prepared to do anything to get to travel up the river; the snake that had charmed him. This manifests the need for the ego to enter the unconscious. Despite all the knowledge gained during the second phase, the phase of awareness, the ego can never be content as long as it has not been reunited with the Self. Marlowe, the personification of the ego, feels he needs to travel to the dark, mysterious continent, which is in Heart of Darkness the obvious manifestation of the unconscious. He feels the charm of the river he needs to travel, and this is, from a psychological point of view, obviously representing the first of the messages from the Self that reaches the ego. Sam is, unlike Marlowe, at the first phase of the individuation process, when the reader first meets him. This first phase is a phase of blissful unawareness where the subject is happily unconscious of the world outside his knowledge. Because the subject is not aware of the fact that there is more to know than what he already knows there is no reason for him to seek more knowledge. There are several passages describing the protected life the hobbits lead in Shire. For example, it is said about the hobbits: ” A love of learning was far from general among them.” (Tolkien1, 3) Shire is enough for the hobbits and they feel they have no need to learn more about the world outside or anything else for that matter. It is also said that:_x000B__x000B_They forgot or ignored what little they had ever known of the Guardians, and of the labours of those that made possible the long peace of the Shire. They were, in fact, sheltered, but they had ceased to remember it. (Tolkien1, 7)_x000B__x000B_This shows that the Hobbits know very little of the world outside, and thus one could describe their current state as a state of unawareness. Also, the way Sam describes the little he knows about the world outside Shire shows that he, in reality, knows very little, and much like a child he has a very romanticised view of what the world outside is really like. (Tolkien1, 58-60) He speaks dreamily of the elves, but he has no knowledge of the hideous orcs or the incredible evil that Sauron personifies._x000B_ It is, however, obvious that Sam wants to leave Shire and see for himself what the outside world is really like. The fact that he unlike most hobbits is interested in the outside world suggests that he has been charmed by the little knowledge he has gained. The fact that he knows something makes him anxious to gain more knowledge: ”The grass was growing fast, but Sam had more on his mind than gardening.” (Tolkien1, 69) This is a very good indication that Sam cannot just accept his simple life as Frodo’s gardener, but that he needs to experience something more. This is a very common way for the ego to react. It wants to break free from the rule of the archetypes and the romanticised existence of the childhood. Thus, Sam is so happy when it is decided that he is going to join Frodo on his journey, as this gives him a chance to increase his knowledge of the outside world. It gives his ego the chance to enter the second phase of the individuation process._x000B_ When the ego enters the second phase, the conscious stage, the ego becomes aware of its lack of knowledge and in the attempt to increase its knowledge and achieve a sort of intelectual awareness the ego drifts apart from the unconscious and the Self. It is during this phase that the split or ”psychic aberration” appears because the ego has to separate itself from the unconscious in order to achieve awareness. _x000B_ Sam enters this second phase when he is more or less ordered to follow Frodo on his journey towards the dark land. And to Sam this phase lasts until he enters Moria when he enters the third stage. During the time between the leaving of Shire and the descent into the Mines of Moria, Sam learns a lot about the world outside Shire. He increases his awareness and this is significant for the second phase of the individuation process. The ego leaves the safe world of the unconscious and enters the world outside to increase the consciousness. Many episodes in The Lord of the Rings show how Sam is eager to learn a lot during his journey between Shire and Moria. Soon after leaving Shire Sam and the other hobbits meet a group of elves and for the first time Sam learns what elves are like in reality. It says that this first encounter with the elves ”remained in his memory as one of the chief events of his life.”(Tolkien1, 107) This shows how eager he is to learn about the world outside Shire, and there are other episodes, which show how important it is for Sam to be aware of what is going on. For example, he sneaks into the meeting at Elrond’s house in Rivendell. He is not invited but he feels he has to know what is going to happen and it all represents the struggle of his ego to increase the awareness, because this is the way it believes it is going to understand and in the end be content with its existence. _x000B_ Marlowe has, when his story starts, concluded also this phase of the individuation. He has gained a lot of knowledge and experience through a long and rich seaman’s life. The blank parts of the maps he used to study as a child has been filled and there is only one place he still feels he needs to go. This is the river that takes him into the heart of darkness, which symbolises the heart of his soul or of his unconscious where the Self is. Thus Marlowe’s story starts when he is about to enter the final phase of the individuation process._x000B_ During the first and the second phase of the individuation process, one cannot find many differences between Sam and Marlowe. Sam’s phases might be described in much more detail, but from a psychoanalytical point of view they are very much alike. Therefore it is fair to conclude that the reasons why Mar