The Uses of Psychoanalysis in The Uses of Enchanment

I.My paper takes a look at Julavits uses of psychoanalysis in The Uses of Enchantment. In my paper I talk about what psychoanalysis is and how Julavits incorporated this concept into her book and especially psychoanalysis in therapy. My paper thoroughly discusses how therapy is not so much about the therapy itself, but rather the therapist’s interpretations of the patient. All of this also has to do with Freud and his case study on Dora, and how this greatly helped to influence the book.

II.

Sources Used:

Heidi Julavits- The Uses of EnchantmentPassages:

1) Notes Chapter- Mary & Dr. Hammer talking about Dora Case- Page 103

2) Notes Chapter- Mary & Dr. Hammer, when Mary breaks down and is about to tell Dr. Hammer the truth- Page 291

3) Notes Chapter- Dr. Hammer’s decision to publish Miriam- Page 246

4) Notes Chapter- When Mary talks to Dr. Hammer about being kissed by Kurt- Page 128

Heidi Julavits Interviews:

Conducted by Angela Stubb & Conducted by V. Birnbaum

Other Sources:

An Elementary Textbook of Psychoanalysis  By :Charles Brenner

Dora An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria By: Sigmund Freud

Steven Marcus’  “Freud and Dora: Story, History, and Case Study”

Reuben Fine’s A History of Psychoanalysis

David Sachs’ Reflections on Freud’s Dora Case After 48 Years

III. Most important passages to my argument are with Dr. Hammer and Mary on pages 246 & 291.  On Page 246 this is when Mary tries to tell Dr. Hammer the truth about what really happened, and he denies her.  He really does not want to know the truth, he wants to believe his version of what has happened.  This is the closest anyone has ever coming to hearing the truth, and he rejects it.

On pages 291 in a long paragraph this is when we get Dr. Hammer’s final thoughts before publishing Miriam.  In this paragraph he talks about how he know what Mary might in fact be telling the truth and he realizes that what he’s about to publish could be completely false.  In this pargraph it also allows us  to see how selfish he really is.  He states that this will give him the success he failed with in the Bettina Spencer  case, we see his real desire.  He does not care so much about Mary, as he does his own success. 

*Both of these relate back to the fact that these therapy sessions were not as much about what Mary was saying, as they were about Dr. Hammer’s interpretations.  This is the same as the case of Dora and Freud and proves my theory about how these two are connected and how it  really comes  down to the therapist’s interpretations.*

IV. I believe that my point and argument is helpful to people who have read The Uses of Enchantment. When I read this book sometimes it was very difficult for me to understand what was going on and what Julavits was referring to. However, after learning about psychoanalysis and Freud’s case study on Dora, I feel like it is much easier to understand the book. I feel as if to truly understand the book, as a reader it will help greatly to know the Dora case and what psychoanalysis is, because the book is greatly based upon this subject. I am really glad I chose this topic, because I have learned a number of things associated with these topics that I did not know before. I feel like anyone who has read or is reading this book will find this information extremely helpful.

End of Cloud Atlas…

Let me start by saying I am so happy we are done with this book.  I really just could not stand and although I think Mitchell had a good idea, it was not executed as well as it could have been.  I just could not stand the narration of six different characters.  I also think because these six stories were so incredibly different it was hard to really get into all of them.  I feel like people seem to stick to one type of book and storyline and with six  different story lines going on it was destine that most people would not enjoy all six stories.

I think that Mitchell’s theme of what he was trying to say was very good the whole thing just did not come together the way he would’ve liked to think.  I definitely think that he had this great idea of humanity and how our socitey as a whole truly depends on each other.  I think the last three pages of this book really sums up how he feels about people as a whole.  Selfishness is really not going ot get us anywhere as a nation.  If every person in this world was selfish and only worked at getting what they want, we would not succeed.  I think that he tried to capture this whole idea of how evil and sneaky people were as well, especially in the Luisa Rey sections.

I think sections such as Luisa Rey was one of the only sections i could get into because I found it the most interesting and realistic.  I found that something like this not only has happened, but could happen.  For examply during that whole reading of the section it reminded me so much of Erin Brockevich.  Even though a bit far fetched it really was not.  Erin Brockevich, which was a completely true story was this woman who found out the truth about a big powerful company poisoning the people who lived around it and used the water supply.  That movie truly showed how manipulative big business really can be.  How business would do anything to cover their own ass, and not really worry about the people it’s hurting.  I think sections such as the Luisa Rey one really did demonstrate a great deal about society and how manipulative our world can be, as sad as it can be.

