Carl Jung's Journey In The Milk By Neil Gaiman

As a child, time seems to take forever pass by. Whether it is waiting in the lunch line, sitting in class, or waiting for our parents, time drags on, and on, and on. Waiting for a parent to do something is the worst. As children, we like to nag or whine. We rush our parents no matter where they are or what they are doing. A simple task like going to the store to get some milk seems like an eternity. You simply cannot have your cereal sans milk! In Fortunately, the Milk, Neil Gaiman uses archetypal figures and narrative patterns to show how the father overcomes obstacles and struggles on his journey to purchase milk for his children to help validate himself as a father figure.

The mother in Fortunately, the Milk is the reason the father goes on an adventure. According to Carl Jung’s

The most important symbol that the father holds on to through the entire journey is the container of milk. According to Jung, “the container holds something, as our relatives ‘hold’ us or keep us together; thus, it represents family” (Sandberg). The father does whatever he can do hold to that container of milk. At the beginning of his journey he puts the container of milk into his pocket. Here, it is safe and warm as if it were his own children that he was keeping safe and warm. As he falls from the spaceship into the water he says, “Fortunately, I had kept tight hold of the milk, so when I splashed into the sea I didn’t lose it” (Gaiman 16). The father is holding the milk tight as a father would protect his own from drowning in a large body of water. The milk container then goes back into this pocket as if his children were tucked away safe and sound at home. The repetition of holding the milk tight and having it tucked away in the father’s pocket continues throughout the novel. As the father holds his milk tight, he is holding his children tight and protecting