Abstract: The Egg by Sherwood Anderson talks about “father’s” vain struggle to rise from poverty by seeking his fortune through eggs in a harsh industrial society. This paper, from the perspective of archetypal criticism, tries to analyze the inevitability of “father’s” tragic fate and get a better understanding of this masterpiece, The Egg, with the archetypal images of egg、grotesque and books and magazines, archetypal characters of father and mother and archetypal plot of getting out of Eden.

Key words: The Egg，Sherwood Anderson，archetypal criticism，tragic fate

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Introduction-1

Chapter 1 Archetypal Images in The Egg-3

1.1 The Symbolic Meaning of Egg-4

1.2 The Symbolic Meaning of Grotesque-5

1.3 The Symbolic Meaning of Books and Magazines-7

Chapter 2 Archetypal characters in The Egg-11

2.1 Father Embodied in Adam-11

2.2 Eve Embodied in Mother-11

Chapter 3 Archetypal plot-12

Conclusion-13

Notes-13

Bibliography-15

Acknowledgement-16