CLRI Feb 2012

Contemporary Literary Review: India February 2012
Editorial Feb 2012	Forced Sanskritisation In India there has long been a trend of adopting cultural traits of socially upward mobile people. People belonging to lower caste strata, both socially and culturally, adopt traits of the people who belong to the higher caste. >>> Read in Full
Poems	Leafless Tree by Hema Ravi In the course of the morning walk this tree each day  >>> Read in Full
	Two Poems by Meenakshi Jauhari Chawla School Day Anyway the Other Guy Always Dies  >>> Read in Full
	Life Taken by Anastasia Rychko We are skin to skin. Heart to heart. I feel your heart beat harder and harder with my every touch.  >>> Read in Full
	My Mother Past the Grave by Vishnu Rajamanickam It was a bright and sunny day as I strolled, With my head bent in flooding reminiscence  >>> Read in Full
Short Story	A Story by Kaye Linden He walks alone in the Bronx where women glance and men look down. He pushes a supermarket cart with a squeaky wheel till he reaches his dwelling place… >>> Read in Full
Travelogue	The Tourist’s Gaze by Kawika Guillermo In Kerala an elderly Sikh invites me to his home, feeds me Tandoori chicken, egg curry and scrambled eggs and tomatoes.  >>> Read in Full
Arts	Eleanor Leonne Bennett Three artistic works >>> See in Full
Criticsim	Criticsm by Sofe Ahmed Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Oedipus Complex: A Critical Study with Reference to D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lover by Sofe Ahmed  >>> Read in Full
Book Review	Review on Concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo’s Poetry by Nishi Sharma Concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo’s Poetry is a distinctive work of art by Jitendra Sharma, based on Sri Aurobindo’s phenomenal poetic endeavor. It is a brilliant attempt to discover the concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo’s poetry.  >>> Read in Full
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CLRI 3/2 February 2012

Editor's Line

Forced Sanskritisation

In India there has long been a trend of adopting cultural traits of socially upward mobile people. People belonging to lower caste strata, both socially and culturally, adopt traits of the people who belong to the higher caste. They adopt such traits in an effort to emulate the high caste people. By which they shun off those activities which the people of upper caste do not do and think either lowly or degraded. This way they move high up the social ladder. Hence, they change their eating habits: they stop eating meat and fish, some spices and vegetables such as garlic, ginger, onions and so on. They become selective even in wearing clothes, and worship those gods and goddesses whom the people of high caste do. This is a type of imitation of the cultural behavior of the people of high caste. Moreover people have been doing this since a very long time. M N Srinivas has discovered this trend among the low, middle caste Hindus and tribal people while studying the Coorgs community in Karnataka in the 1950s; however this applies to the entire country. Srinivas termed this trend as Sanskritisation.

People who migrate to cities from villages, small towns or other cities start following the customs of the local people in the hope of creating intimacy with them and try to mingle with them gradually. This is more than often an addition to their own culture as remarks Mackim Marriot. At the same time, the local people seem to adopt some of the cultural traits of the immigrants which had traditionally been alien to them or even unheard of in their society. However the adoption of the cultural traits of the immigrants by the local people can be attributed to many other reasons than for social upward mobility such as having come under the contact of the immigrants, some traditions being glamourized through films, TV soaps, women journals and magazines. For example, festivals such as chchat, karvachaoth, bhai duj are now being widely practiced by the people in Maharashtara where these festivals were hardly known or limited to a small number of people.

But all these changes and imitations are self-adoption. People adopt the traits either in an effort to move themselves socially upward or just because they have come under the contact—and no external force. But some elements in the name of protecting culture are forcing people from doing certain things or forcing them to do other certain things. Forcing people to do certain things is a forced sanskritisation. Stopping the celebration of Valentine’s Day, other new festivals in some regions and withdrawing the essay Three Hundred Ramayanas written by A.K. Ramanujan from the History syllabus at the graduation level of Delhi University are examples of forced sanskritisation. Forced sanskritisation is neither desirable in this age nor good. Forced sanskritisation inherits a culture of hatred which leads to a repeat of other sets of forced sanskritisation back in the societies that are under threats which then leads to a number of more examples of forced sanskritisation. Similarly freedom of choice inherits mutual respect which leads to a repeat of unleashing freedom to one and another. It is good that people are left to their choice what they should do or should not.

