A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of the Main Characters’ Tragic Life in Of Mice And Men

Abstract

Of Mice And Men is one of the representative works of John Steinbeck, an American writer who won the Nobel prize for literature. In his works, John Steinbeck had successfully created the image of Lenny's tragedy in many aspects. Freud's theory of psychoanalysis is an important pillar of western contemporary humanities. Freud's theory of psychoanalysis has had a great influence in the history of world literature. Many writers have used his theory to write masterpieces.

The thesis consists of three parts: introduction, text and conclusion. The introduction first briefly introduces John Steinbeck ,the novel and Freud's psychoanalysis, and then gives a brief overview of the previous studies of this novel. The content of the text is to analyze the reasons for the tragic life of the protagonist from the perspective of conscious activities, Oedipus complex, defense mechanism and personality structure. Lenny's undeveloped consciousness did not make the right choice for him. Lenny did not have the ability to think and live in life independently. Lenny's Oedipus complex still has not disappeared in adulthood, his psychology has stagnated in the process of development, and his whole individual organization returned to a more early stage; When the emergency occurs, Lenny's psychological defense mechanism is out of control, leading to the failure of self behavior compensation. Lenny can not solve the problems in life rationally, because Lenny's personality is not mature. The conclusion summarizes the whole thesis and reiterates the main points. 

Key words: Of Mice And Men; Conscious Activities; Oedipus Complex; Defense Mechanism; Personality Structure