I just felt as if this book could have been completed with one main storyline, instead of all these different story lines.  One big storyline with one of two narrator and a constant storyline throughout in my opinion, would have had the same outcome.  At least it’s done and we do not need to read it again. I just feel as a class it was the one book that we had the hardest time talking about and really creating a discussion on, because I know a great deal of the time I did not even know what was really going on.  I feel like all the different storyline really confused me at times as well.

This Paper Might Be the Death of Me…

Alright, normally I love to write papers.  I know that may sound wierd, but I am an English Education major.  Writing has always been fun to me and normally I have no trouble with papers.  This paper however, seems to have me in a really bad funk. For some reason, may because the topic is so broad and up to us, I am having a really hard time coming up with a topic and something I really wanted to write about.  Here is what I was thinking so far, however, this could completely change because I really don’t know where to go with this or what I really am trying to say.

My topic was going to be on the reality or what is real and what is fiction when it comes to what is written within the novel.  After reading the literature we did this semester I felt as if most of the pieces had some kind of real life events within the novel.  I felt as if the novels we rea,d even though fiction, had some kind of non-fiction within them that helped lead to their storylines.  I wanted to look at real life events, such as faked kidnappings, as was one of Julavits main storylines.  However, I feel as if this might be a bit of a stretch and a little to off topic.  I know that I want to work in some ways with the reality of fiction or real life events, if that makes any sense.

For my primary text I really wanted to work with Uses of Enchantment.  I enjoyed Beloved, but do not think that I could write 15 pages off the book, I did not like it that much.  I did really enjoy Myra Beckinridge, but I feel like if it might be to all over the place for me to write about.  I think that if I was to use that novel I would have to stick to one specific topic, because the book is so all over the place.  I really enjoyed Uses of Enchantment and found it was the book that most interest me and really caught my attention. 

Since I really do not know where I’m going from here I do not know my plan of attack.  I am sitting down with Professor Middleton on Monday and I would hope that after talking with her I will have a much more focused point and will have a much better direction than the direction I have now, which is really none.

Luisa Rey

Karen, Lauren, & Meagan!

Luisa Rey is an editorial journalist who writes for a magazine named Spyglass. She felt as if working at Spyglass she felt closer to her father.  Her father was a cop who joined the force right before Pearl Harbor, and who was shot and injured on the job, and while recovering in the hospital and leaving the force he then learned about and became very interested in journalism. 

She meets Rufus Sixsmith, a physciatrist, who she meets in an elevator.  Rufus knew Luisa Rey’s father from a reading her father had wrote about Vietnam.  She becomes interested in his findings about a new nuclear plant being built.  Sixsmith’s report is that the plant is dangerous and the government is trying to cover all of this up so the public does not become aware of how dangerous the plant is.  Luisa goes to Sixsmith’s office to meet with him and he was not there and she started snooping around his office.  During this time he is sent to the airport to go away and he couldn’t get away so a man, Bill Smoke,  from the plant went and killed him.  After his murder Luisa posses as his niece so she can visit the scene, and at the scene she figues out he was murdered and now her life is in jeopardy.  Not only is she investigating Sixsmith’s death she is also figuing out the truth about the nuclear plant.  The chapter ends with Luisa being run off the cliff by the same man, Bill Smoke.

This chapter characterizes the fact that writers will do anything to get to the bottom of the story to inherit the truth. This is demonstrated by not only Luisa, but her father, and Sixsmith who are all injured or fatally wounded during their investigation of the truth. 

This chapter shows how extreme people are.  Within this chapter we see people go to the extreme to cover up the truth, and there are other people who go to the extreme to expose the truth.  This demonstrates that society can be extremely greedy or self-centered to keep the truth covered up.  The nuclear plant did not care that the plant would be harming others in the long term, all they cared was about the truth was covered up.   Through BIll Smoke’s statement, “No drug, no religious experience touches you like turning a man into a corpse,” (112).  This statement greatly reflects how messed up  civiliazation is when the greatest thrill in live is killing a man.  It is extremely sad that even today many people kill others for no reason. 

