Questing for Identity in Patrick White's The Aunt's Story

Le Simplegadi, 2016

II: This essay takes into consideration some of the themes dear to Veronica Brady's heart and present in her profound critical analysis of Australian literature. Veronica often read Patrick White's work in the light of a spiritual quest and a mystical-mythical vision. Aim of this essay is to investigate how the figure of the aunt, in The Aunt 's Story (1948), embodies one of the isolated and visionary characters in White's work who transmits a message that superficial contemporary society is unable to understand. I will show how Theodora Goodman's role as explorer in the inner land of the Self connects her with ancient partnership (Eisler 1987), Goddess' archetypes, in particular that of the Crone, embodying a "woman of age, wisdom and power" . This figure had an important but now forgotten role in ancient gylanic societies . Theadora, the Goddess' gift, as the protagonist's name should read, is a powerful reminder of the sacred spiritual function of ancient women-priestess. Theodora is Theadora, a priestess beloved by the Goddess. Contemporary society, being unable to see beyond the ordinary, can only catalogue these sacred figures as 'mad'.

1995

This thesis offers a new interpretation of Patrick White's novels, using Object Relations psychology. Object Relations psychology differs from Freudian psychology in that it shifts the focus of attention from notions of the Oedipal conflict and repression to issues of nurturing and relationships. This study charts the development of the Whitean protagonist across a selection of novels. The focus of my thesis is White's developing protagonist, and no attempt is made to offer a psychological profile of Patrick White himself. The thesis first surveys a representative sampling of existing critical material. It then defines the theoretical framework of the study and, finally, it applies this framework to the novels. The novels chosen represent various stages in White's writing career. The main themes in these novels are seen as analogous to phases in an Object Relations model of development. Accordingly The Aunt's Story, which is from the early stage of White's career, is analysed in terms of the earliest phase of development, that of separation of the self from the mother. YQSS is from the central sta 6 e, and is viewed in terms of the splitting and reintegration which arise out of this necessary separation. Riders in the CharioL also from the middle stage, is viewed in terms of the Oedipal conflict, which signals the next phase of development. And finally, The Twybom Affair, which is from the later stage of love poetry are brief, but intense: "They were one body walking through the trees. Their voices rose and stroked at each other like grey birds. Violet Adams was one mystery which it was possible to touch" (IAS: 54). However, their relationship is seen more in light of a displacement of Theodora's need for merging with the (m)other, than as a homosexual urge. Theodora's problematic interpersonal relationships are envisioned by the finishing school duenna, Miss Spofforth: Probably you will never marry. We are not the kind. You will not say things they want to hear, flattering their vanity and their strength, because you will not know how. instinctively, and because it would not flatter you. But there is much that you will experience. You will see clearly, beyond the bone. You will grow up probably ugly, and walk through life in sensible shoes. Because you are honest, and because you are barren, you will be both honoured and despised. {~ 63) Here the reader is dra\7\,11 into a collusive relationship with the narrator. Miss Spofforth's interior monol,1gue makes the reader privy to her secret thoughts about Theodora's ugliness, barrenness and spinsterhood, which reflect the views of a patriarchal society. This creates the effect of distantiation, with the result that the reader feels caught, somewhat guiltily. feeling pity. rather than empathy~ for Theodor~ because she is not equipped with the conventional good looks or social graces necessary for survival and for marriage in a patriarchal society. As Carolyn Heilbrun observes, "woman's most persistent problem has been to discover for herself an identity not linked by custom or defined by attachment to some man" (1973: 72-73). Nor does Theodora possess the flight of genius and 'I don't want to marry,' said Theodora. 'Why ever not? There is nothing else to do.' 'I want to do nothing yet. I want to see.' 'If you are not careful you will miss the bus,' said Una Russell. (IAS: 52) "'I want to see"' could mean that she wants to wait and see what happens, whether she will want to marry or noi and it could also mean that instead of marrying, she wants to "see" other aspects of life. To Theodora, the two appear to be incompatible. The shooting incident, then, may be seen in motivational terms. By proving that she is more skilled in what is traditionaily considered to be a "masculine" sport, Theodora crushes Frank's ego thereby destroying her prospects of marriage with him. 'I would like you', said Katina, 'to be a kind of aunt. Then we would still come to the islands, but without books. We would sit without our dresses, and eat pistaches, and do nothing, and talk. And I would kiss you. like this, in the particular way I have for aunts.' 'Go, Katina! It is far too hot.' 'It is never too hot for kissing. And your skin smells nice.' C[AS: 143) Katina continues to be a potent symbol and a double for Theodora. Since Katina personifies Theodora's projections, her precocious and incestuous licentiousness with Alyosha, the father-figure, is a displacement of Theodora's wish fulfilment of intimacy with her own father (IAS: 221). Through her identification with Katina, Theodora experiences both fulfilment and despair. 'Ach. 'he pounced, 'you are not atheistisch?' 'I do not know,' she said .... 'Atheists are atheists usually for mean reasons,' Voss was saying. 'The meanest of these is that they themselves are so lacking in magnificence they cannot conceive the idea of a Divine Power' .... 'Their reasons,' said Laura, 'are simple, honest, personal ones. As far as I can tell. For such steps are usually taken in privacy. Certainly after considerable anguish of thought' .... 'But the God they have abandoned is of mean conception,' Voss pursued. 'Easily destroyed. because in their own image ... Atheismus is selfrnurder. Do you not understand?'(V: 88-89}

2017

This paper examines and evaluates the character of Edna in Kate Chopin’s novel ‘The Awakening’ from psychological perspectives in the l ight of theory of inter-personal relations by Sullivan. This character evaluation is carried out with the help of the textual analysis of the novel. The theory puts light on the relationships b etween people and their significant part in shaping the personality of individuals through comm unications with other people (characters). This article helps in interpreting multilayered per sonality of Edna in the perspective of her relationships with other characters in the novel an d their crucial impacts on her mind. Most importantly, despite Edna’s controversial inter-per sonal relationships, the paper examines that Edna’s character is strong-willed and ostentatious, who at least makes independent decisions and resists societal challenges and familial constr aints.

Academia Letters, 2021

Sula (1973) is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison and is her second book to be published after her debut novel, The Bluest Eye (1970). Key features of Sula that emerge upon one's first reading is the abundance of strong female characters, in contrast to a few, mostly insignificant men in the narrative. This contrast is especially seen in the strong presence of matriarchs and mother figures as opposed to patriarchs and father figures (Eva and Hannah's father; Helene and Nel's father; Nel and Jude). As a novel about relationships, specifically mother and daughter relationships, Sula explores the dynamics of race, class, gender, and its implications on family ties. Essentially, this paper seeks to explore the double roles of mothers as both oppressive and empowering forces in constructing their daughter's identity against the backdrop of absent and/or weak fathers in the broader sociopolitical context of a poor but tightly-knit, community. The novel follows the lives of Sula and Nel, two childhood bestfriends brought up in two contrasting families. Sula's family is eccentric, full of women with strong, erratic characters with little care for social conventions. Nel's is much more conventional; her mother Helene was the perfect wife-"a woman who won all social battles with presence and a conviction of the legitimacy of her authority." The only unconventional woman in her family tree is her grandmother, Rochelle, a former prostitute. Two distinct structural patterns emerge in Sula that are significant in this paper. First, is the significance of the discovery for the "self" as seen in the characterization of Sula, Nel and Shadrack, irreversibly tied together for the rest of the narrative in their roles in the death of Chicken Little; and the parallelisms and symmetries that are present in the characterizations of both Sula and Nel and their corresponding families.

Miranda, 2013