The Seven Basic Plots - Christopher Booker [406]
4. The unrealised value
The central means whereby stories show this battle for integration being acted out is by setting it in the context of the most fundamental psychological process in every human life: that by which each individual, as he or she emerges into the world representing a new generation, must grow up to replace the generation which came before.
This is why so often at the beginning of stories we see the central figure as young and single. The aim of the story is to show the hero or heroine working towards that state of integration, the balance of masculine and feminine, which will ultimately enable them to succeed in the right way. The Son-Hero must grow up in the right way to unite with a heroine and become a father. The Daughter-Heroine must grow up to marry a hero, to become a mother. Until they are fully ready to succeed, they remain in some way immature and incomplete. But when they finally reach their goal, we see how they have reached that state of psychic wholeness which is maturity.
To achieve this goal they have to work their way through some version of that `archetypal family drama' which lies at the heart of storytelling. This centres on different aspects of the four archetypal roles which make up the drama of that transition between one generation and the next: Father; Mother; the central figure in the story with whom we identify, its hero or heroine; and finally the `other half' with whom they are to be united to become whole, to make the process complete.
As we have seen, there is no more ingenious device by which the unconscious makes its point in storytelling than the way it uses dark versions of these four archetypal figures to represent the `unrealised value': the negative version of that which the hero or heroine need to make positive in themselves in order to succeed. This is why one or more dark figures, such as a 'Dark Father, a 'Dark Mother, a dark Alter-Ego' or dark `Other Half', play such dominant roles through the greater part of most stories, because they each in their different ways correspond to some respect in which the central figure of the story is not yet complete. Only when the hero or heroine themselves reach the point where they are ready for the final state of integration can the darkness be dispelled and the split between `above the line' and `below the line' be resolved.
5. Self-realisation
The moment in a story when this integration takes place is marked by the final bringing to light of `that which has been hidden'; the release of the redeeming value from the shadows. This may be symbolised as the uncovering of a buried treasure, or the reaching of some long-pursued goal. More explicitly we see this prize as the liberation of the `feminine value, as when a heroine is freed from imprisonment by a monster, or emerges from the darkness in which she has been obscured. But essentially this moment is likely to be symbolised in four ways. Firstly, we see, in some way, a coming together of the masculine and feminine values, most obviously symbolised by an image of a hero or heroine being joined with their `other half' in perfect union. Secondly, we see an image of order restored and life renewed. This may be symbolised in the succession of the hero and heroine to preside over some kind of 'kingdom, having established a new centre to their lives where they can `live happily ever after: Thirdly, it is conveyed, they have now reached the centre of their personal identity; they have become most fully themselves. Fourthly, and last, we see how the achieving of this goal may have immense repercussions for the wider community around them. The very fact that they have resolved the