As an idealized object of desire from far away, Edna was
attractive to Robert. When Edna makes himself available to him, in real,
physical terms, Robert's superego dominates his id-driven desire for
pleasure. Although he desires Edna as an object of fantasy, because of his
intense sense of guilt, she also comes to embody all he fears, namely the
complete liberation of his desires from all societal constraints. Edna thus
becomes Robert's scapegoat, or shadow, rather than an object of fantasy.
For a number of persons in the novel, Edna functions as a shadow. For
example, Ad?le Ratignolle, a devoted wife and mother, willfully conforms to
what society demands of a woman. Edna's eventual outsider status is what
all Adele fears-solitude, loss of family, and the pursuit of sexual
conquest. Yet for Edna, Adele in many ways is her shadow, because of
Adele's unwavering compliance to her husband, which troubles Edna. On a
personal level, even the 'shadow' of a society like Edna, can have her own,
personal shadows.
Final Reflection: Personal
As reflected in the ancient practice of the ritual scapegoat, the
concept of the shadow is unfortunately not a new one to human civilization.
Prejudice and
For example, people who are uncertain of
their own sexuality are often the first to vehmently condemn gay rights,
because gay people represent their personal shadows, or their fears of what
they might become, if their id was liberated from their personal superego's
constrraints. Discrimination is not always driven by pure, sublimated
sexual desire. For example, the prejudice many obese people experience is
a reflection of the personal and societal hatred society feels for what it
fears is is becoming-more and more overweight and unable to control its
appetities.
Works Cited
Bly, Robert. A Little Book on the Human Shadow. San Francisco: Harper
Collins, 2003.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994.
Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 1989
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