The Images Of The Grotesques In Winesburg, Ohio In The Light Of "the Three Orders"

Winesburg, Ohio has attracted much attention of international literary critics since its publication, and the "alienation" of the grotesques under the background of industrialization has always been a major topic in the discussion. In order to understand the images and inner struggles of the characters in a more detailed and comprehensive way, this thesis tries to elaborate the reasons of the generation of alienation from the perspective of Lacan’s theory in psychoanalysis, analyze the inner worlds of the grotesques, and look into the living state of people under the pressure.This thesis analyzes the characters in Winesburg, Ohio from the "three orders", naming the Imaginary order, the Symbolic order and the Real order. The thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio, Lacan’s theory and the research results regarding this book at home and abroad. The feasibility and innovation of this thesis are also discussed.The second chapter, the third chapter and the fourth chapter are the main body of this thesis, and they are divided into two parts respectively. The first part of the second chapter elaborates the theory concerning the Imaginary order, and the cases of Seth Richmond and Elmer Cowley are interpreted from the aspects of meconnaissance and aggressiveness, thus the problems in their self-construction are pointed out. As the grotesques usually slipped into embarrassment when they were communicating with other people, the "L Schema" is used in the second part to illustrate the happenings during the conversation and explain the barriers in communication. In this part, Louise Bentley’s experience is taken into consideration.The first part of the third chapter analyzes the difficulties grotesques encounter when they tried to register into the Symbolic order. The importance of the "father" in the growing process of a man is emphasized, and the reason why Elmer Cowley and Louise Bentley could not merge into society is explained. Then the conscious and unconscious resists of the characters against the Symbolic order are analyzed as these were the reasons why they could not register into the Symbolic. The second part expounds the power of the "desire". Alice Hindman is analyzed first as an example of the characters that could not transfer their desire objects, and then the cases of Elizabeth Willard and Ray Pearson show the consequences of taking the Other’s desire as their own and the helplessness of people under the threat of the Other.The significance of "Das Ding" is explained in the first part of the fourth chapter. As "Das Ding" locates in the central position of a subject, the repression of it causes a series of tragedies, including the repression of the instinct by religion in Curtis Hartman’s case, and the presence of jouissance in Wash Williams’ case, leaving a deep psychological impact on him. In the second part, the production and the regression of "trauma" are discussed. The primordial loss of David Bentley and Doctor Parcival caused their alienation, and the reason why Wing Biddlebaum trembled all the time was the insistence and repetition of the traumatic experience.The last chapter draws the conclusion. It points out that the reasons of the characters’alienation vary from one another, but they correlate to each other as well, just like the three orders correlate with innumerable links. If we trace back, the tragic destiny of the subjects has been inscribed on them since the appearance of language and laws. Grotesques are not necessarily limited in the industrialized society. If the characters wanted to get rid of the misery, they should recognize the "otherness" of themselves, the illusory nature of the images and the "otherness" of the desires which can never be realized.