J. Lasdun's "Beseiged"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that James Lasdun is one writer who seems fascinated with the idea of repression; many of the stories in his book "Besieged" deal with the subject of repression. The author points out that the story, "Ate/Menos or the Miracle", shows how repression can be a means of finding freedom from controls. The paper concludes that Lasdun seems to be suggesting that the ego is a necessary means of control and that, when the man gains freedom through his alter ego, he actually loses all freedom because he is no longer in control of himself.

From the Paper:

"In "Ate/Menos or The Miracle" the main character finds himself mistaken for another man by an older woman. He chooses to make use of the mistaken identity and assumes the identity of the other man for his own selfish reasons. Essentially, assuming the identity of the other man allows him to fulfill his basic wants and desires and sleep with the woman. It is not coincidence that Lasdun chooses an older woman for the story, since sexual repression is often regarded as being related to an individual's parents. As one source notes, "Freud believes that psychopathological symptoms often result from repressed sexual and aggressive feelings about one's parents". In choosing to sleep with the woman, the woman actually becomes a replacement mother figure for the man. The desire to sleep with her combines with seeing her as a mother figure. This results in the inner conflict, where the man's instincts are harming the ego. The harmful impulse that occurs is the man's desire to sleep with his mother. Since this impulse is harmful to his ego, it becomes repressed so that the man does not allow it to enter consciousness."

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