According to Lois Tyson, “we all
experience some sort of psychological problems over the course of our lives”
(23). Psychoanalytic theory helps people see the signs of problems we go
through by the dysfunctional behavior they display. When we use psychoanalytic
theory in literature, the reader can interpret the core issues of the
characters. In “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemingway;
the three main characters display dysfunctional behavior that can be associated
with psychoanalytic theory.
Francis Macomber is a wealthy,
married American man who shows many signs of having psychoanalytic issues. He
shows fear of abandonment. According to Lois Tyson, fear of abandonment is,
“the nagging belief that our friends and loved ones are going to desert
us…(27). Francis battles with the fear of his wife leaving him and often tries
to convince himself that she would not leave him because of his wealth. He also gets that feeling of being insecure
when his wife, “removes her hand from his…
put her hands on Wilsons shoulder and kissed him on the mouth” (Hemingway
10). Ultimately, Margot, Macomber’s wife,
dominates their relationship because he didn’t react to her doing this. After the kiss he remained silent until they
got back to their tents. That same night Francis Macomber “woke suddenly… and
realized that his wife was not in their tent but in the other cot” (Hemingway
11). Macomber can’t seem to leave his wife knowing that she has had an affair
with the hunter, Wilson. Francis also shows Insecurity because he lets his wife
walk all over him. According to Tyson, insecurity “makes us very vulnerable to
influence—for good or ill—of other people” (27). He shows insecurity when he
runs away from the lion instead of killing it. “The next thing he knew he was
running: running wildly, in the panic in the open, running toward the stream”
(Hemingway 10). It was a low point for
Macomber because they took the Africa trip specifically to hunt. Later Margaret
tells Macomber, “well you’re a coward” a feeling she kept to herself as she saw
him running from the lion. Finally he shows repression. According to Tyson “the
clearest sign that an emotional problem is being repressed is the repetition of
a self-destructive behavior, such as choosing unhealthy friends or romantic
partners” (25). When Margot tried sneaking into the tent, Francis confronts her
and says “You think I will take anything” and Margaret responds, “I know you
will, sweet” (Hemingway 12).
We see the concepts of avoidance
and repression through Margaret.
Avoidance is expressed when “we stay away from people, places, or
situations that might stir up repressed experiences (Tyson 26). Margaret avoids
how cowardly her husband is when she kisses Wilson in front of Francis. Its as
if she is just trying to forget about her husband. She also represses things as she shows
displays of inappropriate behavior. She does this when she kisses Wilson and
when Francis wants to talk to her the night she sneaks into the tent; she
disregards him and says she is going to sleep. Margot also has fear of abandonment. According
to Hemingway, “Margot was too beautiful for Macomber to divorce her and
Macomber had too much money for Margot to ever leave him” (Hemmingway 11). Margot wont leave Macomber because she’s
better off with him.
With the character Wilson, there is
fear of intimacy. The clienteles “did not feel they were getting their money’s
worth unless they had shared that cot” with Wilson, a sexual implication
(Hemingway 14). He goes for a certain type of clientele because he knows they
are looking for his affection and attention they are most likely not receiving
from their husbands. Wilson does not
establish an intimate relationship between them because he understands that it
wont last and that’s how he makes his money.
The
psychoanalytic theory is used in many if not all works of literature to better
interpret the stories and understand the characters and their behaviors. It was
useful in this story because many events are displayed in a way like it is
symbolism for deeper meanings like the characters’ insecurities and deeper
unconscious core issues.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Short
Happy Life of Francis Macomber: September 1936 issue of
Cosmopolitan
One of the biggest problems we see
in the world today is how women are treated and how some of the decisions we
make are over analyzed because we cant or shouldn’t have. On the other hand,
there are many decisions that do make women feel empowered because they do have
a choice. In the novel Things Fall Apart,
by Chinua Achebe; one of the main themes we see throughout the novel is
Women’s Rights. Being a woman in the novel and in the world, there are pros and
cons. In Achebe’s novel women are mistreated to a certain extent and they have
certain luxuries as well.
