Reflection of the Greek Labyrinth Myth on the two Post-Apocalyptic Novels The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner: Freudian and Jungian Psychoanalysis

El Menoufy, Salma Ayman

doi:10.21608/opde.2022.241792

Reflection of the Greek Labyrinth Myth on the two Post-Apocalyptic Novels The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner: Freudian and Jungian Psychoanalysis

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Salma Ayman El Menoufy

10.21608/opde.2022.241792

Abstract

This research paper aims at tracing Edith Hamilton’s Greek Labyrinth myth of Theseus and the Minotaur (1942) and uncovering its influence on the two post-apocalyptic contemporary novels, Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games (2008) and James Dashner’s The Maze Runner (2009) from a post-apocalyptic perspective as well as a psychoanalytical approach. All elements are analyzed from the psychoanalytic approach of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung to expose the imbalance in the human psychic nature. From a post-apocalyptic perspective, the study presents the major symbol of the maze that the two novels share with the Greek myth as reflected on the theme of survival. Moreover, the research mirrors how quest for survival leads to the characters’ sacrifices and downfalls.

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