Psychoanalytic Criticism of "Collector of Treasures"
Richard Paguirigan
English 116 / Dr. Osborne
March 24, 2011
Research Paper #1
Psychoanalytic Criticism of
“The Collector of Treasuresâ€Â
On its surface, “The Collector of Treasuresâ€Â, by Bessie Head profiles the poignant yet beautiful story about how a woman’s friendships, dedication to family, happiness and pride can remain intact even when confronted with the challenges of living on limited resources, sexism, adversity and oppression in a post-colonial, traditionally patriarchal African society. The backdrop is a small village in post-independence Rhodesia, South Africa in 1966. Head brings these issues to light from the perspective of a woman struggling to support and raise her children in the vacuum left by their irresponsible father who left them to fend for themselves. Head’s seemingly explicit and sensory approach is welcome. However, beneath this realistic portrayal lies its true narrative. In “The Collector of Treasuresâ€Â, Head provides readers, through her complex characters and interspersed symbolism, an opportunity to decipher meaning from a deeper perspective, that of a woman’s psyche.
Bessie Head had a traumatic life. She was born in South Africa in 1937, the illegitimate daughter of a white woman and a black man, and was put into foster care as a child. Her marriage ended in divorce; she lived as a refugee in Botswana for years and died at the young age of 49. But, she put her difficult experiences to good use in her fiction and became one of Africa’s best known women writers (Drinker). This paper will examine the form and technique used by the author to tell her story, touch upon the theory of psychoanalytic criticism which this writer will use to critically analyze the story and, in contrast to its literal content, make an evaluation of the symbolic significance of her work from which the real meaning or message can be gleaned. (Body 1) –The story, "The Collector of
English 116 / Dr. Osborne
March 24, 2011
Research Paper #1
Psychoanalytic Criticism of
“The Collector of Treasuresâ€Â
On its surface, “The Collector of Treasuresâ€Â, by Bessie Head profiles the poignant yet beautiful story about how a woman’s friendships, dedication to family, happiness and pride can remain intact even when confronted with the challenges of living on limited resources, sexism, adversity and oppression in a post-colonial, traditionally patriarchal African society. The backdrop is a small village in post-independence Rhodesia, South Africa in 1966. Head brings these issues to light from the perspective of a woman struggling to support and raise her children in the vacuum left by their irresponsible father who left them to fend for themselves. Head’s seemingly explicit and sensory approach is welcome. However, beneath this realistic portrayal lies its true narrative. In “The Collector of Treasuresâ€Â, Head provides readers, through her complex characters and interspersed symbolism, an opportunity to decipher meaning from a deeper perspective, that of a woman’s psyche.
Bessie Head had a traumatic life. She was born in South Africa in 1937, the illegitimate daughter of a white woman and a black man, and was put into foster care as a child. Her marriage ended in divorce; she lived as a refugee in Botswana for years and died at the young age of 49. But, she put her difficult experiences to good use in her fiction and became one of Africa’s best known women writers (Drinker). This paper will examine the form and technique used by the author to tell her story, touch upon the theory of psychoanalytic criticism which this writer will use to critically analyze the story and, in contrast to its literal content, make an evaluation of the symbolic significance of her work from which the real meaning or message can be gleaned. (Body 1) –The story, "The Collector of
Cited: Ady. "ENG 220WE Approaches to Reading and Interpretation." 3 Jun 1999. Assumption.edu. 24 03 2011 <http://www1.assumption.edu/users/ady/hhgateway/gateway/Psychapp.html>. Austin, Andrea. "Collector Of Treasures." 8 Oct 2008. oppapers.com. 24 Mar 2011 <http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Collector-Treasures/169004>. Bernardo, Karen. "Bessie Head 's "The Collector of Treasures"." N.d. Story Bites. 24 Mar 2011 <http://www.storybites.com/headtreasures2.htm>. "Collector of Treasures." 31 Aug 2008. hpcnet.org. 24 Mar 2011 <http://www.hpcnet.org/peru/schoolartsandsciences/language/clemete/fall2006/nonwestonline/noteseight2/worldhead>. Drinker, Tea. "Bessie Head, The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales (1977)." 27 Feb 2011. wordpress.com. 24 Mar 2011 <http://teaandbooks.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/bessie-head-the-collector-of-treasures-and-other-botswana-village-tales-1977/>. Head, Bessie. "The Collector of Treasures." Other Voices, Other Vistas - A Superb Collection of Contemporary Multicultural Fiction. Ed. Barbara H. Solomon. New York: New American Library, 1992. 52-73. Laga, Barry. "Reading with and Eye on the Psyche: An Introduction to Freudian Psychoanalysis." 3 Mar 2000. Mesa State College. 24 03 2011 <http://mesastate.edu/~blaga/psychoanalysis/psychex.html>. "Psychoanalytic Criticism: Sigmund Freud 's Ideas." 3 Mar 2000. Olivet Nazarene University. 24 Mar 2011 <http://web.olivet.edu/english/rbelcher/lit310/310PSY.htm>. Southern African Independence - A chronology of colonization and independence. 15 Jun 2010. 22 Mar 2011 <http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/bl-Independence-SA2.htm>.