Contemporary Literary Review: India Available in Digital Formats

The print edition of Contemporary Literary Review: India (ISSN 2250-3366) is gaining wide acclaim among students, readers, writers, and people. In addition to the print version Contemporary Literary Review: India is now available in more than 10 electronic formats and with most of the electronic publishing companies and eStores in the anthology format. The release of CLRI in electronic formats is to popularize the writings of our writers. Please spread the word with referral to the URLs where your writings appear so that we can grow and sustain our efforts.

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Khurshid Alam,
Editor, CLRI, February 2012.

Review on Concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo’s Poetry by Nishi Sharma

Review on Concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo’s Poetry by Nishi Sharma

Concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo’s Poetry is a distinctive work of art by Jitendra Sharma, based on Sri Aurobindo’s phenomenal poetic endeavor. It is a brilliant attempt to discover the concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo’s poetry. This book brings out Sri Aurobindo Ghose’s integral philosophy of Man and his existence in this universe—and beyond it. Man is everywhere in his poetry with minute projections, innumerable possibilities and natural tendencies towards self-exceeding. He sees Man through the quintessential prism and finds him as: ‘the increasing God’, ‘self-liberating person’, ‘the eternal portion of the Divine’, ‘a God in the making’, ‘a portion of the Divine Consciousness and Essence’ and ‘intermediate creature between animal and the Divine’.

The author, Jitendra Sharma, focuses light on the concepts of evolution, consciousness and transformation of Man and his mind which are intertwined in Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy. He traces the footprints of Sri Aurobindo’s life and his growth and excellence as a poet in initial chapters. The third chapter emphasizes on his perception of Man, and in the subsequent chapters the author discovers the concept of Man in his early poems, long poems, sonnets and his magnum opus Savitri in details.

Sri Aurobindo (15 August 1872–5 December 1950) was a well-known politician, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet. But the poet in him is at the forefront of his personality which expresses his true and deepest spiritual experiences. He is widely quoted as the most outstanding Indo-Anglian writer for volume as well as variety. The canon of his writings includes philosophy, poetry, plays, criticism on social, political and historical topics, devotional works, spiritual journals, thousands of letters on yoga, and translations of the epics such as the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Gita. His prominent philosophical writings are The Life Divine and The Synthesis of Yoga, while his prominent poetic work is Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol.

In his early days, Sri Aurobindo’s poems were largely influenced by the serene beauty of nature, Irish patriotic movement and Greek heritage. After coming to India from England, his poetry took mystic philosophic turn. He composed poems that set tune with those of Bankim Chanda Chatterjee and Madhusudan Dutt.  His poems like The Vedantin’s Prayers, Rebirth and Parabrahman are grounded on philosophy. In his early poetry, Sri Aurobindo perceived Man as an image of God which is intrinsically divine. He depicted Man as a constantly-evolving creature in a divine image and accepting the ingenuity of Science. In his longer poems, death and immortality of man are largely discussed with a spiritual insight on Man, Nature and God. Sri Aurobindo wrote 87 sonnets in which he described Man and great spiritual truths.

Magnum opus Savitri – a Legend and a Symbol, a cosmic poetic epic of nearly 24,000 lines arranged in 12 Books and 49 Cantos, is considered as “probably the greatest epic in English language” by Raymond Frank Piper, a famous western philosopher-critique. Savitri is a well-known story of Savitri in Indian Mythology who brought back the life of her husband from the Lord of Death, Yama, that illustrates the power of a woman’s devotion. In this epic, Aswapathy, a childless king, symbolizes a man who grows from an individual to the impersonality of the Self by getting Savitri as his child—an answer to his tapasya, which proves aspiring man’s possibilities. Aswapathy is depicted as a man raising mankind to a higher level by drawing energies and higher consciousness from the Divine. Savitri symbolizes a man who challenges the Lord of Death for the sake of entire humanity. Man is shown as full of imperfections, limitations, ignorance and futilities, confused by doubt and contradictions and turned away from divinity. But the same man begins to make continuous efforts to reach out to the Light after becoming aware of the Self.

Concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo’s Poetry is a tribute to the greatest soul and an insightful gift to Sri Aurobindo’s followers.

Author’s Bio: Dr. Jitendra Sharma obtained the Master's Degree in French from Karnatak University Dharwar and had M.Phil. in French from the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad. He has also studied in the Stendhal University of Grenoble in France. His literary articles have appeared in various journals and he has participated in more than 80 national/international seminars, workshops and conferences. He heads the Department of French at St. Joseph's College, Devagiri, Calicut (Kerala) where he tries to implement Sri Aurobindo's education methodology in his teaching profession.

Leafless Tree by Hema Ravi

Leafless Tree by Hema Ravi

In the course of the morning walk

this tree each day
I do pass,

in its naked existence

flanking foliage

it exudes charm.

What tales it has to share

how many life-forms been comforted

in its cool bosom

promises and kisses

exchanged under its shade—

desire to discern

Against relentless rain, glittery nights

sizzling summers and murmuring winds

inflection of clouds day after day

it stands unperturbed, unfettered.

Not a rhymester I am, to lay expression in print

neither an artist nor a lens man

to bring out the sensitivity,

The charismatic tree rouses the prosaic me

Its stillness radiates calm

I continue to gaze….

Looking intently at tree stripped of leaves and fruit

waiting patiently for summer

a monk recognised

the trustworthy autonomy

of divine intervention

love for God, never after ‘ceased to burn’.

Will this leafless tree be the catalyst?

Author’s Bio: Hema Ravi, a post graduate, has been serving as a teacher. She is the co-author of Everyday Hindi. Her write-ups have won prizes in the Femina, Khaleej Times (Dubai) and International Indian. Her viewpoints have been published in The Hindu's Voice Your Views. A write-up has won a prize in the monthly contest of www.writersglobe.com (August 2010). Her verses have been published in many journals including Metverse Muse, Matruvani, Holistic Mediscan, Muse India, and others.

Two Poems by Meenakshi Jauhari Chawla

Two Poems by Meenakshi Jauhari Chawla

School Day

Daylight was born in this room–

among ordered rows of school desks

and satchels hanging on wooden backs–

a warm sunny morning took birth

right here, on this stony window-sill.

An empty room it is not–

nor a room devoid of freckled faces with spectacles,

smiles and frowned foreheads–

it is a forest glade waiting

to hastily awaken

to chattering feet, new-found voices

and future-gazing eyes with wings–

later, the afternoon slant will steal

the ardour from hearts and minds–

and a tepid day will recline on

this spent window-sill.

But right now, in this instant–

the room dressed in new shining day–

has a clear, eager soul–

and eyes burning with the desire

to turn the world into a giant football–

and kick up at the upstart sun.

Anyway the Other Guy Always Dies

Long after the director has the last scene canned,

long after the music has strayed from the band,

after the perfect set has folded and been put away

and the cardboard city run over by layers of sand–

the other guy turns in his sleep and dies,

far from the bestial sounds and lights.

Cut! Lights out!

Take 2

Long after the director has the last scene canned,

long after the music has strayed from the band,

after the perfect set has folded and been put away

and the cardboard city run over by layers of sand–

another guy turns in his sleep and dies,

far from the flippant sounds and lights.

The other guy always dies. Anyway.

The other guy always dies. Anyway.

This guy, that guy, most guys die.

All guys die. Anyway.

Cut! Lights out!

Take 3

This guy died. That guy too.

The other guy dies. Always.

I watch them–

living in their gleaming traps,

fairy-land evenings that end

in harsh white dawns;

stiletto-words traipsing on

others’ green lawns;

a pale shrinking man

lost in life and poof!

then gone.

These other guys die. Anyway.

