Interpretation of Odojevskij´s short story, the sacred and the profane, the ideas of M. Eliade and C.G. Jung

The introductory part familiarizes us with the ideas concerning the sacred and the profane, transcendation, individuation of a single human being from the mass, the process of initiation, a transition to a higher mode of existence in respect to the inner life. The ideas of M. Eliade and C.G. Jung have been processed here. The following interpretation of Odojevski?s short story shows the process of initiation being violated and later broken completely by the pressure of the outer world. The main character, Michail, Platonovits, was not able to resist the onsets of the mass, hence he did not succeed in defending his sacred inner space. It has melted in the wholeness of the mass. The internal connection with the transcendent has been lost.