小镇畸人_英文论文-A Psychoanalysis of the Grotesques in Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio‘.doc

Abstract: Winesburg, Ohio is Sherwood Andersons masterpiece and also one of the important books in American literature. This paper intends to psychoanalyze the grotesque characters in Winesburg, Ohio according to Freuds theory of Unconsciousness. By analyzing the characters with Freuds theory of three levels of personalitiesid, superego and ego, and discussing the transitional society with its great impact on peoples moral principle, we could see that lack of love, sexual repression and incapability of communication are the fundamental reasons for these small-town peoples grotesqueness. Key words: Sherwood Anderson; Winesburg, Ohio; Freudian psychoanalysis；grotesques摘要：小镇畸人是美国作家舍伍德安德森的代表作，也是美国文学史中的经典著作之一。本文通过运用弗洛依德的无意识论对小说小镇畸人中的畸人形象进行心理分析。通过自我，本我，超我三个层次对人物性格进行分析，并且讨论了在过渡时期的社会对人民的道德准则产生了巨大影响。我们可以看到小镇中的人们变成畸人的根本原因是爱的缺失，性的压抑以及交际能力的丧失。关键词：舍伍德安德森；小镇畸人；弗洛依德心理分析；畸人A Psychoanalysis of the Grotesques inSherwood Andersons Winesburg, Ohio1. IntroductionWinesburg, Ohio is Sherwood Andersons masterpiece and also one of the important books in American literature. There are twenty five short stories in the book portraying twenty three grotesques who had great passion for love and understanding but were destroyed in the machine age. This paper intends to analyze the characters with Freuds theory of three levels of personalities, and reveal the grotesques to detect the characters psycho world. It can be roughly divided into five parts, the first part is the introduction, introducing the central thesis and the framework of the paper. The second part is an introduction to Sherwood Anderson and his Winesburg, Ohio, it aims to introduce Andersons frustrating lifetime and his work: Winesburg, Ohio. The third part mainly talks about the Freuds theory of unconsciousness. The fourth part deals with the detailed interpretation of the grotesque characters in the book with the theory of personalities id, superego and ego. The last part is the conclusion of this paper. By analyzing the reflection of id, superego and ego in characters we can get a clear understanding of their grotesque behavior and the direct reasons for their being grotesques: they totally lost themselves in the transitional society moving from agriculture to industry in which social morality and principle changed dramatically.Through profound analysis of these parts, we could see that the alienation, lack of love, sexual repression and incapability of communication are the fundamental reasons for these small-town peoples grotesqueness.2. A General Review of Sherwood Anderson and His Winesburg, Ohio Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) is regarded as a major figure of modern literature. William Faulkner called him “the father of my generation of American writers and the tradition of American writing which our successor will carry on.” (Yang, 1986: 25) Anderson was born in a poor family in Camden, Ohio, a mid-western American state, which inspired the setting of many of his stories. Because of the poor condition, his father began to immerse himself in alcohol when Andersons mother died, it was Andersons duty to sustain the whole family. He had many jobs such as a factory worker, a house painter, a farm hand, and finally he became a very successful businessman at age 36. By the turn of the century, Chicago had become a cultural center in the Mid-west and he got to know Carl Sandburg, Theodore Dreiser, who inspired him to publish his novels. After publishing his collections of short stories, he had established the international reputation as one of the best modern writers. In 1919, Andsons first story, Windy McPhersons Son was published, which described a sons resentment against his father. Next year, Marching Men followed it to publish. But both of these have little importance. In 1921, Anderson published his “Dial Prize” winning novel Poor White. In this novel, he described a small Mid-western town changed by the industrial revolution. Anderson also published some other novels, such as: The Triumph of the Egg (1921), Horses and Men (1923), Many Marriages (1923), Dark Laughter (1925), Death in the Woods (1933), Kit Brandon (1936), but these works couldnt parallel with Winesburg, Ohio in depth and in literary skill. He shot to fame with his masterpiece Winesburg, Ohio “ which gave him a foremost position in contemporary American letters.”(Chang, 1990: 125)Andersons life experience and his attitude toward the society deeply affected his masterpiece Winesburg, Ohio, which was a collection of twenty-five loosely bound but closely related short stories set in the small town of Winesburg in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The collection was a systematic exploration of Middle Westerners living situation during the transitional period in American history. In these stories, Anderson portrayed with both compassion and clinical accuracy the secret lives of people who have been irreparably thwarted and frustrated in different ways. The introductory tale of Winesburg, Ohio, entitled The Book of the Grotesque, described an old writer who had a theory, expressed in parable form, that most human beings were grotesques because they clung rigidly to single-minded perceptions of themselves and life. Whether they believed in love, virginity or godliness, the truth became a lie because such a narrow view distorted reality and tragically cut people off from each other. The grotesques, caught up in the obsessive beliefs, were unable to communicate their ideas and feelings to each other. Following this introduction were twenty-one tales about the alienated and absurd life of the individual grotesque inhabitant of the suffocating small mid-western townWinesburg. In this way, Winesburg, Ohio is a novel about small town life, but as Brom Weber said, “Winesburg as a microcosm is ultimately more than a national phenomenon; its proportions are universal, like the whale ship in Melvilles Moby Dick and Faulkners mythical Yoknapatawpha County.”