But anyway, they never lived.

Cut! The End!

Author’s Bio: Meenakshi Jauhari Chawla, a computer engineer, works for an independent publishing house in New Delhi. Poetry is soul food for her and she pieces together fragments of thought and stray images as she goes about her daily tasks.

Her fiction has been published in The Little Magazine and Indian Literature a journal brought out by Sahitya Akademi, and her poems appeared in the anthology I, Me, Myself (Unisun, Bangalore, 2010), and the Journal (2010) brought out by The Poetry Society (India). Some poems are also part of forthcoming anthologies.

Life Taken by Anastasia Rychko

Life Taken by Anastasia Rychko

We are skin to skin. Heart to heart. I feel your heart beat harder and harder with my every touch. I feel the warmth of your eyes penetrate my being. Through you I see the beauty of life, the beauty that has never been available to me. Through you I see what life can be. But in your eyes I see me, and I know I cannot stop what is inside, the natural stride of my battered heart.

I want you to save me, because the love I feel for you begs me to save you. Yet I know that that I cannot do if I am not saved from what is inside my rotten soul. A lost part of me tells me to run, run as far as I can to save the only beauty that my heart has ever known yet the me that controls my world pins me to the floor and I know I have no choice.

I kiss your neck. So truly, so passionately. Holding my breath with each kiss, knowing this will kill the last part of me that is human. Yet there is no way out of the abyss I have become. I hold you close and say goodbye, with a tear rolling down my eye, to you I say goodbye. Now it begins the horror of my world. Now I yearn, the blood in your veins I yearn. Your neck beckons me, calling me, teasing me, singing and dancing to the tune of the nightmare that is my world. I tear at your skin with my teeth and feel the blood run down my skin, so warm and red. I feel your heart stop, and I feel mine come out of my chest to stay with you in the world unknown that only you and it will see.

I lose myself the moment I lose you. My heart is gone and so are you. As the last part of the person I was dies, it says thank God my heart is gone from the body so filthy, so dead and so unreal. It thanks you for taking it away. Oh what a shame it is you had to die for this one moment of my heart’s final escape. It bids my heart farewell and asks it to beg for your forgiveness and promises its undying love in a world so different

Author’s Bio: Anastasia Rychko is 17 and lives in Kenya. He writes as it is his passion.

My Mother Past the Grave by Vishnu Rajamanickam

My Mother Past the Grave by Vishnu Rajamanickam

It was a bright and sunny day as I strolled,

With my head bent in flooding reminiscence
Along the grapevines with floundering steps,

I walked through the aisle in distress.

There shining like an armor was the grave,

Of my mother, sweet in life and painful in death;

Tears rolled down my withered face like crystal pearls,

Dear mother, come back to me.

I thought of her love frozen past aeons ago,

Of her bundles of smiles and thousands of kisses,

Her infinite cover of kindness wrapping me up;

O my mother, please come back to me.

For me she lived, for me she smiled,

For me she unfurled her hands open wide,

And as I lay eagle spread on the grass,

O my mother why don’t you come back to me?

The cruel jaws of fate never sleep sans blood,

Sucking my joy and my lifeboat’s lodestar;

O my mother the world is desolate without you

For the last time I cry my mother, come back to me.

Author’s Bio: Vishnu Rajamanickam is an undergraduate student of civil engineering at National Institute of Technology- Trichirapalli (NITT). He enjoys reading both classical and contemporary poetry and has been writing poetry for the past five years. He can be reached at: vishnucr@rocketmail.com.

A Story by Kaye Linden

A Story by Kaye Linden

He walks alone in the Bronx where women glance and men look down. He pushes a supermarket cart with a squeaky wheel till he reaches his dwelling place where he unloads lentils, rice and onions, carries them up three flights, stopping only to adjust his hold on the bags. The unwinding of the white cloth around long gray hair takes a few minutes as he stares out a grime-streaked window onto the chaos of cars.

Chai tastes best when Assam leaves with cloves and cinnamon sit for five minutes in boiled water. "Ahh, yes," he sighs and drinks tea alone.

