A Lacanian Reading Of Mick Kelly’s Psychological Development

Carson McCullers (1917-1967) is considered to be among the most significant Americanwriters of the twentieth-century American literature. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter as hermaiden work published in1940, portrays five freakish characters. Though indeed John Singeris the focus of the novel, it is arguable that Mick Kelly is the protagonist, on whom the writerputs more emphasis and develops much more fully. Mick, the central character, ultimatelybecomes one with her Subject having a vision of future, even though the way to fulfillmentwill be arduous. This thesis, in accordance with the presupposition of Lacan’s Mirror Stagetheory, attempts to elaborate on the heroine Mick’s psychological growth, and points out thatMick’s arduous journey, in Lacan’s sense, is the process of formation of Subject. This thesisprobes into the journey in which Mick identifies with herself and establishes her subjectivity.Apart from Introduction and Conclusion, the main body of this thesis falls into threeparts.The Introduction presents Carson McCullers’s life experience and the literature review ofThe Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. A brief summary of Lacan’s Mirror Stage theory is displayed inthis part as well.In Chapter One, the author of this thesis states that due to the suffocating environmentMick is entrapped in the Real Order or the pre-mirror stage at the beginning of the novel. Asfor Lacan, human beings are born prematurely and therefore they can not distinguishthemselves from others in the earlier stage defined as the Real Order. In other word, humanbeings have no sense of self or no sense of belonging in this period, and thus no subjectivitycan be felt. It is ostensible that although Mick is thirteen, her psychology still stays in theinfantile level and thus she has no subjectivity. On the one hand, born in an impecuniousfamily with marginalized social status and frustrated by poverty, Mick grows up in suffocating environment which is partly responsible for her lack of self-identity. On the other hand,according to Lacan, selfhood can only come to a person in the relationship and derive fromthe interaction with the other, who is always the mother. However, because of the mother’sabsence, Mick is deprived of the important other who plays a crucial part in her psychologicaldevelopment, which in some sense leads to her identity confusion later.Chapter two discloses Mick’s encounter of negation in the Imaginary Order, which inLacanian sense is a realm of lure, deception and illusion. In this period, Mick continues towalk in her way to search for Subject. As earlier mentioned, only by identifying with its idealimage can a child form its identity. Mick identifies with her neighborhood friend Harry andthe God-like figure Singer accordingly in the process of the formation of her selfhood.However, in Lacan’s view, the Imaginary Order is a realm of hallucination and imagination,which will be broken up by the Father-prescribed Laws of the Symbolic. And thereforeMick’s identification is ultimately to be ended with failure. On the one hand, it is stopped bythe death of Singer and the disappearance of Harry. On the other hand, the misrecognitionnature of the identification occurring in this period brings about the final failure of heridentification in this Order.Chapter Three provides a detailed discussion of Mick’s self-search experience in theSymbolic Order. The death of Singer and the disappearance of Harry mark the ending of herjourney in the Imaginary with final failure. Afterwards, Mick enters the Symbolic Order, arealm of Law, which is in Lacan’s view prescribed and operated in the Name-of-the-Father. Itis in the Symbolic that a Subject is finally formed. As for Mick, the stifling environment actsas the Father-prescribed Laws. As mentioned earlier, Mick is thirteen and thus she in someextent shows some traits of adults, and learns and even somehow internalizes the laws whichthe society imposes on her gradually. And therefore Mick senses her identity as a female whois castrated by the Father figure, which for Mick refers to the Laws and formulations of the society. It causes many more difficulties in the way to seek her subjectivity. However, afterthe long and arduous journey to Subject, Mick ultimately forms her Subject by accepting thelaws and formulas of the society.The Conclusion summarizes Mick’s tough journey to Subject and reasons out why thisnovel is interpreted in the light of Lacan’s Mirror Stage theory, the process of Mick’sself-search is in fact the process of her Subject formation. And also the readers can trace andhave a better understanding of McCullers’s deep concern about human beings’ psychologicaldilemma. Mick’s psychological growth actually has universal meaning in disclosing humanbeings’ psychological dilemma.