Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Paradox Lost and Paradox Regained: An Object Relations Analysis of Two Flannery O'Connor Mother-Child Dyads

Paradox Lost and Paradox Regained: An Object Relations Analysis of Two Flannery O'Connor Mother-Child Dyads

Lebeck, Sherry Lynn

Paperback

Literary Criticism

ISBN10: 1581120869
ISBN13: 9781581120868
Publisher: Dissertation.com
Published: May 1 2000
Pages: 192
Weight: 0.59
Height: 0.50 Width: 5.55 Depth: 8.57
Language: English

This study uses two short stories by Flannery O'Connor to explore D. W. Winnicott's theory of early childhood development. This thesis proposes that the inherited potential of the individual is determined by the quality of the early maternal environment, especially during the period of Winnicott's first two paradoxical stages of development: Absolute Dependence and Relative Dependence. The mother-adult/child relationships in O'Connor's two short stories Good Country People and The Enduring Chill serve as case studies to examine the ramifications of not good-enough mothering on the infant's psychological state during these first two stages of development. The concepts of mirroring, impingement, true and false self development, illusion, transitional phenomenon, and aggression are considered in the context of the mother-child relationship to demonstrate how maternal inadequacy undermines all aspects of the child's going-on-being.

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