Women have been oppressed and beaten
with the approval of societies that are dominated by the male sex. “According
to the English common law, in the eighteenth century, a husband was allowed to
chastise his wife as long as the instrument he was using was no wider than the
width of his thumb” (200, The Solution
for Black America, Emmanuel Barbee). Later,
one of the biggest steps for women in the United States was the passage of the
19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Women’s rights were still
not equal to men’s but it was a step forward. Modern Nigeria is a patriarchal society. Women
have fewer legal rights then men. “According to Nigeria's Penal Code, men have
the right to beat their wives as long as they do not cause permanent physical
injury. Wives are often seen as little more than possessions and are subject to
the rule of their husbands” (Curry,
Tim. . N.p., 1959. http://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/Nigeria.html#b.).We
can see examples of this later throughout the novel. Also there is the
situation of bride prices. “Many Nigerian ethnic groups follow the practice of
offering a bride price for an intended wife. Unlike a dowry, in which the woman
would bring something of material value to the marriage, a bride price is some
form of compensation the husband must pay before he can marry a wife. A bride
price can take the form of money, cattle, wine, or other valuable goods paid to
the woman's family, but it also can take a more subtle form. Men might
contribute money to the education of an intended wife or help to establish her
in a small-scale business or agricultural endeavor. This form of bride price is
often incorporated as part of the wooing process. While women who leave their
husbands will be welcomed back into their families, they often need a
justification for breaking the marriage. If the husband is seen as having
treated his wife well, he can expect to have the bride price repaid”. This is
also a case shown in the novel, which will be further discussed.
In
Achebes, Things Fall Apart, One of
the first examples we see of an abusive relationship is when Okonkwo beats his
wife. “Okonkwo was provoked to justifiable anger by his youngest wife, who went
to plait her hair at her friend’s house and did not return early enough to cook
the afternoon meal... And when she returned he beat her heavily” (29 Achebe). The
priest of the earth goddess called upon Okonkwo to speak to him of his sinful
actions during sacred week. He told him “your wife was at fault, but even if
you came into your obi and found her lover on top of her, you would still have
committed a great evil to beat her” (30 Achebe). Seeing a situation like this
in the novel, and seeing how the duties of women are described, it is implied
that it is the women’s responsibility and top priority to put her husband and
his needs first. When Okonkwo was speaking to the priest of the earth goddess,
it was shown how there really isn’t respect for women. He basically told
Okonkwo that he did have the right to hit her but he just shouldn’t have done
that during sacred week. It’s disappointing to see how women are undermined and
they aren’t respected despite the fact that they do a lot of the work for their
families. Another instance of domestic violence in the novel is presented
during a trial. Uzowulu presented his case that his wife, Mgbafo, and his
children were taken from him by his three brother-in-laws. He was requesting
that he get paid back his bride price, as it was law. “The law of the clan is
that you should return her bride price”(91 Achebe). What was later revealed was
that everyday for the nine years that he had been with his wife, he had beaten
her. On one of these occasions, she was pregnant and he beat her so hard that
she miscarried. He even beat her when she was sick and he almost beat her death
unless the neighbors had walked in to save her. The priest told him that he was
to go to his in-laws “with a pot of wine and beg your wife to return to you”(92
Achebe). It was also a condition by his in-laws that if he ever beat his wife
again they would cut off his genitals. This shows one of the pros or benefits of
being a woman. The previous paragraph contains text that applies directly to
this situation. “According to Nigeria's Penal Code, men have the right to beat
their wives as long as they do not cause permanent physical injury. Wives are
often seen as little more than possessions and are subject to the rule of their
husbands” (Curry, Tim. . N.p., 1959. http://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/Nigeria.html#b.).
The clan handles domestic violence against women depending on the certain
extent to which the husband’s abuse the women. Although it’s unfair that the
woman had to suffer for nine years, she did in a way get justice and she had
the luxury to decide whether she would take him back or not. Its not
traditional or ‘normal’ for a woman to leave her husband but if and when it
happens, her husband would just be repaid the bride price which leads me into
further luxuries of being a woman in traditional Nigeria.
Future
suitors of the wives pay a bride price to her family as a way of gratitude and
honor to her and the family. In the book we see examples of two marriages in
which the future husbands bring a certain amount of barrels of palm wine as a
bride price to the family. We also see that women do have choice in certain
things such as leaving her husband if she chooses to and even picking her
suitor. Just because the parents of the groom and bride decide on a monetary
exchange for the women, doesn’t mean that the marriage is necessarily arranged.
With Okonkwos daughter, Ezinma. She had grown to be as beautiful as her mother
once was known. “Many young and prosperous middle-aged men of Mbanta came to
marry her. But she refused them all…” (173 Achebe). Clearly she does have that
opportunity to choose her suitor and not have to be reprimanded for it.
