Alice Munro's "Runaway" in the Mirror of Sigmund Freud

Raheleh Bahador, Esmaeil Zohdi

Abstract


Mirroring the complexities of the human psyche, literature has received new comprehension through a psychoanalytic lens.  Alice Munro's "Runaway" (2003) is character-based and has the psychological analysis potential but it had never received such kind of study. The objective of the present paper is to read Munro's "Runaway" in the mirror of Sigmund Freud to detect the psychological aspects of its fictional characters. The characters are driven by the Freudian mental agencies and undergo phases of psychic disorder.  In the present paper, Munro's short fiction has been discussed based on Sigmund Freud's theory of the Unconscious and its connection with the interpretation of dreams as well as the symbolization of three main characters based on tripartite agencies of the id, ego and superego. Clarifying the latent and manifest levels of characters and the world of dreams indicates the artistic creation of Alice Munro in handling complex characterization. The unconscious and its connection with the female character's dreams have been discussed. The unconscious of the female character is reflected in her dreams in result of repression and asocial drives and desires. Unconscious through dreams is the mirror of the repressed psyche of the female character. Scrutinizing the three main characters in terms of Freudian psychic trilogy, they prove to fit their psychological Freudian terms. 

 


Keywords


Alice Munro, Runaway, Sigmund Freud, Unconscious, Psychology, Id and Ego, Superego

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.4n.2p.169

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