The theories of Jacques Lacan give explanation and intention to the narrator’s actions throughout the novel “Surfacing”. Although Margaret Atwood may not have had any knowledge of the French psychoanalyst’s philosophies, I feel that both were making inferences on behavior and psychology and that the two undeniably synchronize with each other. I will first identify the complex philosophies of Jacques Lacan and then demonstrate how the narrator falls outside of Lacan’s view of society and how this leads to her demand for retreat from that society in order to become ‘whole’.
Jacques Lacan was a French psychoanalyst that derived many of his theories from Sigmund Freud. His views of the conscious and unconscious being split and a phallocentric order as the center of society evolved from Freud’s. Lacan views our development in life as three stages or phases that one must enter into in order to become a part of society. The goal of these phases is the stabilization of signifiers. ‘Signifiers’, the elements of memory that make up the unconscious are floating around the unconscious. These ‘signifiers’ are held together by the phallocentric order which is realized in the stages of development. This may be confusing, but related to the narrator it becomes clearer. The narrator was raised in a distinct situation. When she enters into society she does not have the typical experiences of that society and therefore does not feel that she is part of it. She returns to the lake and feels she can no longer be a part of this society because the ‘phallocentric order’ is distorted. This is a brief explanation. First, Lacan’s formation of ‘self’ and ‘Other’ must be understood in great detail.
The first of the three phases of development is the REAL, “Lacan''s infant starts out as something inseparable from its mother; there''s no distinction between self and other, between baby and mother (at least, from the baby''s perspective). The baby has no sense of self or individual identity, and no sense even of its body as a coherent unified whole. There''s no distinction between it and anyone or anything else; there are only needs and things that satisfy those needs. This is the state of "nature," which has to be broken up in order for culture to be formed.”(Klages, 1). Lacan’s philosophies go on to say that language is always about this loss or absence that happens whe...
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...or they will do that to me again, strap me to the death machine, emptiness machine, legs in the metal framework, secret knives. This time I won''t let them" (165). This is the practice of the phallocentric order, the women should appear as what men want them to. Her lover forced the abortion on her. By becoming pregnant with the child and going against the Law of the Father it places her outside the phallocentric order and she is whole again. That part of herself she lost through abortion can be raised again outside the phallocentric order that she has left. Her journey from her position in the Symbolic to the Real is now complete and she feels whole, the goal of becoming an adult in Lacanian physchoanalysis.
Lacan’s theories of development and the structure of society explain the actions of the narrator in the novel. Her psychological breakdown is understood because she does not fit into society. By having a child and protecting it from society she knows that it will not be taken from her. Therefore, because of the child, she is whole again and exists outside of dominant culture in the Real.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Atwood, Margaret. 'Surfacing'. London; Virago Press, 1972.
Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "The mother" tells us about a mother who had many abortions. The speaker is addressing her children in explain to them why child could not have them. The internal conflict reveals that she regret killing her children or "small pups with a little or with no hair." The speaker tells what she will never do with her children that she killed. She will "never neglect", "beat", "silence", "buy with sweet", " scuffle off ghosts that come", "controlling your luscious sigh/ return for a snack", never hear them "giggled", "planned", and "cried." She also wishes she could see their "marriage", "aches", "stilted", play "games", and "deaths." She regrets even not giving them a "name" and "breaths." The mother knows that her decision will not let her forget by using the phrase "Abortions will not let you forget." The external conflict lets us know that she did not acted alone in her decision making. She mentions "believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate" and "whine that the crime was other than mine." The speaker is saying that her decision to have an abortion was not final yet but someone forced her into having it anyway. The external conflict is that she cannot forget the pain on the day of having the abortions. She mentions the "contracted" and "eased" that she felt having abortions.
Jane Bennet most exemplifies the traits and fits the mould of an ideal eighteenth-century Englishwoman, by which she ultimately finds her happiness. Amiable women of this time possessed “improved understanding and gentle manners…[and a] good sense”. Vapidity and moroseness were “deadweights [of] every kind…” on the social scene, and should be replaced with joy and sprightly conversation as “female conversation in its best form” was charming and alluring (Fordyce 396-397). Other than being the “most beautiful creature [Mr. Bingley] ever beheld”, Jane is kind and good-natured (Austen 50). She desires to see the best in others, shown when she stays neutral about Wickham and Mr. Darcy’s feud and suggesting that it must have been a misunderstanding with neither one being at fault. Upon meeting Mr. Bingley, Jane holds his attention throu...
For Freud the outcome of the child's fear of castration is its submission to the reality principle and hence its entry into the social order. For Lacan this must coincide with the child's entry into the language system.....Language is thus the Law of the father; a linguistic system within which our social and gender identity is always already structured. (p. 104)
It is said that no man is an island, and no man stands alone. Hence, true human existence can not prevail positively or productively without the dynamics of society. Yet, this concept is very much a double-edged sword . Just as much as man needs to exist in society and needs the support and sense of belonging, too much social pressures can also become a stifling cocoon of fantasies and stereotypes that surround him. He becomes confined to the prototype of who or what he is expected to be. Thus, because society is often blinded by the realms of the world, its impositions in turn cripples humanity. If he does not conform, he becomes a social out cast, excluded and excommunicated from the fabric of life. The theme alienation in a small society is depicted primarily through setting by both authors Conrad and Kafka in Metamorphosis and Heart of Darkness. This depiction demonstrates how this isolation has a negative impact on the individual and ultimately leads to his destruction and decadence.
