A Study Of The Distorted Oedipus Complex In Hemingway's Fiction

Freud believes that Oedipus complex is a stage every child is bound to go through, and only by successfully passing this stage can a child enter his adulthood. First of all, the thesis introduces Hemingway's family and Freudian theory of Oedipus complex, which paves way for the following expatiation of the distorted Oedipus complex reflected in Hemingway's works. Revolt against religion and authority pervades Hemingway's works, while in Hemingway's family, his mother was just the authority that he would fight against in his whole life. The second part of the thesis shows how Hemingway's revolt against his mother in reality evolves into revolt against religion and authority in his works. Brother-sister love is a special segment of Freud's Oedipus complex, and this also happens to young Hemingway. In the third part of the thesis, the author illustrates how Hemingway organizes the brother-sister love story in his stories. Some critics say that death is the only theme of Hemingway's works, which is in fact also due to the enormous influence of Hemingway's father's death. Hemingway always believes it's his mother who drove his father to death, and the fourth part of the thesis is going to tell us how Hemingway buries his anguish over his father's death under the pessimism over marriage and the tragic death of the heroes in his works, while his pessimism over marriage is also the basis of his pessimism over war and the striving soldier in the war. In Death in the Afternoon, Hemingway writes that "all stories will end in death." By combining Freudian theory and the personal lives of Hemingway and his father, the last part of the thesis probes into Hemingway's thought over machismo...