Interpretation Of The Lacanian Theory Of Subject

IntroductionIn this thesis I attempt to interpret the Lacanian Subject theory and then seek the process of the formation of the "toughman" figure in Hemingway' s works. In doing so, we can explain more clearly the cukural connotation of the protagonists in Hemingway' s works. In the meanwhile, we can know better the validity and the limitation of Lacanian subject theory.1. the Change of the SubjectIn the Middle Ages, under the control of theology, all the thing in the world is its appendage. With the advance of the science and the technology, the power of human being to conquer nature is so increasingly improved that the confidence of human is greatly strengthened. Till the 17th century, Descartes put forward the famous conclusion " I think therefore 1 am" , which lay a solid foundation for the establishment of the reason subject, ffith the turn to linguistics of philosophy, the inherent subject has gone forever, more and more people turn their eyes from reason subject to perceptual subject and the reason subject is radically deconstructed by post-modernist. Different from his former thinkers, Lacan defines subject as a creature of culture and ideology. Standing in contradiction to the post-Cartesian, empirical, and pragmatic basis of most current Western thought that considers the subject to be a fixed, innate or instinctual whole entity. 2.Subject: a traumatic processliven if Lacan rejects giving a definition about subject, we can find a clear line about it by the research of his articles. I try to grasp his subject theory in three aspects: 1) the relation of subject and language; 2) the relation of mirror stage and Oedipus complex; 3) the relation ofimaginary order, symbolic order and real order. These categories cover his dynamic as well as static aspects. So we can draw a conclusion that l.acanian subject is a unreasonable subject which is in a changeful and ever-construeted situalion. S.Toughman: the Suffering SubjectIn the former part, what we try to solve is the connotation of the subject, namely, "what is the subject?" . In this part, we will answer the question:"how to be a subject?" . Take the characters in Hemingway' s articles, in the course of being a subject, a man must be a di1igent one who never gives up his hope. Me can be destroyed but never be defeated. In a word, he must be a toughman. During the process of becoming a subject, he have to sustain a serial of trial, such as split, castration, struggle as we! i as death and so on. Only in this way can he be a real subject.