Bad Condition in Alice Munro’s Selected Works: A Lacanian Socio-Ethical Psychoanalytic Reading

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of English Language and Literature, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran

10.22098/jpc.2024.12623.1164

Abstract

This paper illustrated in Alice Munro’s selected works the bad condition in which the characters are trapped as a result of their contexualized mind that is confined to limited interpretation in accordance with the Other’s desire, their mental attachment and dependence to Symbolic Order and what it imposes as the only way to think and live. Lacan’s concept of Beauty encapsulated in “act[ing] in conformity with one’s desires” is thought while reading Munro’s writings. It is a socio-ethical reading of Lacan. It was proved socio-ethical reading in psychoanalysis is quite fruitful; it gives the data that its effect goes from individual to society. Lacan’s notion on Symbolic Order was theoretically analyzed to prove how ethical psychoanalysis helps characters awareness. The bad condition illustrates living in Symbolic Order. The characters found it intolerable since unlike Lacanian ethics and Beauty that helps human to live his life in its full,morality in Symbolic Order works for desire of the Other.





Symbolic Order subjects the characters to structure of power; the dominant socio-political power that follows “morality of the master” meaning that it determined society’s conventions. Characters have no role in making their life by their own decisions and in conformity with their Real desire. They turn into passive individuals with victim mentality. Relinquishment of one’s own desire results in feeling of guilt and regret. Hence, while characters stand out from the social orders, they experience a neutral stance in which they come to awareness; this neutrality illustrates Beauty in Lacan.

Keywords

Preventive Counseling
Volume 5, Issue 3
September 2024
Pages 86-104

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