(Brom, 1974:106). In the novel, Anderson set forth his views on the grotesqueries of modern life, though in a surrealistic rather than realistic fashion. By using Winesburg as a microcosm of America and the whole world, Anderson delved into the major themes concerning the existence of modern man.3. An Introduction to Freuds Theory of UnconsciousnessSigmund Freud made the big contribution to the world because he used the consciousness, unconsciousness, and preconsciousness to analyze peoples thought and behavior. Although the concept of unconsciousness was not discovered by Frued, he was still considered the person to perfect it and systemize it and most important of all, he introduced psychological analysis into literature and helped people understand literary works from a new angle.In his world-famous book the Interpretation of Dreams (1899) Freud supposes the existence of unconscious and tries to find a way to explore it. In his theory, there are three levels of mental processes in the mind, which are the conscious, the unconscious and the preconscious process. Conscious is the upper and visible part of the iceberg in the sea, while the unconscious process is the deeper and invisible and complicated process. The conscious refers to the sense that all we can know, think, understand and realize belongs to this layer, while the unconscious is repressed and unrealized psychological activity, which represents the instinct especially sexual instinct, and the deepest, darkest and fundamental impulse, something that people are not subjectively aware. He also describes there is a layer called the preconscious that existed between the conscious and unconscious which is something that is unconscious but can be remembered if required.Eventually, Freud altered his unconscious theory and replaced it with the three structures of personality which are id, super-ego, and ego. The most fundamental part of the three structures is id, represents the unconsciousness, which is darkest, and animalike instinct, especially sexual impulse, its chaos, irrational and pleasure-driven. It disregards the control of the society and morality, with fulfilling its instinctual desires as the only and formost purpose. On the contrary side of id is superego, i.e. the consciouness, which represents the law of social morality. It is an “internal censor”, a rulling agency which controls the force of the pleasure desires banned by society and morality. It operates on morality instead of instinct and serves as a restriction on the id. The superego manifests itself through punishment. These two are powerful forces which are constantly fighting, with idimpulse and instinct which is in need of getting pleasureand superego the morality and social restrictionbeing enemies by birth, so there must be something to serve as the compromiseego. It represents the preconsciousness, “the waking part of mind” and the characterization of human behavior, which is the fulfillment of both id and superego. Ego is the connection of id and superego, which acts on reality principle. Under the pressure of id and superego, ego must make rational decision to both satisfy id and superego.4. Psychoanalysis of the Grotesques in Winesburg, Ohio4.1 Id and its Reflection in CharactersIn Freuds theory of Unconsciousness, id is the bottom level of peoples personality which is humans instinct to seek pleasure and to satisfy his desires. The aim of id is to seek comfort, to live and to reproduce. Because of its unconsciousness and basic distinct, it is difficult to be aware of. In his later years, Freud divides id into two parts: sex instinct and love instinct. Sex instinct is the basis of all human desires while love instinct means spiritual love which is transcendence of sexual love. In Mother, Elizabeth Willard is a mother, she was a grotesque and she had more desire than others. She wants to love, even if she was a girl. Her desire made her so restless that she had two ways to express it: first she had the passion to change, because she believed that it might be spiritual understanding in some other new places. What she got was, however, just disappointment. In the industrial society, every place was dull and uninteresting as it was in her town. Her second way to balance her passionate id was to release her sexual desire because she wanted to achieve understanding and love in this way. And she failed again. Industrial revolution brought about dramatic changes, but it was only for men. For women, their way was just the same: getting married and raising the children. They did not have many choices in their life. Their desire for knowledge and equality had been depressed by the circumstances. Because of these disappointments in her life, and especially her unhappy marriage, she turned her hope to her son, George Willard. But long time of repression of her desire had damaged her ability to communicate, and when her son sat in the room with her, there was silence that made them feel awkward.In Hand, Wing Biddlebaums hands shows his love instinct. They are the symbol of id. Biddlebaum had been given his name because of the “restless activity, like unto the beating of the wings of an imprisoned bird.”( Anderson, 1919: 10) His hands used to be soft and full of love and passion. It was these soft hands that had transferred love and happy feeling to his students. The hand was a way for Biddlebaum, who “was meant by nature to be a teacher of youth” (Anderson, 1919: 13), to show his love and care to students. This love for students was from his heart and his love was pure and passionate. With caressing the boys shoulders, he transferred his pure love to the youth. So his hands were a medium to release his desire to love and also a reflection of his pure mind. But his love was misunderstood by a boy of his school, and then misunderstood by the whole town. Because in that period, homosexual was a taboo, so the town people almost killed him.In Paper Pills, Doctor Reefy wrote down his thoughts on a lot of paper pills, this was the symbol of his desires to communicate and love. He didnt care about money very much. What he was pursuing was sober and noble spiritual life: “One by one the mind of Doctor Reefy had made the thoughts. Out of many of them he formed a truth that arose gigantic in his mind. The truth clouded the world. It became terrible and then faded away and the little thoughts began again.”