CAN YOU HELP ME WITH : analyze a work of literature found below and use literary

Question

CAN YOU HELP ME WITH : analyze a work of literature found below and use literary theory connections to psychology or feminist theory we’ve explored this term. May focus solely on psychology, or solely on feminist theory, or incorporate aspects of both.

The Sound of a Voice By David Henry Hwang Characters: Woman – In a remote corner of a forest lives a Japanese woman in a small hut. With no neighbors nearer than two days’ journey, she is lonely. Many of the distant villagers think she is a witch and believes she turns her visitors into flowers that she keeps in a vase. Man – Wearing a sword, the man seems to be a soldier but has no mission, no assignment.   Situation: Chinese American playwright David Henry Hwang has modeled a short play on Japanese ghost stories. As in those traditional tales, his play lets the audience decide whether the characters are humans or spirits. In this scene, the man happens upon the woman’s hut. He is puzzled by her solitary life, but he stays on as her guest.
[Evening. Woman warms tea for man. Man rubs himself, trying to get warm.]
Man: You are very kind to take me in.
Woman: This is a remote corner of the world. Guest are rare.
Man: The tea - you pour it well.
Woman: No.
Man: The sound it makes – in the cup – very soothing.
Woman: That is the tea’s skill, not mine. (She hands him the cup) May I get you something else? Rice, perhaps?
Man: No.
Woman: And some vegetables?
Man: No, thank you.
Woman: Fish? (Pause) It is at least two days walk to the nearest village. I saw no horse. You must be very hungry. You would do a great honor to dine with me. Guests are rare.
Man: Thank you.
(Woman gets up, leaves. Man gets up, walks to the kitchen door, listens. The room is sparsely furnished, except for one shelf on which stands a vase of brightly colored flowers. The flowers stand out in a sharp contrast to the starkness of the room. He crosses to the vase of flowers. He touches them. Quickly, he takes one of the flowers, hides it in his clothes. The woman re-enters. She carries a tray with food.)
Woman: Please. Eat. It will give me great pleasure.
Man: This – this is magnificent.
Woman: Eat.
Man: Thank you. (He motions for the woman to join him)
Woman: No, thank you.
Man: This is wonderful. The best I’ve tasted.
Woman: You are reckless in your flattery, sir. But anything you say, I will enjoy hearing. It’s not even the words. It’s the sound of a voice, the way it moves through the air.
Man: How long has it been since you last had a visitor?
(Pause)
Woman: I don’t know.
Man: Oh?
Woman: I lose track. Perhaps five months ago, perhaps ten years, perhaps yesterday. I don’t consider time when there’s no voice in the air. It’s pointless. Time begins with the entrance of a visitor, and exits with his exit.
Man: And in between? You don’t keep track of the days? You can’t help but notice –
Woman: Of course I notice.
Man: Oh.
Woman: I notice, but I don’t keep track. (Pause) May I bring out more?
Man: More? No. No. This was wonderful.
Woman: I have more.
Man: Really – the best I’ve had.
Woman: You must be tired. Did you sleep in the forest last night?
Man: Yes.
Woman: Or did you not sleep at all?
Man: I slept.
Woman: Where?
Man: By a waterfall. The sound of the water put me to sleep. It rumbled like the sounds of a city. You see, I can’t sleep in too much silence. It scares me. It makes me feel that I have no control over what is about to happen.
Woman: I feel the same way.
Man: But you live here – alone?
Woman: Yes.
Man: It’s so quiet here. How can you sleep?
Woman: Tonight, I’ll sleep. I’ll lie down in the next room, and hear your breathing through the wall, and fall asleep shamelessly. There will be no silence.
Man: You’re very kind to let me stay here.
Woman: This is yours. (She unrolls a mat)
Man: Did you make it yourself?
Woman: There is a place to wash outside.
Man: Thank you.
Woman: Good night.
Man: Good night. (He starts to leave)
Woman: May I know your name?
Man: No. I mean, I would rather not say. If I gave you a name it would only be made up. Why should I deceive you? You are too kind for that.
Woman: Then what should I call you? Perhaps – “Man Who Fears Silence”?
Man: How about, “Man Who Fears Women”?
Woman: That name is much too common.
Man: And you?
Woman: Hanako.
Man: That’s your name?
Woman: It’s what you may call me.
Man: Good night, Hanako. You are very kind.
Woman: You are very smart. Good night.

Explanation / Answer

Psychoanalytic literary criticism is literary criticism or literary theory which, in method, concept, or form, is influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis begun by Sigmund Freud.

Psychoanalytic reading has been practiced since the early development of psychoanalysis itself, and has developed into a heterogeneous interpretive tradition. As Celine Surprenant writes, 'Psychoanalytic literary criticism does not constitute a unified field. However, all variants endorse, at least to a certain degree, the idea that literature ... is fundamentally entwined with the psyche'

The object of psychoanalytic literary criticism, at its very simplest, can be the psychoanalysis of the author or of a particularly interesting character in a given work. The criticism is similar to psychoanalysis itself, closely following the analytic interpretive process discussed in Freud's The Interpretation of Dreamsand other works. Critics may view the fictional characters as psychological case studies, attempting to identify such Freudian concepts as the Oedipus complex, penis envy, Freudian slips, Id, ego and superego, and so on, and demonstrate how they influence the thoughts and behaviors of fictional characters.

However, more complex variations of psychoanalytic criticism are possible. The concepts of psychoanalysis can be deployed with reference to the narrative or poetic structure itself, without requiring access to the authorial psyche (an interpretation motivated by French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan's remark that "the unconscious is structured like a language"). Or the founding texts of psychoanalysis may themselves be treated as literature, and re-read for the light cast by their formal qualities on their theoretical content (Freud's texts frequently resemble detective stories, or the archaeological narratives of which he was so fond).

Like all forms of literary criticism, psychoanalytic criticism can yield useful clues to the sometime baffling symbols, actions, and settings in a literary work; however, like all forms of literary criticism, it has its limits. For one thing, some critics rely on psychocriticism as a "one size fits all" approach, when other literary scholars argue that no one approach can adequately illuminate or interpret a complex work of art. As Guerin, et al. put it in A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature,

The danger is that the serious student may become theory-ridden, forgetting that Freud's is not the only approach to literary criticism. To see a great work of fiction or a great poem primarily as a psychological case study is often to miss its wider significance and perhaps even the essential aesthetic experience it should provide.

In 1963, Charles Mauron conceived a structured method to interpret literary works via psychoanalysis. The study implied four different phases:

On Mauron's concept, the author cannot be reduced to a ratiocinating self: his own more or less traumaticbiographical past, the cultural archetypes that have suffused his "soul" ironically contrast with the conscious self, The chiasmic relation between the two tales may be seen as a sane and safe acting out. A basically unconscious sexual impulse is symbolically fulfilled in a positive and socially gratifying way, a process known as Sublimation.

Anxiety of influence

'The American critic Harold Bloom has adopted the Freudian notion of the Oedipus Complex to his study of relationships of influence between poets...and his work has also inspired a feminist variant in the work of Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar'.

In similar vein, Shoshana Felman has asked with respect to what she calls "the guilt of poetry" the question: 'Could literary history be in any way considered as a repetitive unconscious transference of the guilt of poetry?'.

Conclusion:

For the given story of the playwright David Henry Hwang and given situation, 'anxiety of influence' woud be more appropriate as a literary criticism.

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