25th Annual Student Research Conference
Psychoanalyzing Ammu: A Lacanian Interpretation of Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things
Hilary Kuntz
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
The psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan maintains that core issues are rooted in infancy, and unavoidable trauma occurs when the subject realizes that she is not one with her caretaker. A person would then seek a replacement for this sense of wholeness to form a complete identity, but nothing can ever completely replace it. In The God of Small Things (1997), Arundhati Roy explores the innocence of childhood and the struggle one goes through in order to form an identity after this innocence has been punctured. This paper seeks to analyze the character of Ammu, and how her traumatic experience as a child and repression as a young woman contributed to her reckless behavior as an adult and eventual collapse of her identity, resulting in her death.
Keywords: The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy, psychoanalysis, Jacques Lacan
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 203-1
Location: VH 1320
Time: 9:30