Not
only in Nigeria, but also all over the world, have women been undermined. We
have been thought of as people whose opinion never mattered. Today, there are
still many women that are subject to their husbands ‘machismo’, which is just a
very male dominated way of being and thought. It is showing aggressive pride in
a mans own masculinity. It is not okay, ever, for a man to hurt a woman or take
advantage of her and vice versa. In this case it is not like that but with
progression things slowly change. Women who still live in patriarchal societies
still have to deal with ‘male domination’, but they do have choices. In this
day and age and specifically in Nigeria, women have luxuries but they also have
downfalls when it comes to being their own person, making their own decisions
and having their own opinions.
Chapters
8-13 Throughout these chapters the
history between Okonkwo and his wife, Ekwefi, stuck out to me and I felt pity
for them. It was a touching story in which the reader could empathize with the
character, Ekwefi. After Ekwefi had her first child, it died due to an illness.
She had a few children after and each and every single one of them died due to
an illness before they even got to turn 2 years old. After the first and second
deaths she started to become a bitter woman. Okonkwo’s other wife had had three
strong and healthy boys and Ekwefi could not even be happy for her. Instead she
envied her and didn’t share in the celebration for the children. Ekwefi would give her children
symbolic names such as “Onwumbiko” meaning, ‘Death, I implore you’. She named
another child “Ozoemena” meaning, ‘May it not happen again’. The next child was
“Onwuma” which meant, ‘Death may please himself’’(Achebe 77). All that was left
to do was for Okonkwo to go to the medicine man that told him that the child
was obanje, which was a wicked child
who entered their mothers’ wombs again following their death. It was just a
recurring painful cycle. After Ezinma was born, it changed
Ekwefi for the better and she appreaciated and loved her daughter more then
anything. She always made sure to take good care of her despite Okonkwos wishes
to not feed her eggs for example. I can really empathize with Ekwefi because I can
only imagine how difficult it must be to have to lose child after child and
just have the feeling of giving up. I was resulted in feeling very happy for
Ekwefi after the reading because she finally got stabilization in her life and
she got the child she always wanted.
Okonkwo is a very big part of the story. But, he is portrayed as the
character he is because of his past. His father formed the person he is and
changed his perception about what his life should be like. His fathers name is
Unoka. He is described as person who is lazy and laidback. He never did any
hard labor and always borrowed from neighbors in order to feed his family. He
had a great many debts. When Okonkwo was bothered at school because his father
had no title, he realized then that he wanted to be everything his father was
not. His father died with no title to his name and was not respected by anyone
in the village. His own son or family didn’t respect him because they were on
the brink of poverty. Unoka went to see the village oracle and she even told
him that he was being lazy and it was pointless to plant seeds on soil that wouldn’t
produce results. Even after hearing that Unoka continued living the lifestyle
the way he did because he was good with words and managed to always have
someone around to borrow from. Okonkwo then continues his story on how seeing
everything his father put them through affected him a lot. His father was a
very compassionate and caring person and because Okonkwo wanted to hate
everything his father was, he became into a cold and very strict person with
his own family. But at least he got to overcome his fears of becoming his
father and he was considered wealthy and even had two titles and three wives,
which was considered being wealthy.
Mrs. Samuel
C. Newell is portrayed as an opportunistic mother who has no boundaries and
will go to whatever length it takes to get what she desires. In this story she
uses her daughter and to climb to the top of the social ladder. She assures
that her daughter marry a rich man so she gets the benefits of the marriage.
She is after the money. She wants everything for herself, “She used up
everything too quickly, friends, credit, influence, forbearance” (Wharton 214).
Her social status is her main priority. Hermy, her
daughter, is forced to marry into a family of wealth and Mrs. Newell justifies
it by saying “what’s the use of producing a daughter if she doesn’t contribute
to her parent’s financial & social advancement” (Wharton 218).
Posted by
michellex3
,
12:55 PM
Everyday Use by Alice Walker is a short
story about the relationship between a mother and her two daughters. In this story, that characters display
conflicts within themselves and with others. The main character I will focus on
will be Dee.
Dee shows a lot of dysfunctional behaviors
throughout the story. She has a lot of defenses because there are experiences
in her life that she wants to repress.
Mama points out how Dee shows denial and avoidance when she wrote to Mama
“no matter where we choose to live, she will manage to come see us. But she
will never bring her friends” (Walker 3). Denial is when “we believe that an
unpleasant situation doesn’t exist or an unpleasant event never occurred”
(Tyson 26). Avoidance is when “we stay away from people, places, or situations
that might stir up repressed experiences (Tyson 26) Dee shows denial because
she is trying to avoid, or forget her home and where she comes from.
