(no subject)
Click to viewWe begin with the Fool, of course. The blundering Stork starts the whole thing off, purely by accident. A wee little ego rolls out of the night into the world. But very quickly Mother shows up, and becomes both a circle of protection, and containment. This happens at night, before consciousness begins. There is no mention whatever of Father. But little Lambert seems to have a pretty positive mother complex. She's drawn as a little odd (not as odd as Lambert) but she's kind and supportive.
The seasons are interesting. Lambert shows up in spring, of course, when generative energies are at their height. The time frame only makes symbolic sense, because by fall they are all adults. In spring, Lambert is confronted with the fact that he's different than the others... he's been touched by the Fool. As any homogeneous group will, they make sport out of his Foolishness. In spring, of course, Lambert can't keep up with the social world he's in. By fall, he's learned that he's helpless. He could tear them all to shreds, but he can't get out from under fear.
And one can't help but get the feeling that his Mother isn't helping. He needs to go running to her at first, because he is genuinely outmatched by the social world. Her support and protection are required. But after a while, her protection becomes what keeps him from becoming who he is, and allows him to remain stuck in fear. At this point, it would've been useful to have Father around. The adult male lion is the one who pushes the males out of the pride, out of the circle of protection. But absent Father, Lambert is stuck. The thing that breaks this learned helplessness is the threat of Shadow, the wolf.
The wolf is a horrible nasty thing, of course, slobbering obscenely over the thought of a mouthful of flesh. But he's also exactly what Lambert is: a predator, top of the food chain. Lambert has to deal with the dark side of what makes him who he is, because that's exactly what is threatening his cozy (maybe too cozy) relationship with Mother. And by dealing with that dark side, he's able to finally integrate into his collective. I have to say, I found it a bit annoying when he baaaaa'ed at the end. But part of who you are is where you are, I suppose.
Much more troubling is what happens to Shadow. He's stuck halfway down a cliff; that Shadow energy is just "hung up". And furthermore, he's forced to give up being a meat eater. He only gets a few berries in spring, when generative force is at it's strongest. A far better ending, I think, would be if the wolf had simply died. At least then that energy is freed up.