The mother is a selfish and stubborn woman. Raised a certain way and never falters from it. She neglects help, oppresses education and persuades people to be what she wants or she will cut them out of her life completely. Her own morals out-weight every other family member’s wants and choices. Her influence and discipline brought every member of the family’s future to serious-danger to care to her wants. She is everything a good mother isn’t and is blind with her own morals. Her stubbornness towards change and education caused the families state of desperation. The realization shown through the story is the family would be better off without a mother to anchor them down.
In short, she did a clinical observation of a specific group of females who all sought treatment for the same symptoms of sexual frigidity and sterility (Leuzinger-Bohleber 10). In the study, she discovered that these woman have what she calls the “Medea Fantasy.” This fantasy is defined by the fact that these women had the conviction that if they fell in love with someone and participated in sexual acts, they would become existentially dependent on the partner who would eventually leave them (Roos 17). The women believed they couldn’t handle the abandonment and would lash out in a destructive way. Thus, they decided to denounce their femininity and consciously make themselves “sterile” (Leuzinger-Bohleber 27). Through the study, it was found that all of these patients had severe traumas in their early lives. For example, all of their mothers suffered from depression and had been treated with antidepressants in the first years of their lives and they all suffered from some kind of narcotic abuse by their mothers. In addition, some of these women lost their fathers during the “oedipal phase or electra phase” (Leuzinger-Bohleber 30). The study basically concludes with the idea that although the Medea fantasy is extremely prominent within the women she studied clinically, it underlies the dark aspects of femininity on a broader
When this story is viewed through Sigmund Freud’s “psychoanalytic lens” the novel reveals itself as much more than just another gory war novel. According to Sigmund Freud psychology there are three parts of the mind that control a person’s actions which are the id, ego, and superego. Psychoanalysis states that there are three parts of the human mind, both conscious and subconscious, that control a person’s actions. The Id, ego, and
An overbearing Mrs. Bennet has her untalented daughter Mary shows off her “musical talent,” and Lydia and Kitty are embarrassingly flirtatious with the militia officers. Shortly after the ball, Jane receives a letter from Caroline Bingley. It states that the entire Bingley group has left for London, and implies that Mr. Bingley is really in love with Darcy’s sister. Elizabeth is convinced that Bingley’s sister has conspired with Darcy to separate Jane and Bingley. Jane, despite being left heartbroken and confused, accompanies her aunt to London with the hopes of winning Bingley back. While Jane is in London, Elizabeth pays a visit to her good friend Charlotte (married to Mr. Collins) where she receives a dinner invitation from the Lady Catherine. Lady Catherine subjects her to the third degree and informs her that Mr. Darcy will soon be paying a visit to his aunt. Some more witty banter between Elizabeth and Darcy ensues but then Elizabeth learns of Darcy’s involvement in breaking up Mr. Bingley and Jane. It is just about then that Darcy chooses to propose to Elizabeth. She rejects him and tells him off, saying that he is not a gentleman and citing both Wickham’s story and Jane’s broken heart as the two primary reasons for her anger. The next day, Darcy gives Elizabeth a letter which contains the true story regarding Wickham—that he is a liar, a gambler and had tried to elope with Darcy’s underage sister; as well as the full story behind his involvement in breaking up Bingley and Jane. Darcy believed that Jane (who is very reserved with her emotions) was only after Bingley’s money, believing that she never truly loved Bingley. Elizabeth pays a visit, with her aunt and uncle (Mr. & Mrs. Gardiner), to Derbyshire—incidentally, this is where Darcy lives. They run into Darcy who is surprisingly polite to her family, and asks that Elizabeth meet his sister. Elizabeth’s sister Lydia winds up in trouble at the hands of
At the beginning of the novel, Elizabeth Bennett’s first meeting with Mr. Darcy was marred by Mr. Darcy’s pride to which, “Elizabeth remained with no very cordial feelings towards him.” At the end of the novel, after Elizabeth learns the truth and unravels her prejudice against Darcy, she begins to realize that she does have feelings for him. During their first meeting
Offred contrasts the way she used to think about her body to the way she thinks about it now. Before, her body was an instrument, an extension of herself. But now her self no longer matters and her body is only important because of its `central object', her womb which can bear a child.
gives us a hint of terror. The reality of the situation has not yet set into Pablo’s
For one, brief hour she was an individual. Now she finds herself bound by masculine oppression with no end in sight, and the result is death.
Throughout the last few weeks we’ve been reading and discussing three largely renowned books (Metamorphosis by Kafka, The Stanger by Albert Camus and The Perfume by Patrick Suskind) that share similarity in themes, and in the character profiles of Gregor Samsa, John Baptiste Grenouille and Meursault. These themes and profiles include; isolation and alienation from humanity as well as society, sociopathic tendencies, distorted reality, feelings of apathy towards life and others, among other.
...acques Lacan, a famous psychoanalyst of the twentieth century who is sometimes referred to as the “French Freud.” Complex in both his writing and treatment of psychoanalysis, Lacan is perhaps one of the greatest heirs to Freud’s ideas concerning the unconscious in modern theory. He is best recognized for his division of the psyche into three distinct orders: the “Symbolic,” the “Imaginary,” and the “real.” However, he is often compared to Freud with regards to his interpretation of the Oedipus complex, which he reforms into what he calls the “oedipal dialectic,” a series of three stages by which a child achieves sexual normalization. Although the resolution is identical to that of Freud’s Oedipal complex, critics like Mikkael Borch-Jacobsen and Douglas Brick argue that Lacan’s model of infantile sexual development differs from Freud’s model at two distinct points.
At this point, Elizabeth is beinging to like Darcy. She goes on a trip with her aunt and uncle to Darcy's mansion. While there, his housekeeper tried to cinvince Elizabeth what a great person Darcy is.