Our main question with this chapter is what happened to Luisa?   This chapter is similar to other chapters within this book, because like other chapters this chapter abruptly ends and we as readers are left to figure out really happened.  We are interested to know that there is another chapter in this book so we all have our own ideas about what happened and we will get to see in the next chapter what really did happen.  In the next chapter we see that the Timothy Cavendish is reading a book about her life on his train ride.  Therefore, we are left to believe there is still more to learn about Luisa Rey and her life.

More Atlas*

The past couple days I have sat down to read this book and give it my undivided attention.  However, then i got to the chapter about Sonmi-451 and found myself quickly losing focus.  Although I do think that I have started to find out how these chapters and this book is all starting to connect I am still having a problem enjoying it.

When i got to the chapter on Sonmi-451 I immediately realized that this was a chapter set in the future.  It seems as if it is set in the 22nd or 23rd century and things seem to be far different than they are now.  One thing I really liked about this chapter was the set-up and how it is in an interview form.  I like the set-up because I think it a  lot easier to follow and I think it works really well for this chapter considering this is supposed to be set in a completely different time period than we are in today.  At first I had a hard time figuring out what the chapter meant, and then after I realized that our characters name was Sonmi and his number that he was given in this society was probably 451.  The thing about this chapter and this society is that it is a scary look at what the future of the world could be like.  With big business controlling everything and everyone being brainwashed and really just being a number.  It reminds me of other books such as The Giver or 1984where society is very controlled and there are no freedoms.  It’s funny because this seems to be such a big topic to authors- how society can easily be controlled, especially by business, and how in the future life could be completely different then it is today.  I really enjoyed for the first time in this book a character, Sonmi.  I found her quite interesting due to the fact that she was trying to break away from this mold that society had put on her.  She seems to be one of the only people (if she is even that) who has developed thoughts and wants to be more than just a robot-like person.  She wants to be freed and learn to become a human with the potential to live a normal life and do things that real humans can do.  I really thought that as a character she was the strongest one we have seen so far.  She has such a great deal of passion and really seems to know as a character what she wants. 

At the end of the Sonmi chapter we see that one of Sonmi’s favorite things to read is the The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish.  I really think that this is quite ironic considering every chapter has referred back to another piece of literature to kind of show how influential literature can be.  All of these chapters or characters  have been inspired by previous stories or characters.  I think the author is trying to show how important literature really is and how one great piece of literature can really change and shape someone’s life.

More Cloud Atlas…

Ohh where I do i start with this book.  Although it has gotten a bit easier to comprehend, I still have to say I am having a hard time enjoying it.  So far I just cannot seem to really get into it.  I do not like like all these little mini stories, and I do not understand how this all fits into the novel.  None the less here I go at still trying to understand what I have read.

While reading the Luisa Rey chapter o f this novel I felt as if I was reading a story by Sherlock Holmes.  It gave me that same kind of feeling that this was a clear and intelligent detective.  I really thought that Luisa Rey as a female character and detective had a great deal of courage and was willing to stop at nothing to get what she wanted.  I believe that she knew that Rufus Sixsmith’s murder was not a suicide and that it was done by someone to make sure that the reports about the plant were never released.  I believe that she was willing to even put her life on the line  to help expose the truth about the plant.  If I am correct I believe in previous chapter we have often heard the name Sixsmith.  Wasn’t someone writing letters to him?  He was indeed the best friend of Robert Frobisher who will probably not be to happy to hear about the death of his best friend.  Now I am beginning to see the connection between these two men, however I am still lacking a connection to the rest of the book or where this nuclear plant fits into things.

Next, we meet Timothy Cavendish, who seems to all of a sudden be a successful publisher after one of the books he publishes becomes a huge success.  Although as many people have learned as successful as they are the more their life seems to unravel.  Timothy’s life seems to take a turn, even with his great new success.  I believe that it is very weird and unsettling that all of a sudden because he does not agree with society that he becomes a prisoner.  While trying to plan an escape for himself we find out that even though he does not have many things with him he manages to have the manuscript of Luisa Rey’s mysteries.  Hmm…this is rather interesting.  So we do know that these two people are connected in some way.  I feel as if this is one of those chain things where everything links together and begins to make sense at the end.  Some of the characters are beginning to make connections and show how they are related to one another, but I still do not believe that the story lines show much in common yet.

