UOWG Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism The Storm Discussion

Purpose: Practice analyzing a short story through the lens of Psychoanalytic Theory by examining critical questions.

Task: After reading and viewing the page Applying Psychoanalytic Theory in a Character Analysis of The Misfit, choose a character from one of the short stories you’ve read in this unit (you can use the same story you analyzed in your first Unit 3 Discussion), that you believe demonstrates one or more of the Freudian defenses listed below.

• selective perception
• selective memory
• denial
• displacement (blaming)
• projection
• regression
• fear of intimacy
• fear of death or preoccupation with death

Then write two paragraphs describing how this character exhibits these traits. How do they show up in the character’s behavior or dialogue? Do they interfere with the character achieving his or her goals? Do they shield or protect the character in some way? Consider the following questions which may help you to develop your argument:

• What do we see in the character’s speech or behavior that is worth exploring?
• How does the character relate to his or her past? To others? Towards the conflict within the story?
• What might be an unresolved problem in the character’s life
• Everything That Rises Must Converge in the “Irony” subfolder “short story”
• Metaphor in “The Storm” and Metaphor in “The Paper Menagerie” in the “Metaphor” subfolder “short stories”
• Symbolism in “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains” in the “Symbolism” subfolder “short story”