Freudian use of Motherhood in Literature
In life, there is no relationship as sacred and complex as the one between a mother and her child. The role of a mother is often a subject of literary as well as psychoanalytic discourse. The mother figure appears frequently as a character in literature, and is often explained by analysis. In Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis and development the role of a mother was a crucial one in the development of the child. Three examples of literary works where the roles of the mother figures can be carefully analyzed are Kafka’s, The Judgment, Oedipus The King and excerpts from Kincaid’s Annie John. In Freudian terms each of these works can be analyzed and it can be shown that the mother figures either at work or absent in some cases have had a profound impact on the development and lives of the characters being presented in the works. The first work to be examined will be Kafka’s short story The Judgment. The story opens with a young businessman named Georg Benderman who is composing a letter to a friend about his current physical and emotional state. It is soon revealed that two years ago Georg’s mother had passed away and this particular friend had written a letter in return, which was very cold and unemotional. Georg vividly remembers his mother’s death yet not the grief of the experience. Georg also tells us that since the death of his mother his fathers business has flourished and his father has become less overbearing. Georg is about to be married and begins to wonder whether or not this friend is to know is his engagement. Georg’s fiancée is the only other female figure in the story aside from the reference to the deceased mother. It is the absence of the mother in this story that has had a profound impact on the lives of Georg and his father. According to Freud, “The Liberation of an individual as he grows up, from the authority of his parents is one of the most necessary though one of the most painful results brought about by the course of his development” (Gay 298). Therefore as a child and young adult we are working towards the day when we will be free form the authority of our parents and are functioning adult member of society. However this freedom and liberation must come naturally and in stages. Should it come to soon or be the result of a traumatic event, normal psychological development of the child may be hindered. This is evidently seen in the case of the character of Georg in Kafka’s story.