The Start of the Journey…

When I first started reading Cloud Atlas and doing some research on it I found it to have a much similar format to The Uses of Enchantment.  The book jumps from chapter to chapter and each chapter is about a different journey.  With that being said I feel like it worked well in The Uses of Enchantment, however it does not work as well for me in this book.  I found myself missing an overlying theme, at least this far, and found myself very disinterested.

The first section of this book from what I understand involves a man named Adam Ewing who is on a ship in the 1800′s.  It seems as if Adam does not have any many friends on the ship except Dr. Goose who is helping him get better due to a problem in his brain.  I had a really hard time getting through this chapter, because I just think it had no substance.  I had a hard time trying to figure out what was really going on and what the real story line was.  I am not sure if the storyline exists within the fact that Adam is sick with a brain problem or if the actual journey on this ship is the main fact.  I also just a hard time trying to connect it to the next chapter.  I felt as if these two chapters had absolutely nothing in common.

I think that this chapter interested me a bit more due to the fact that i found the main character more interesting and more modern day.  I find Robert a very interesting character due to the fact that he has this huge gambling problem and has been practically disowned by his father.  I find him to be a rather scrappy and intriguing character.  I get the feeling that he is capable of manipulating people and doing whatever he can to help himself, including selling some of Ayrs documents for cash.  I also feel as if he is a character I would not trust.  He helps this man, Ayrs with his music and even ends up sleeping with his wife!  This creates a rather interesting view of who he is as a character.  I think that he is probably a talented man who is even capable of writing and composing his own music. 

I think that with this book I am just very annoyed that I do not know where it is going or what the story is really trying to express.  I do not know what other stories are going to be brought in and why.  I think that I really like to know ahead of time where a book is going and what is going to happen. In this book thought I do not know any of that and maybe that is why i am starting to greatly dislike this book.  Hopefully, it will get better and I will be able to understand where it is going and how all of these stories tie together.

Theorists & Ideas

After hearing everyone’s presentations I feel as if everyone did a great job representing their author and his or her ideas.  There were some ideas that stuck out to me and hopefully will help me in the writing of my final paper. 

I really enjoyed the reading of Bakhtin that Lauren and I did.  I found a great deal of usefull information and ideas that really stuck out to me.  While listening to everyone else’s presentations at the table I was starting to get worried because Bakhtin’s ideas were so radically different then everyone else’s readings.  Bakhtin did not talk about history or things of that nature.  Instead he just tried to define what makes a novel great and give ideas anc characteristics of the novel.  I really thought that what I read about the two different interpretations to be extremely true.  I think that this is really important to a novel, that everyone can take a different meaning from the text.  The author and reader are always allowed to have two different viewpoints and it leads to different interpretations and meaning.  This also leads to the literary language and extra literary language as well.  I think that in every literature class I have ever taken these points have always been brought up and expressed.   What the author is trying to say that literary is right there on the page in front of you, and the extra literary, the meaning is what we must search for.  I think that since this piece was written over 25 years ago Bakhtin will be very happy to know that many of his ideas stand true and are used today.  I am sure that I will use many of his different ideas to help me write my final paper.

I also think that Nancy Armstrong’s ideas really interested me as well and I like what Kellie and Meg had to say about her as well.  I think that this semester we have done a lot of reading on women’s roles and what they had to say could help relate to both Myra Beckinridge and Mary in The Uses of Enchantment.  I think that Nancy Armstrong has a lot to say about women and the “new woman” and these are some things that I would like to learn more about.  I feel as if gender roles are so important, not only to the literature we’ve read, but to society today.

Lastly, I also was really intrigued by what Alex and Tammy had to say about Linda Hutcheon’s work.  I have never even heard the term “Metafiction” and I was really interested to hear what they had to say about it and why it is important to literature.  THis is something I feel as if I would have to read more on.  I also really like this author’s idea about how historical narrative and historical fiction are interwoven together.  I do agree with that and think it is very true that history can be found in fiction.  I think in many fiction novels the author’s take some part of history, whether it just be a broad account of history of a specific example and try to include it in their piece.

