Parental Role and Socio-environmental Influence on Identity Formation according to Donald Winnicott and Jacques Lacan Theories in Annie Ernaux’s Selected Novels[Latin Thesis]

Aryana Mansoor

This study analyzes Annie Ernaux’s selected novels through a psychoanalytic view defying one’s true self regarding their past memories and feelings. This research also determines the importance and effects of parents’ behaviors and social environments during child’s development in the formation of an individual identity. Annie Ernaux is a Noble Winner novelist whose works are fictional autobiography. The narrator, which is the author herself, recalls events of her childhood, teenage years and adulthood through narrating her memories in detail while informing us on her feeling and view towards the events that took place. This study will closely explore the novels A Woman’s Story (1988), A Man’s Place (1983), The Years (2008), and A Frozen Woman (1994) which focus on the narrator’s childhood, relationship with her parents, her development to adulthood and the effects of different living environments and social classes on a person’s identity formation. The main goal of this study is to analyze Enruax’s selected novels using theories presented by Donald Winnicott and Jacques Lacan, in order to have a better understanding of the influences of social status, social context and parental behavior on one’s identity development. This process may be damaged along the way; taking shape of past traumas later in life; leading to a shattered identity and ultimate instability that cannot be fixed. The theoretical focus of this study is placed on the theories “Good Enough Mother”, “True Self and False Self” and “Holding Environment” presented by pediatrician and psychoanalyst, Donald Winnicott, who was practically known for his work on development psychology. Winnicott’s theories suggest that the concept of “True Self” could only evolve in the context of a given environment; such as the parent-infant relationship and social context. It is not possible to see an individual without taking into account the profound psychic influence of the parents and the environment. This research explores these selected novels not only with Winnicott’s theories but also determining the concept of shattered identity and its damages to Jaque’s Lacan theories “The Imagery Order”, “The Symbolic Order” and “The Mirror Stage”. In these selected books, the protagonist’s shattered identity is caused by the absence of her father and not having a good mother daughter relationship with the mother in the given environment which causes loss of true self and forming of a false self. This causes confusion in the protagonist’s life, work, decisions and relationships specifically her relationship with men which is a result of a shattered identity and ultimate instability throughout her whole life. Keywords: Annie Ernaux, Donald Winnicott, Good Enough Mother, Holding Environment, Identity Development, Imagery Order, Jaques Lacan, Mirror Stage, Shattered Identity, Symbolic Order, True Self and False Self