Finding the Way to Individuation: Comparing Patrick Lewis and Mr. Watts Anonymous 12th Grade

Someone who is individuated displays signs of maturity and responsibility, in addition to also having a good understanding about the different aspects of themselves and the inner workings of the universe which bestows a holistic healing effect on one’s self. Furthermore, one who is individuated also promotes freedom and justice by helping others find the path to individuation. Patrick Lewis from In the Skin of a Lion and Mr. Watts from Mister Pip were both straying towards having a neurosis due to an imbalanced psyche. Patrick lost his sense of reasoning when his lover, Alice, was killed by a misplaced suitcase bomb. His life was already full of sorrow, and he worked dangerous jobs in the city of Toronto for an unsustainable wage; making it is easy to understand why he risked his life to try to blow up the central centrifugal pumps on an island just outside the city. On the other hand, Mr. Watts was living his everyday life like it was a drama play at a theatre, walking around the village with a bright red clown nose while pulling his fat wife on a trolley behind him. Although by the end of each novel, the characters in In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje and Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones became individuated through achieving...