Anyway, I Am Alive: A Lacanian Reading Of The Member Of The Wedding

Carson McCullers (1917-1967) is an American novelist, and is considered to be amember of the “Southern gothic” tradition in American literature. McCullers’sgreatest literary accomplishments include The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Ballad ofthe Sad Café, and The Member of the Wedding, all completed in her twenties. Criticshailed her as a major emerging talent. The Member of the Wedding，like other writingsof hers, focuses on lonely, disconnected people in a stifling southern town who seek toanswer the question “who am I?”Critics disagree on McCullers’ standing in American literature, especially in thefifty years following the publication of her major works. McCullers’ preoccupationwith the loneliness and isolation has prompted critics to speculate on the limitations ofher ability and intellectual depth.Yet there are critics who see McCullers as one of thegiants of American literature and believe that Carson McCullers might have been thevictim of prejudices. Since the new century, both foreign and domestic researchershave read Carson McCullers in the following directions: race identity, feminism,psychoanalysis, grotesque, queer criticism, and space theory.Among these, Lacan’s psychoanalysis has been applied to read the major worksof McCullers. But not enough attention has been given to both of the two majorcharacters in The Member of the Wedding, Frankie Addams and Berenice SadieBrown. Applying Lacan’s theories to read this novel, we can find that McCullers doesnot try to dismiss the real pain of life, and The Member of the Wedding is not limitedto alienation. Rather, it affirms qualities and practices of growth, promise andtransformation. It is a powerful narrative of the dynamics of being human.This thesis is composed of two chapters, as well as an introduction and aconclusion. A general introduction is first given to Carson McCullers as a writer, andone of her important writings The Member of the Wedding. Then it presents theliterary review abroad and at home. Lacanian psychoanalysis is then summarized tosee the possibilities and significance of reading the text this way. The end ofIntroduction is the structure of the thesis. Chapter One discusses how Frankie changesher names in hope of getting a new identity. Chapter Two examines how Berenice searches for her subjectivity. After the death of her beloved husband, she struggles toreproduce the lost love in three disappointing marriages. Meanwhile, she struggles torelieve her racial anguish. The conclusion summarizes that subjectivity is assumed byalienation. Though Frankie and Berenice have realized that their pursuits of lostwholeness are in vain, they will never stop looking for it.