A Psychoanalytical Study Of The Psychopathic Characters Created By Ian Mcewan

Ian McEwan is one of the most prestigious British writers in modern times. Hiscalm, accurate and sensuous style of drawing bestows his works the visual effects andinner impacts. Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis is closely affiliated with literature: onone hand, the theory absorbs the essence from literature; on the other hand, the theoryalso sheds some unique lights upon a great number of literary works.The paper attempts, by way of psychoanalysis, to give a detailed and objectiveanalysis to the complicated psychological phenomena embodied in the two shortstories “Butterflies” and “Conversation with a Cupboard Man”, in Ian McEwan’s firstshort story collection: First Love, Last Rites.This thesis consists three parts, namely introduction, main body and conclusion.The introduction demonstrates the current research on the study of Ian McEwan andhis two works “Butterflies” and “Conversation with a Cupboard Man” at home andabroad. At the meantime, the research goal and the theoretical and practicalsignificance of this thesis are included as well.The second part, namely, the main body of this thesis, is divided into fourchapters.To begin with, the first chapter is a general introduction to the concept of anxietyand the self-defense mechanism anxiety brought about in Freud’s psychoanalysis,which is the theoretical basis of this paper.The second chapter gives a full analysis to the psychological problems facing theprotagonist in “Butterflies” by using the theory of self-defense. And thesepsychological problems are mistrust, indifference, and loneliness.The third chapter gives a full analysis to the psychological problems facing theprotagonist in “Conversation with a Cupboard Man” by using the theory ofself-defense. And these psychological problems are conflict between independenceand sense of security.The fourth chapter generalizes the causes of the two protagonists’ psychologicalcrisis from aspects of family and society, and at the meantime, tries to analyze theiressential roles in influencing the development of modern young generation.The end of the thesis is the conclusion. Based on the previous illustration andanalysis in the first three chapters, this chapter is a further summarization of the psychological impasses of the two characters in the two short stories. Also in this part,the value and significance of the study are highlighted. In terms of Freud’spsychoanalysis, it intends to give a psychoanalytical explanation to the very twoworks of Ian McEwan,“Butterflies” and “Conversations with a Cupboard Man”.Furthermore, this thesis also try to find interlinks between the author’s personalexperiences with the characters in his short stories; on the other hand so as to revealthe psychological upheaval under their seemingly calm views on life, and finally, touncover the depth of Ian McEwan’s short stories so to arouse more research on him.