Psychoanalysis to the story of sea oak (Essay Sample)

Interpretive Essay
Introduction
The story to be interpreted in this case is Sea oak. This story was written by George Saunders. Sea oak is a story about the family of the narrator and their Aunt Bernie. The narrator has a sister by the name Min and a Cousin named Jade, who both have babies. Their Aunt is not married and lives with them in sea oak, while their father is dead and mother is a live but lives with her boy friend Bernie. The story is all about the devastating state of poverty in which this family lives in. The narrator’s sister and cousin have babies and are not employed. Similarly, the aunt is also not employed, meaning that the only bread winner of this family is the narrator. He works at Joystick but still cannot get enough to meet the needs of the family as it is seen in the story where he sneaks toilet papers for use at home. The mother on the other side does not offer any help to this kids nor does her boyfriend. It concentrates more on the life of Aunt Bernie and her eventual death and resurrection.
The three basic theories used in the interpretation of this story are Existentialism, Eros and Thanatos and Oedipal conflict. Existentialism comes from the word ‘exist’ which means to ‘be’. Existence means what is here and now. Existentialists advocates that things exist in the present moment and therefore we must actively acknowledge things as they are, here and now. Hence existentialism relates to making a choice here and now, in which with this choice comes freedom and responsibilities.
Thanatos is a figurative word used by post Freudians to refer to the "Death of meaning" and not the literal death of our bodies. Eros means something almost literally like ‘love’.The figurative meaning of "eros" is the opposite of the figurative meaning behind "thanato”. It represents the possibility of hope, the goal of meaning.
Oedipal conflict is a concept coined from Oedipus story that relates to potential aggression towards a father (but not murder) and attachment towards a mother (but not sex). Oedipal conflict centers on the child, mother and father figures in a social set up. It relates to identifying the parent figure(s) and child figure(s) and trying to see if there is any rebellion on the side of the child figure.
This paper tries to analyze characters and relating them to the above concepts while at the same time analyzing the parts(scenes) in the story to build up a meaningful correlation to the above concepts and how they apply to us today in our diverse social groups such as in the family, work place as well as the general life of a person.
Interpretation
The narrator displays the concept of existentialism in the first scene where Mr. Frendt comes on the P.A at Joysticks. The narrator had an option to choose on whether to act as Maggie’s pilot and thereafter deciding to cover up as Thomas, who was initially designated for the job. The pilot job at joystick is not a moral job per se as it involves various weird actions such as showing a penis simulation and undressing in order to get the favors in terms of voting from the women who are the major customers to keep you in the job for the coming day(s).The narrator decides to close up for Thomas as well as pilot other six tables to earn forty dollars. The narrator had no father figure who could guide him on the jobs to undertake and which not to undertake. This gave him the freedom to choose the jobs at offer in joystick. As per existentialism, every freedom comes with its own responsibilities and with responsibilities, stress follows. The narrator decides immediately to be the pilot of Maggie when he ask and answers himself, "Do I do It? Yes I do.”Existentialism involves an immediate choice.
In the same context, oedipal conflict relation arises; Mr. Frendt acts a figurative father to the employees at joysticks. The narrator and Lloyd are his figurative children. Frendt has harsh rules for dismissal of his employees that makes them nervous. That staying in job depends on your cute rating by the guests, regardless of your efforts. He does not care about one’s next move nor does he give warnings. This relates to our employers in the world today. You might be trying your best to deliver but sometimes, your efforts are not recognized or worse still, you are forced to retire upon attaining a given age despite your input in the company.
Similarly, existentialism concept also comes up in this scene at Joystick. The employees count on the work they do that day because they do not know what will unfold tomorrow. They may end up being fired if by tomorrow their cute rating drops. You can never completely commit to the unknown future. Things exist in the present moment, and we must actively acknowledge things as they are, here and now, not as they ought to be or might be or will one day be. Furthermore, people change, and feelings and lives change as well. This can be related to our daily lives either in business or employment situations; the fact that you made profits today does not mean you will make profit tomorrow. Each comes with its uniqueness.
Within the same scene at Joystick, the concept of thanatos reveals. Lloyd is shown the door from Joystick by Frendt as he shouts desperately to his colleagues that it had been a pleasure working with them. To Lloyd, life seems meaningless as he does not have any source of income that can enable him fend for his wife and his two kids. Besides, he lives in a duplex on a self-storage parkway.
At the sea oak where the narrator’s sister and cousin are watching How My Child Died Violently. The Oedipal conflict concept arises. The parents of the ten year old who strangled the five year old had failed to bring up the child in a Proper way. It might be that the mother figure used to pamper him so much while on the other side the father figure used to be extremely strict to him leading him to be rebellious hence joining a gang. This is evidenced by the fact that his parents agrees to take him to a FunTimeZone where he confessed of doing the act. Similarly, the refusal of the five year old shows that he was eros-minded. Not all boys of that age can refuse to join such gangs considering the age difference of the two. This means that the five year old had focus in life (saw some meaning in life) and did not want to join groups that might lead him to lose focus.
Within the same scene, thanatos concept arises. Jade and Min appears to have lost focus in life. To them life has become meaningless as they indulge in smoking at their tender age without even caring about the effects of cigarette smoking to their own health and to that of their babies. They think they are doomed because they are not educated as the narrator as seen when Min says, "You’re lucky, man!" "You did high school. You got your frigging diploma. We don’t. That’s why we have to do this GED shit. If we had our diplomas we could just watch TV and not be all distracted.
Similarly the concept of existentialism and oedipal conflict arise in analyzing the life of Min and Jade. The two have no parental figures, possibly the narrator may also be a child figure as much as he goes to work and fends for the family. Their Aunt Bernie, who could play the parental figure, is also seen as not executing the roles as required. Lack of the figurative parents leads to the figurative child having a lot of independence hence she or he is at liberty to do whatever deems fit to her or him and perhaps that is why they have babies while they are still school goers. In life independence should be about creating more meaningful options and opportunities for yourself and not about doing any sort of things you feel like doing. The existentialism concept arises in this context in that they need to make choices on their own concerning any life issue as a result of the freedom that they have. Choice is a key concept in existentialism theory and with every choice come the responsibility. The two ladies may have been at a fix on whether to indulge in unprotected sex or not, coupled with the fact that they had no figurative parents. Since every choice comes with its own responsibilities, they are now burdened with taking care of their babies.
In the same scene Min lets her child crawl off into the kitchen and gets his finger caught in the heat vent. This shows carelessness of Min and qualifies her to be thanatos-minded person. She actually concentrates on the TV so much than on the important aspect of her own child.
From the story of sea oak oedipal conflict arise within the family of the narrator. The biological mother of the narrator and Min, who actually should be the motherly figure for Min, Jade and the narrator fails to execute her roles as a motherly figure. Similarly, Freddie who should the fatherly figure of the family also does not execute her role as a fatherly figure. This may be the cause as to why Min and Jade got babies at tender age. In this case we can refer them to as "babies with babies’’.
The marital status of Aunt Bernie can be related to the concept of eros and thanatos. The narrator says that her aunt never got married since a guy stepped over her foot at Foodking. In our culture as a whole, those individuals who exhibits eros related mental traits(never gives up in searching) succeeds in live including being married, promoted and even hired. Perhaps, Aunt Bernie had become ambivalent (thanatos) just because a guy stepped over her foot or alternatively she never felt love for men.
Aunt Bernie displays the concept of oedipal conflict. She is the motherly figure to Min, Jade and their babies. She takes care of both while the narrator is away. The two child figures are seen as people who are not contented with whatever little they have as they complain about the st...