earticle

영어

In Doris Lessing’s The Diary of a Good Neighbor (1983), the protagonist, Jane Somers, attempts to be reconciled with her mother as well as to play a role as a good daughter opposite to the female characters who, in Lessing’s early novels, always struggle with their mothers. Such a change of Jane can be seen in her inner world, particularly described in her diary, related to the relationship of Maudie Fowler and herself. So it is possible to read this novel from an analytical psychology, especially with Neumann’s theory of the terrible mother. Neumann says that the terrible mother, who personifies the destructive and devouring aspect of the unconscious, sometimes helps the ego to achieve centroversion or sometimes prohibits the ego from trying to do it. The terrible mother in The Diary of a Good Neighbor is embodied as death, for the journey of Jane toward centroversion is mainly developed in overcoming the fear of death or, literally, death, such as, her husband’s and mother’s and Maudie’s deaths. Through the three deaths, Jane comes to accept the dark side of her life and is changed from ego-centrism to altruism, leading her to help her niece. As a result, it is believed that she can solve her problem that she has no affection for others resulting in being isolated from her family. Accordingly, Jane perceives life as more important, realizing how precious it is to love each other.