Another example in which Dee shows avoidance
is an instant that Mama recalls; “I didn’t want to bring up how I had offered
Dee a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told they were
old-fashioned, out of style” (Walker 6). In this early moment she was already denying
her roots and her heritage but in the present tense of the story she was
begging for the quilts.
Dee also shows displacement with Maggie.
She tells her “ you ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie.
It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d
never know it” (Walker 7). Displacement is when “we take out our negative
feelings about one person on someone else so that we can relieve our pain or
anger without becoming aware of the real cause of our repressed feelings”
(Tyson 26). Dee tries to imply that Maggie doesn’t like the life she has as if
she envied hers (Dee’s) but its displacement because it is Dee who doesn’t like
her “old life” or her heritage. The family she comes from. At the same time
this shows her projecting. Which is “when we believe, without real cause, that
someone else feels the same way we feel or that someone else has the same
problem that we ourselves have but want to deny” (Tyson 26).
Finally Dee shows an insecure or unstable
sense of self because she contradicts herself in the story and you see how she
kind of unconsciously is searching for herself. When her mother calls her by
her name “Dee” she responds “ No, Mama. Not ‘Dee’, Wangero Leewanika Kamanjo!”
(Walker 4). Mama says, “What happened to Dee?” and Wangero says, “She’s dead. I
couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me”
(Walker 4). She changes her name because she is ashamed of it because its name
by which she is ‘oppressed’. The example
used previously in which she desires the quilt but didn’t in the past also
shows the contradiction she makes upon herself. She is ashamed of her heritage
but later appreciates it so much so that she wanted to take them from Maggie
telling Mama “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts! She’d probably be backward
enough to put them to everyday use” (Walker 6).
According to Tyson, “certain objects tend
to have symbolic meaning for most human beings, whether we are aware of this
meaning or not , and these symbols often show up in our dreams” (17). Dee shows the dream
symbol, Basements. Which according to
Tyson; “ basements are often associated with the unconscious as the place where
we repress unpleasant memories”(28). An example of this is shown in “out she
peeks next with a polaroid. She stoops
down quickly and lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of
the house with Maggie cowering behind me. She never takes a shot without making
sure the house is included”. The house is the base of where Wangero comes from
and it indeed is the place where she has the most repressed memories. Mama even
recalls a hate that she believed Dee had for the house when it was burning “And
Dee. I see her standing off under the sweet gum tree she used to dig gum out
of; a look of concentration on her face as she watched the last dingy gray
board of the house fall in toward the red hot brick chimney… She had hated the
house that much” (Walker 2).
Dee
proves to be a very complex character because she contradicts herself and she
is not sure of what she wants. One thing that is shown in the text is that she
was the kind of girl that never knew the words ‘no’. Dee has many dysfunctional
behaviors but the reader can see how throughout the stories she tries to find
herself and her own person by changing her lifestyle. If Dee never accomplishes
her personal goal on finding herself, then she will be living in cycle in which
she will always want more then what she already has and she will never be
happy. Wangero will not achieve self satisfaction judging by the way she treats
and thinks of her own family.
The Marxist theory entails that in
order to stop exploitation of the working class through capitalism, the working
class needs to rebel and gain power through a social revolution. Basically, the
Marxist theory is the struggle between the social classes. In Alice Walker’s
Everyday Use, Dee, Mama and Maggie show how Marxism is portrayed.
It is shown in he short story how
there is a struggle between social classes within the family. Dee or Wangero,
believes that her mother and sisters lifestyle is poor because they choose to
not to ‘overcome’ their ‘circumstances’. This shows Rugged Individualism, “which holds up for our admiration the
example of the individual who strikes out alone in pursuit of a goal not easily
achieved….” (p.59, Using Concepts from Marxist Theory). Wangero wanted so badly
to overcome her old life and she know expects that from her mother and sister.
The American Dream is also showed her
because Dee, actually did achieve and overcome her goal to leave behind her
old, poor life for the kind of lifestyle she wanted and that she felt she
deserved. Mama and Maggie show to be the lower working class in the Marxist
Theory in Dee’s eyes. They have to struggle just to maintain the lives they
have which isn’t one of the best. Dee is very competitive as well. From what
Mama tells, Dee has always tried to be better then everyone even though no one
tries to compete with her. She shows to be eager to overcome who she was or is.
Even though she achieves her goals she still wants more.
Welcome =]
