From Everything to Nothing to Everything

Southern New Hampshire University From Everything to Nothing to Everything Psychoanalytic Theory and the Theory of Deconstruction in The Handmaid s Tale Ashley Henyan Literary Studies, LIT-500 Dr. Greg Salyer October 9, 2016

Henyan 2 Psychoanalytic theory and the theory of deconstruction act as unique reading glasses that help scholars dissect literature to prove what a work could mean. Psychoanalytic theory applies (Freudian) psychoanalysis to literature to determine how character behavior is affected by the unconscious, in ways by which the characters are unaware. Using science as a tool to validate literature, the theory of deconstruction questions narratives with a universal appeal, and seeks to determine if a work contradicts a common truth. Simply put, in psychoanalytic theory everything means something, and in the theory of deconstruction everything means nothing. It seems these two theories could not be more different. However, when applying the work of Freud, Lacan, Heidegger, and Derrida to The Handmaid s Tale, these two theories work congruently to extract the novel s true meaning: sometimes losing yourself, regardless of the circumstances that led you astray, is the only way to find out who you really are. In his essay, The Uncanny, Sigmund Freud explains duality, living outside of yourself, as a coping method employed by one s unconscious to combat psychological trauma. The meaning of the word (uncanny) exhibits one which is identical with its opposite (Freud 420). In other words, you can t have one without the other, there is no light without dark, and one cannot experience pleasure without first knowing pain. After psychoanalytic implications of the term are applied to literature, a secret, strange, and unappealing flavor surfaces to accompany the uncanny, the identical opposite (Freud 420). In chapter two of The Handmaid s Tale, Margaret Atwood writes, I can see myself in it like a distorted shadow, a parody of something, some fairy-tale figure in a red cloak, descending towards a moment of carelessness that is the same as danger (Atwood 8-9). This reveals Offred s uncanny quality and cultivates a sense of uncertainty surrounding her identity, the nature of her intentions, and the validity of her story. Freud states, we are able to postulate the principal of a repetition-compulsion in the

Henyan 3 unconscious mind, based upon instinctual activity this [feeling of double-ness, stemming from repressed forces within the unconscious is] uncanny (Freud 427). Throughout the novel, Offred compulsively takes mental note of her physical surroundings, At the bottom of the stairs, there s a hat-and-umbrella stand, the bentwood kind, long rounded rungs of wood curving gently up into hooks shaped like the opening fronds of a fern (Atwood 8). She does this to remind herself this is real and this is really happening all with a desire to understand her mysterious and unappealing accomplice, her, own reflection, in a mirror (Atwood 44), her unconscious double. This, inner repetition-compulsion is perceived as uncanny (Freud 427), and for Offred, it is a psychological mechanism employed to protect her own ego. She is trying to save herself, from herself, with her uncanny self. Freud writes, Having considered the manifest motivation of a double we have to admit that none of it helps us understand impulse toward self -protection which has caused the ego to project such a content outward as something foreign to itself (Freud 426). Nothing crushes the ego better than a head on blow to one s identity, and from the start of her new life in Gilead, where modesty is invisibility (Atwood 28), Offred constructs a new identity, then compulsively seeks answers to explain her role as a Handmaid from this, sister, dipped in blood (Atwood 8). Just as she cannot escape her assigned position in the community, Offred, donned in white-head-wings (Atwood 8), has an inescapable case of tunnel vision. She is forced to search her unconscious for companionship and answers. However, when Offred or her unconscious companion dare take a glimpse at the external world, their tunnel vision turns reflective, projecting yet another realm of psychological regression from which neither can escape. According to Jacques Lacan in, The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience, the mirror stage establishes the ego as a product of

Henyan 4 identity derived from the reflecting upon external objects (Lacan 444). In literature, we can easily spot characters whose ego is defined from (self) reflection off others, then label these characters as stuck in the mirror stage, in-search of their true identity (Lacan 441-446). Is Offred a character whom we will only understand once she breaks free from her state of psychological repression? Not necessarily. Offred lives in the mirror stage. She must look to others and objects to provide her parody existence a reason to survive. She has become blind to authentic internal reflection, and in her unconscious mind, she no longer exists. If she forced herself to look away, it would mask the only reality she knows. It would mask who she really is. This brings us to the million-dollar question: what is Offred s reality? More specifically, for Offred, does a reality even exist? If we observe the role of the mirror apparatus, in the appearance of the double, in which psychical realities, however heterogeneous, are manifested (Lacan 443), we begin to question the validity of Offred s recollection and description of certain events. Any perceived fabrication, however, is a direct result of her repressed psychological state, and her past psychological trauma. In order to have any identity, she must embrace uncertainty, and at times construct new uncertainties to embrace. For Offred, these uncertainties not only re-enforce an identity, they also act as a catalyst for embellishments. Atwood writes, This is what she [Moira] says, whispers more or less. I can t remember exactly, because I have no way of writing it down. I filled it out for her as much as I can (Atwood 243), leaving us to wonder if the re-construction that follows is embellished, fabricated, or if Moira even exists. Being forced to live as a Handmaid leaves abundant space for Offred s unconscious development on her quest for sanity. Understanding her thoughts, actions, and descriptions of herself and others not only explains her psychological struggles, it also enables an ability to zoom in and examine her conscious behaviors from deep within her unconscious. So who is