(Anderson, 1919: 18) In this society, when most people were busy making money, it was most difficult for people who were indifferent to fame and wealth like Doctor Reefy to find true friends, a friend who could communicate the soul. So his desire to communicate and love were difficult to release in this society, the only thing he could do was to make paper pills which carried on his thoughts and ideas. This symbolized his repression of id. But a tall dark girl appreciate his beautiful mind, she is his wife. So Doctor Reefy could finally find a person who could know him, understand his thoughts and satiesfied his need of love and communication. And it was this time that Doctor Reefy temperately came back to normal personality: “He read to her all of the odds and ends of thoughts he had scribbled on the bits of paper. After he read them he laughed” (Anderson, 1919: 20)4.2 Super-ego and its Reflection in CharactersThere is a universal truth that there is no freedom without boundary, if so, there will be disorder and chaos. The law and regulation is the boundary in the human society, so its function is to rule and regulate people in order to achieve its ideal state among which moral constraints are more powerful one, and that is, in another word, superego. Freud believes that superego reflects the social aspect of personalities whose main function is to repress the impulse of instinct and regulate the behavior of id according to the social morality. Superego is the superior level of personalities and constrains and influences id with consciousness and morality. In transitional society, with the dramatic change of economy comes the dramatic change of culture and social morality. With the double constraints of the old and the new social morality, people especially in small town suffer the most. Anderson describes many moral constraints under the background of machine ages, and these moral constraints are just like a big stone that heavily depresses peoples mind and behavior. In Hand, the town people under the lead of Henry Bradford, who ran after Wing Biddlebaum and wanted to hang him, served as superego. Wing Biddlebaums hands were tools to transfer his love to students, but one of his students had illuded it into sexual molestation and told his dream to the parents, who regarded it as fact. In that society, especially in conservative small town, homosexual and child molestation were a violation of god, and so one afternoon, Henry Bradford beat the frightened schoolmaster, and Wing Biddlebaum was driven from his hometown by the town people with their sticks and great balls of soft mud at back. After that the hands that had transferred beautiful dreams and love to students had been deeply hidden, also being hidden deeply was his courage to love and dream-transferring. When he talked with George Willard, and tried to inspire him to dream, he forgot to hide his passionate id, and became wholly inspired, and his hands slowly stole forth and lay upon Georges shoulders. “Again he raised the hands to caress the boy and then a look horror swept over his face, with a convulsive movement of his body, Wing Biddlebaum sprang to his feet and thrust his hands deep into his trousers pockets.”(Anderson, 1919: 12) The power of superego was so forceful that the cursing from the people and the thrown sticks and great balls of soft mud were nightmare that hurt Wing Biddlebaums hand, his heart and even his soul heavily, constantly and continuously. He retreated to the darkness again and finally lost the only person that could transfer his dream. In peoples mind, god is paramount, especially in Puritan world, so this is the strictest superego. In The Strenth of God, the Reverend Cuitis Hartman was a pious pastor of the Presbyterian Church. And “his experience with women had been somewhat limited.”(Anderson, 1919: 134) His marriage was also like a deal. “On his marriage day the underwear manufacturer had given his daughter five thousand dollars and he promised to leave her at least twice that amount in his will. The minister had thought himself fortunate in marriage.” (Anderson, 1919: 140) The woman he married was very rich but she felt ashamed on sexual passion, after marrying her, he didnt want to think of other women. Because he abided by the principle of marriage. But until he saw the naked neck and shoulders of Kate Swift, his suppressed sexual desire was aroused, but he believed god, he tried to suppress his id. Meanwhile, he thinks that only god could save him from the temptation. Tortured by his inner conflict, Hartman began to blame God: “Through my days as a young man and all through my life here I have gone quietly about my work, why now should I be tempted? What have I done that this burden should be laid on me?”(Anderson, 1919: 112) The struggle in Hartman was between belief in something beyond humanity and the urge to respond to the excitement of his world. These powerful drives brought Hartman to the verge of self-destruction. He almost gave up his ministry and surrendered to sin: “I want to look at the woman and think of kissing her shoulders” (Anderson, 1919: 113). The violent struggle within him resulted in Hartmans insanity. When he finally saw Kate praying nakedly, he imagined her as “an instrument of God, bearing the message of truth” (Anderson, 1919: 115). So, he announced himself saved. In Godliness,