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Lens Essay When we look at Edwidge Danticat's novel The Farming of Bones through the lens of psychoanalysis, it will allow us to learn a great deal about the motivational factors that define main characters (Amabelle) behavior. According to Freud, the main function of our dreams is to fulfill our desires, which are often socially suppressed. It is clear that Amabelle's dreams correspond to her subconscious desire to be together with Sebastien. In addition, we can say that her dreams serve as tool of dealing with cruel reality that surrounds her. While being plunged into the midst of mass murder of Haitians by Dominicans, Amabelle copes with emotional shock by transforming her anxieties into dreams, which actually prevents her from going insane: Misery wont touch you gentle. It always leaves its thumbprints on you; sometimes it leaves them for others to see, sometimes for nobody but you to know of.
Only when I slept, my misery would leave me for a while. Even though that many of my dreams were scary, somehow my desire to survive would strengthen after waking up in the morning (Danticat, p. 65). This points out to the fact that the ability to sleep and to have dreams, for Amabelle, was essential for her survival. Theory of psychoanalysis describes dreams as having physiological nature. There is nothing mysterious about them, even though that many dreams do not have any sense. Their function is to maintain persons mental stability, while he is awake.
Therefore, Amabelle's dreams provide us with the insight of what were the troubling issues to her. It seems that Amabelle herself subconsciously understand that her dreams provided her with a spiritual relief: I looked to my dreams for softness, for a gentler embrace, for relief of the mudslide and blood bubbling out of the riverbed, where it is said the dead add their tears to the river flow. There is one scene, at the beginning of the book, where Amabelle dreams of Sebastien. Her dream has clear erotic undertones: I was touching his body and I wanted this to last forever (Danticat, p. 71).
According to the theory of psychoanalysis, peoples latent sexuality defines their act more than anything else does. It might appear as very improbable for the person to have dreams of sexual intercourse in the midst of social upheaval; however, it is perfectly normal. This is because people are nothing but animals with intelligence, which does not correspond to the depth of their psyche. In situations of extreme tension, our instincts take over. It is well known that procreative instinct is one of the strongest. In Danticat's novel, this instinct is organically combined with Amabelle's will to survive.
She is shown as person who tries to use a morality to explain her own behavior, while being unable to understand that the answer lies in the field of biology. Danticat's talent, as a writer, consists of her ability to convince readers in credibility of this suggestion, without imposing her views upon them in forceful manner. Amabelle's dreams are the classical example of how daily impressions can be fused with memories of childhood: I was a little girl playing in the field, when Don Ignacio came up to me and asked when will I marry Sebastien. I told him that I cant marry Sebastien, because Im only 12 years old (Danticat, p. 96).
Even though that many of Amabelles dreams are very eccentric, it is important to understand that they provide novels main character with psychological comfort, because thy enable Amabelle to relate her current experiences with more distant memories. In its turn, this prevents her from becoming affected by the split of personality syndrome, which is very common among people who had experienced emotional shock. Thus, for Danticat it was crucial to describe Amabelle as being capable of having intense dreams; otherwise, her novel would not sound very believable. During the time of emotional stress, people need to be able to sublimate their shock into some sort of mental activity, which might appear as being quite unusual. For example, the frontline soldiers are known for having a very acute sense of humor. Moreover, the more they see their friends being blown to pieces in front of their eyes the more this humor becomes refined.
It is the same with Amabelle the more she is being shocked by Dominicans cruelty, the more intense her erotic dreams are becoming. Amabelle does not stop dreaming of having sex with her lover, even though that rationally she understands that he is dead. Some critics describe this as something that proves her loyalty to Sebastian. The truth is more prosaic - Amabelle simply wants surrounding reality to start making sense. She needs to be related to it and the only way for her to accomplish this is maintaining close emotional ties with Sebastien.
This is why she does not let him go, even though that this way of acting, on her part, is highly illogical. Her love is being gradually transformed into survival tool, even though that Amabelle does not realize it. I would not be able to survive, if it wasnt up to my love to Sebastien says Amabelle and we can think of this statement as absolutely legitimate. (Danticat, p. 220). It is very remarkable that Danticat does not resort to mystical interpretation of dreams, given her ethnic heritage. Black people are known for their sensual perception of the world.
This is why in Haiti; the majority of people attach a magical meaning to the variety of very banal things, such as pits in the ground, cows excrement or bon fires. This explains the popularity of Voodoo religion among them. Therefore, Haitians traditionally think of dreams as pathway to another reality. In her novel, Danticat points out to such perception of dreams as unsubstantiated. Dreams do reflect the reality, but there is nothing mysterious about it. Thus, we can say that in her novel, author breaks up with Haitian tradition to think of everything in terms of primitive magic, which proves her as being intellectual.
One of the reasons why post-colonial societies, such as Haiti or Dominican Republic are unable to get out of poverty is because the majority of people in these countries are deprived of the ability to operate with abstract categories. Literally, they cannot distinguish dreams and reality with the mean of scientific analysis. This, of course, does not apply to Danticat, whose novel incorporates scientific understanding of the meaning of dreams. This is why she is being rightly regarded as an outstanding writer. Bibliography: Beystehner, Kristen Psychoanalysis: Freud's Revolutionary Approach to Human Personality. 1999. Personality Research.
Org. 16 Jun. 2007. web Danticat, Edwidge The Farming of Bones. New York: Penguin, 1999. Psychoanalysis. 2007.
Wikipedia. 16 Jun. 2007. web Abstract: This paper discuses Edwidge Danticat's novel The Farming of Bones through the lens of psychoanalysis. Outline: True meaning of Amabelle's dreams Pp. 1, 2 Haitian mentality P. 3
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