An Interpretation Of Self-pursuit Process In Everyman From Lacan's Mirror Stage Theory

Philip Roth(1933-),one of the most influential Jewish writers in contemporary America,has been hailed as one of the most competitive writers to win the Nobel Prize for literature in the last few years.In his long creative career,Roth has showed a very strong vitality in creation,and gave a unique thought on profound issues.As the representative work of Roth's later works,Everyman tells the story of the protagonist's self-pursuit throughout the life.For a long time,scholars at home and abroad have discussed the novel from the perspectives of survival,death and ethic,but few have interpreted it from the perspective of psychoanalysis.Mirror Stage Theory,an important part of Jacques Lacan's theoretical construction,is the basis for studying the formation of self-identity.This paper takes Lacan's Mirror Stage Theory as the supporting point to analyze the protagonist's different psychological processes during the pre-mirror stage,the mirror stage and the post-mirror stage,exploring the protagonist's bewilderment of self-pursuit under the multicultural background.This paper is divided into six parts.The first part is a brief introduction to Roth and the research status at home and abroad of his novel Everyman.The second part is the theoretical foundation of the thesis,mainly introducing three stages and three relevant conceptions of Lacan's Mirror Stage Theory.The pre-mirror stage is the one of producing the original cognition;the mirror stage is the one of getting the Other's recognition;the post-mirror stage is the one of breaking the inherent system.The third part,based on the pre-mirror stage theory,mainly discusses the profound influence of Everyman's three experiences in the childhood on his further cognition.The store experience makes him fall in love with painting,and also produces resistance to Jewish culture;the beach experience lets him confront with death and produces fear from inner heart;the hospital experience lets him know illness and deepens his fear of death.The fourth part,adopting the Other Theory,analyzes Everyman's bewilderment in dealing with different social relationships,seeking spiritual fulfillment and physical health from the perspective of external and internal factors during the mirror stage.Different social relationships refer to Everyman's relationship with parents,brother,wives and children;Spiritual fulfillment refers to Everyman's transfer of spiritual loneliness by setting up a painting class;Physical health refers to Everyman's psychological process of seven hospitalizations.The fifth part casts forth the sublimation of Everyman's cognition of nation and culture,life and death based on the post-mirror stage theory---only by building a connection between self and other,accepting Jewish history and culture can people find their own roots so as to successfully find the self-identity in American mainstream culture;only by getting rid of the fear of death and facing it courageously can people comprehend the significance of life and the value of death.The sixth part is the conclusion of this thesis,which reviews the whole process of the protagonist's self-pursuit,and encourages people who are suffering like Everyman to learn to face setbacks,and then treat life with a positive attitude.