The Rebellion And Resignation In Babbitt

Being one of the greatest writers, Lewis' works have been received enthusiastically by critics and the general reading public. The novel describes several rebellious images who want to flee from the community they belong to. But finally they have to resign to the society. This thesis attempts to give a psychoanalytic interpretation during their rebellion and resignation process, with a combination of S.E Asch's theory and the community theory.This theory explores how, in Babbitt, the community exerts overpowering pressure upon the individual, and how the individual internally and outwardly respond under such pressure. In Freudian personality theory, Freud divides the human personality into three components-id, ego and superego. The differences among three inner factions and the result of their interaction are expressed externally as people's behaviors-- their rebellion and resignation to the community.Though many scholars pay much more attention to the social significances of the novel, such as the satire in it etc, this paper tries to explore conflicts between individuality and the social confinements during their rebellion and resignation processes mainly from psychological view points.It consists of the following five main chapters .Chapter One introduces the background of American society in the 1920's after the World War I and the life of Sinclair Lewis and the summary of Babbitt.Chapter Two mainly introduces three theories, which will be applied in this paper: the Freudian psychological theory, the community theory and S.E. Asch's theory of social psychology.Chapter Three makes an analysis on Babbitt's and others' anxiety, mainly aroused by the standardization and conformity in their community and their different rebellions after the failed operation of their ego-defense mechanisms. They are bored by the routine life style and the terrifying conforming in full sides of their lives. Though they take various ways to rebel, initially, they all want to escape from the constraints of the community.Chapter Four centers on Babbitt's and other's resignation towards the overwhelming threatening and punishment of the community as well as the superego guilt of their dissertations and it also introduces their ego-defense mechanisms since they have to go on living a mechanical life after their finally resignation.Chapter Five is the conclusion, which serves not only as a summary of this thesis but also underlines the realistic significance of this thesis.