A Study On Nick's Psychology Defense Mechanisms In The Line Of Beauty

Alan Hollingurst is a well-acclaimed English writer for his 2004 Man Booker Prize Winner The Line of Beauty and a number of gay-themed fictions.His most remarkable credit goes to the extraordinarily vivid characterization of Nick,a social innocent who leads a tragically sad life among the privileged in the 1980 s.To further explore his predicament,the thesis is to extend and complicate its psychoanalytic theme by deploying the approach of defense mechanisms.The thesis consists of three parts: introduction,main body and conclusion.The first part looks into previous critical reviews home and abroad,academic value of the topic and the core idea of the thesis.The main body is made up of three parts:Chapter I introduces defense mechanisms,underlying the greatness of the psychoanalytic theory originally conceived by Sigmund Freud.Defense mechanisms,by definition,are unconscious self-protection mechanisms put into play to shield one's personality from anxiety.The success in restoration of a healthy state of mind signals the favor of defense mechanisms,while its evasive nature suggests soured results out of avoidance of reality.Chapter II identifies Nick with noticeable defense mechanisms.To illustrate his predicament in detail,this chapter mainly discusses his behavior patterns: Denial,Fantasy,Compensation and Identification.Though Nick finds relenting in his world of unreality,his final shameless eviction from the grandeur house reveals that his comfort zone secured by defense mechanism is no more than self-deception.Chapter III explores Nick's psychology defense in the historical context.By focusing on the hardest-hit economic recession,raving consumerism among upper class and intense homophobia,this chapter reveals their destructive impacts and how Nick used defense mechanisms to reduce anxiety arising from unacceptable reality.The last part is the conclusion of the thesis,summarizing primary defense mechanisms deployed by Nick.By probing into the time frame of the 1980 s,Nick's defense mechanisms are given full revelation in the historical context.