A Psychoanalytic Reading of Mark Twains The Adventures...

A Psychoanalytic Reading of Huckleberry Finn Psychoanalytic conditions, stages and symptoms pervade the seemingly simplistic narration of a child-narrator, Huck Finn. Such Freudian psychoanalytic ideas as Thanatos, repressed desires and how they seek their way back through dream work, through parapraxis, can all find examples in this fiction. Besides, Lacanian concept of the unconscious as the nucleus of our being, as an orderly network, as well as his famous theory the mirror stage can be applied to this novel as a whole as well. Lacan states that the unconscious, the kernel of our being, is an orderly network, like the structure of a language (Barry 111-113); this statement can be found true in The†¦show more content†¦Lastly when dealing with the Duke and the Dauphin, again another family in Pike Country, Missouri is invented. It can be observed that in most cases, Huck invents families for himself, then brings his family to destruction, to death. Lastly, at the end of his adventures, Huck again finds himself a family, this time a real one--the Phelps (Solomon 438). Furthermore, besides Huck*s lies, his adventures on shore, also follow a family pattern. The Grangerford family has fighted out bloody destructive feud, for example, with the Shepherdsons. Also, the Duke and the King poses as heirs of a considerable fortune left by Peter Wilks. Moreover, they emphasize that they are descendants of, relatively, the ducal Bridgewaters, and the regal Louis XVI. And of course, Huck himself, firstly escapes from an imprisonment-family in which his savage father mistreats him, then flight from an over-sivilized adoption (Solomon 440). Yet one might wonder why Huck*s journey unconsciously focuses on family ties. According to Lacan, all subjectivity is based on loss, absence and failure (Green 163). And to Huck, it is the lack of a family, the failure of family that construct his subjectivity. Since the unconscious is where the selfhood lies, it*s understandable that why Huck*s narration, under the operation of his unconscious mind, follow a family pattern with most families headed towards disruption. Furthermore, inShow MoreRelatedANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 Pagesfive-stage structure is repeated in many of the individual chapters, while the novel as a whole builds on a series of increasing conflicts and crises. Such a structure is found both in such classics of fiction as Flaubert’s â€Å"Madame Bovary† and in the adventure thrillers of Alistar MacLean. EXPOSITION: The exposition is the beginning section in which the author provides the necessary background information, sets the scene, establishes the situation, and dates the action. It may also introduce the characters