A Novel Should…

A question that we are often asked in this class and I even find myself wondering often is what should a novel do for the reader?  What is the novel supposed to do for the reader?  After reading Beloved, Myra Beckingridge, and The Uses of EnchantmentI think I have come up with a general idea.  A novel should make the reader entertained and keep them wanting to read.  A novel should be suspenseful (not so much in the way we think of murder mysteries), but suspenseful in the sense that the novel should want you to keep turning the pages to find out what is going to happen next.  A novel should take you on this adventure with the main character.  I believe that The Uses of Enchantmentdoes pretty much all of these things.  The book has kept me more than entertained and some nights I have even struggled to put it down.  It has also been extremely suspenseful and I cannot wait to see how it ends.  It has made me constantly question what is going on and what the real truth to this   is.  Finally, the novel has taken us on an adventure with Mary.  We have learned about her family, her “abduction”, her physiologist appointments, and her life after this whole fiasco.  I would say that the novel has definitely kept us on an adventure.

Henry James once said, ” A novel is in its broadest definition a personal, a direct impression of life: that, to begin with, constitutes its value, which is greater or less according to the intensity of the impression.  But, there will be no intensity at all, and therefore no value, unless there is freedom to feel and say.”  I picked this quote because it immediately drew my attention.  I feel like I can relate to what James is saying, because how he feels about the novel is very similar to how I feel.

Throughout high school and college I have read a great deal of novels and the ones that have always stuck out in my mind are the ones in which there are lessons to be lived, or something in society the author is trying to stress.  James says, “A direct impression of life.”  The novels that we have read this semester are all just that- direct impressions of life.  Belovedstressed not only slavery but the physiological effects that tragedies or events have on our lives.  Myra Beckingridge, although some would argue does not really have a point, I believe did.  I think that Gore wrote that book at a very dangerous times, when people were very unsure of transsexuals and trans genders.  People did not understand who these people were and why they wanted to be a different gender.  I think that this book really took a stand and stood up for people who were often ridiculed for a life that others did not understand.  Finally, in The Uses of Enchantment, I believe that the author is trying to say a ggreat deal about feminine sexuality and the society we live in.  I think that she is also trying to break the mold and say something about these girls who fake abductions, which has not become rare in our society. 

Also, James writes, “But there will no intensity at all, and therefore no value, unless there is freedom to feel and say.”  This is also an essential part of the novel because I believe without novels that break the barrier and talk about issues that are often ignored, some people would still be ignorant to issues, such as in Myra Beckingridge.  It is crucial that author’s have the freedom to write and express what they want, becuase it teaches all of us as readers different lessons and helps us to become more open-minded people.

Enchantment (Contd…)

Even though this book is one of the most complex and at times frustrating book I have ever read, I have to admit I love it.  I think that the author just did an amazing job putting together this complex novel and I cannot wait to see how it ends.

I like Kellie, also researched the Dora story and I was shocked at how similar it sounded to Mary’s story about Kurt.  It was almost a direct connection to Mary’s life and what Mary was going through. I think that the author is definitely trying to say something about Freud and this study by including it within this book.  It seems like way to much of a parallel to just have it coinsidently correspond with Mary’s life.  The author must have a reason why she found this necessary to include.  I also think it is important to note that by including this story and having Mary reference it within the book I feel at this time as if Mary did indeed fake her own disapearance.  I do not necessarily know why or what is reality and what is fiction.  However, I have decided one thing, that Mary was not abducted and help against her will.  If anything I believe she really enjoys being with this man.  Even though I have decided that Mary faked her own kidnapping I do not know what events really happened to her, and what events she is just making up. 

Another thing that I find interesting is the interaction between the man and this girl.  I believe that Mary, if that if who the girl is in the “What Could’ve Happened” chapters I feel as if the man could indeed be Kurt. I feel as if he is not just place into the novel for no reason.  I feel as if the characteristics of this man could indeed fit those of Kurt.  I think that it could be a good guess based on the information and the fact that it would make sense, because Mary seems to be enjoying herself with this man.  They also seem, in my opinion, to have a relationship from their past.  I just have this gut feeling that they know each other in some way, shape, or form.

I feel like Bettina is also another crucial character that has just been introduced to us.  I think that Mary and Bettina share a very deep connection and are very similar to each other.  I think that because this abduction situation happened at Semmering before to Bettina, that there would be a much bigger question in people’s minds as to whether or not Mary Veal was truly kidnapped, or if she was just another Bettina.  I think that there is still much more to learn about Bettina and her relationship and similarities to Mary.

With only 175 pages left in this book I still have a great deal of questions.  I hope that Heidi Julavits wraps up Mary’s story and hopefully answers all the questions I still have.