Henyan 5 telling this story? Offred? Her uncanny double? An unconsciously fabricated hybridization of the two? The simple answer is yes, all of the above, because, there is more than one kind of freedom freedom from and freedom to (Atwood 24). But is her story valid? Perhaps the meaning of The Handmaid s Tale isn t in the story or the language. Perhaps it lies in between the narrator s interpretation and delivery of events, and the reader s interpretation and understanding of those same events. Throughout the novel Offred recalls her story, oscillating between compulsive description, disturbing thought, re-construction, fabrication, embellished memories, dialogue, dreams, and more. This leaves only one viable option for readers to acquire meaning: unconsciously without placing conscious effort toward scrutinizing plot, characters, or motifs. It is during this exchange of mid-conscious thought that readers absorb story. Regardless of the general consensus surrounding Offred s identity, or the findings from the Historical Notes epilogue, and since this story is exchanged through midconscious thought, its meaning and validity exists only in the minds of readers. All interpretations of story and any assumptions pertaining to its validity, are in fact, valid. In his essay, Identity and Difference, Martin Heidegger ponders metaphysics, existence and identity, and concludes with: What we are now primarily concerned with in our undertaking is gaining an insight into the possibility of thinking of difference as an issue which is to clarify in how far the ontotheological constitution of metaphysics derives its original essence from the issue which we meet at the beginning of the history of metaphysics, runs through its periods and yet remains everywhere hidden, and hence forgotten, as the issue is an oblivion which escapes even us. (Heidegger 272) Heidegger is saying that difference is the necessity of identity. Not only that, he implies identity can only be ascertained from difference, without difference there is no identity, and without identity there is no difference. Looking at the text, we see difference and identity in Offred s

Henyan 6 compulsive observation of the household umbrellas. There are several umbrellas in it: black, for the Commander, blue, for the Commander s Wife, and the one assigned to me, which is red (Atwood 9). There is no mistaking one s external identity in Gilead. Existence has been reduced to that of a specifically assigned umbrella, providing just enough restriction to protect and relieve, while simultaneously displaying a colorful array of difference. With an interconnected assignment of difference cultivating identity, one could begin to question reality. Is an assigned reality, reality? Can reality exist when all that is different is also the same? Again, the simple answer is yes, to all of the above. But perhaps with everything connected, sameness can create difference. In his essay, Differance, Jacques Derrida debunks the existence of temporal and spatial realities, especially when applied to thought as derived from language. He comes to an applicable conclusion: there is no place, there is no time, there is only difference; and all existence of thought depends on this difference (Derrida 277-299). In The Handmaid s Tale, placing queries on validity aside, we cannot deny the abundant fairy-tale, dream-like quality inter-woven throughout. But determining what is real and what is fake in Offred s world, is absolutely inconsequential. She exists on a threshold, where there will be an ending to the story, and real life will come after it (Atwood 39). Her temporal reality is equally ambiguous and unique, like steel question marks, upside-down and sideways (Atwood 32), and relies upon a mid-conscious exchange for moments of clarity. When you remove the reader and the writer from literature, narrative is eliminated, along with any conscious understanding of words, implications of setting, or interpretations of story. What remains is difference, for every individual the interpretation of the in-between, a complicated relationship between the writer and the reader, the writer and the text, the text and the reader, the reader and the text, the reader and the writer, and infinite variant combinations of the three. What appears to be is not an

Henyan 7 accident here. It belongs to the very production of speech. Between what I say and what I hear myself say, no exteriority, no alterity, not even that of a mirror (Derrida 286-287). There is no truth in the in-between. There is nothing to validate. There is only assumption, evident in Offred s final acceptance of the unknown, And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light (Atwood 294), where every difference exists the same. The randomness of Atwood s narration and Offred s thoughts can only be described as chaotic. But it is a necessary chaos. Necessary for Offred to make sense of her ambiguity, and necessary for readers to accept the existence of all thought, and embrace the difference of all story. There is no truth to be found nor fabrication to be revealed, and from Atwood s continuous stream of mid-conscious thought we conjure the difference that makes the movement of significance possible (Derrida 287). This difference blurs the lines that once defined perception of language and undermines any necessity to validate story. Applying psychoanalytic theory and the theory of deconstruction to Margaret Atwood s, The Handmaid s Tale, sheds light on Offred s identity and validates every interpretation of story. As Martin Heidegger said, both Being as well as Existence, each in their own way, appear through difference (Heidegger 272). In the case of this novel, insight into a being of difference brings heightened awareness to the existence of difference. With a story told and absorbed through mid-conscious thought and a main character identified by her unconscious behavior, readers become lost, right along with Offred, for the majority of Atwood s tale. But a theoretical analysis provides a platform from which readers may dive as deep as they d like, and in the end, emerge with a conscious perspective of Offred, the story, and themselves. The vast possibilities of what this work could mean helps readers understand that even if you break your glasses, or lose them along the way, just look inside and eventually you will be able to see.

Henyan 8 Works Cited Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid s Tale: Kindle Edition. Amazon.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 3 September 2016. Derrida, Jacques. Differance. Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. 2 nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1998. (278-299). Print. Freud, Sigmund. The Uncanny. Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. 2 nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1998. (418-430). Print. Heidegger, Martin. Identity and Difference. Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. 2 nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 1998. (271-272) Print. Lacan, Jacques, "The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience." Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. 2 nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 1998. (441-446) Print. Rivkin, Julie and Michael, Ryan. Introduction: Strangers to Ourselves: Psychoanalysis. Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. 2 nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 1998. (271-272) Print. The Purdue Owl Contributors. "Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2016. Tyson. "Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Aug. 2016.