Sisters—A Guide of Psychological Therapy

戴煒

Abstract：Sisters is a story written by Irish writer Colum McCann，which gives enlightenment for both fictional characters and readers.This essay analyzed the characters in light of the psychoanalytic theories，including anxieties，defense mechanisms of personality development，consciousness and unconsciousness.It aims at building sound personalities and appropriate outlook on life.

Key Words：anxieties，defense mechanisms，characters analysis

Sisters is written by Irish writer Colum McCann，mainly telling how a frustrated woman got enlightened during the journey of finding her old sister.Psychoanalytic theories were firstly established by Freud Sigmund.It includes the development of personality，inquietudes，defense mechanism，consciousness，unconsciousness，and so on.These can help us make a more deep understanding of the characters personalities；the reasons why they have these issues and how they solve the problem.

1.Sheena-a therapy of showing love

Sheena has the love phobia.The more she wanted the more she feared.At first，she imitated her father，being indifferent to love.Then she acted traitorously.After the failure of acquiring love，or showing love，she immersed herself flirting with every man.Thirdly she just stood still without moving.After so many years leaving America，she is still alone，afraid of love.This prevented her to moving to new life.It was resulted from the insecurity，failure and punishment.All of these pretended her receiving or giving love.Her feelings toward Bridged were due to the reaction formation.The opposite side of love is hate.Sheena once said that she envied Bridged，because her tiny body did not need much food.This kind of feeling was actually another expression of love.If she did not love Bridged，she would have not observed her silently.

The rape is a turning point of her making her mature enough to face the following events.She recalled her father，and decided to see him，only finding the death of her father.She began to be regret and set off the journey to find her sister.During this period，it is a process of the arousal of preconsciousness.Preconsciousness is a set of memorable experiences which helps the unconsciousness instincts invade into consciousness.The memories of her families and Michael forced her to face realities.When she felt scared or nervous，what appears in her mind was poem.She began to face love bravely with the poetic incentive.Sheena stepped out of her miserable inside world，realizing that she had a sick sister to take care of，and a boyfriend to love.At last she said “there is an old feeling within her that is new now”.

2.Bridged-a cure of being loved

Bridged is the elder sister，the target of Sheena.She was more influenced by the dead mother.In light of psychoanalytic theories，Bridges personality is caused by the loss-objects identification.She had anorexia，and was eager to be loved more.To make herself balanced，she played a role as a mother in the family.However，she expressed her mercy to a large extend by hurting herself.That is the reason why she was not mature.She also preferred displacement.Both the anorexia and repression ruined her health.If the repression is too much，there will be distraction of normal functions of physical body like hysterical paralysis.Under her unconsciousness，she had the memory of her childhood，especially the song of her father.That is the sweet memory which can stimulated her.On the other side we can say that she was waiting for her sisters love.The sisters are the stimulation of each other..

Compared with Sheena，Bridged is passive.Limited by her body，she could not be as active as Sheena.What she can do is to wait in the original place for salvation.But Bridged is still a strong woman who can defeats the fear from inside.Judging from the song she sang with her sister，we can see that her preconsciousness is still connected with her unconsciousness-love.In addition it can guide the love to the level of consciousness which means that she will come round one day.

Conclusion

The whole book actually tells us a unique psychological case.And it is even a therapy of these mental diseases.By combining the psychoanalytic theories，we can not only get a literature analysis but also some methods of building sound personalities and a right outlook on life which is facing it in a positive prostitute and never give up hopes.That is why I would like to say this book is also a guide to readers.

References：

[1]Kendra Cherry.The Conscious and Unconscious Mind- The Structure of the Mind According to Freud

[2]Jane Flax.” Political Philosophy and the Patriarchal Unconscious：A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Epistemology and Metaphysics"，in Discovering Reality，252.

[3]Grieg E.Henderson and Christopher Brown.Glossary of Literary Theory

[4]王健.古典精神分析學的早期理論轉向：亞伯拉罕、費倫茨和蘭克研究

[5]西格蒙德·弗洛伊德.精神分析導論講演