Moments of respite in one long respite from torrential Bombay rains and children with one arm begging.

But he would offer his one bedroom flat to the homeless woman who sleeps alone on the bus station bench, offer his full stomach to her lost child, trade his old television for the bitter taste of grit in his teeth, the acrid fumes of suttee, humidity blanketing skin, crowds in colored saris, chai from a street vendor.

He would offer this America for one more day in a Bombay market.

Hint: “Chai” is a Hindi word which means “tea”.

Author’s Bio: Kaye Linden has an MFA in fiction from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts on Whidbey Island. Her collection Forty Tales from Ma's Watering-hole was recently accepted for serialization and publication by Shelf Stealers press.

Kaye was born and raised in Australia and now resides in Florida. She is the short fiction editor of the Bacopa Literary Review, an annual print journal and teaches short fiction at Santa Fe College in Gainesville. Kaye has lived in the Punjab (Beas) and has a deep seated love for India.

Kaye's short stories have appeared in multiple journals including: The Camel Saloon, The Soundings Review, The Bacopa Literary Review, The Raven Chronicles, Expressions, Breves No Tan Breves, Whispers from the Unseen, Danse Macabre, 6Tales.com, the Linnet's Wings in narration at Theshorteststories.com, Dogzplot and the September print edition of Six Minute Stories Magazine. She can be reached at: kayelinden@gmail.com.

The Tourist’s Gaze by Kawika Guillermo

The Tourist’s Gaze by Kawika Guillermo

In Kerala an elderly Sikh invites me to his home, feeds me Tandoori chicken, egg curry and scrambled eggs and tomatoes. He doesn’t speak a word of English, but we drink whisky and speak in our mother tongues and it feels that we understand each other. We watch Triple H take down Mysterio.

Of Chennai, the Guidebook says “the city still has many slums but is also developing dynamic new-town suburbs, a rash of air-conditioned shopping malls and some of the best restaurants in India.” “but?” Why not “because of,” “due to the fact,” or “with shocking indifference to,” or, at least, “giving up any notion of responsibility over its inhabitants, the government of Chennai…”etc.

Bangalore, aka ITocracy, aka calltopia. Known for having one out of every three office buildings in India, for obesity and diabetes, for drinking at 3am, when the American workday ends. Bangalorians are emancipated into jam-packed pubs, the chaotic night markets and the large strip halls, to rooms of belly dancers.

HITECH City, Hyderabad, where the IT revolution has perhaps hit hardest, is not filled with young Indians in collared shirts jabbering on headset headphones. It has few long streams of electric wire weaving about from iron statue to statue, and the glossy, posh buildings, are almost entirely absent. It is a surreal desert of nascent buildings still undergoing erection, and the only movement comes from migrant workers living in tent cities on every roadside. Our multinationals aggregate into Industrial parks, casting foreboding shadows from incomplete buildings that stretch from the rocky hills of High Tech City, onto the city of Hyderabad.

We enter Hyderabad in the Islamic holy month of Ramadon, a time when rickshaw drivers sway their bikes, enervated by lack of water and over-exposure to the sun, and when every night becomes a festival of cheap chicken and lamb kebabs, only to end abruptly with each sunrise. Here women are dressed in the latest foot fashions, their fashion fetishism limited by the burkas enshrouding the rest of their bodies.

Sixteen hours on the train, sleeper class, I lie on the upper berth of a crowded cabin, my arm suspended at head level like a crane. I easily grasp onto passing soft drinks, samosas, or the heads of children with sticky fingers. Outside the train, the sunset straddles the horizon among rice fields, lines of trees and electrical towers that look like steel angels in the dark.

In Delhi Avisha and I chase the bureaucratic fairy around the train station from one ticket counter to another, filling out forms, getting things stamped, carrying our luggage on our backs with the body-heat of the Indians in our nostrils. The bureaucratic and taxonomic obsession with getting things right. The denouement of our confusion and utter exhaustion is only to discover that there is no train left for Jaipur.

In Chandigarh two high school boys meet with us; their questions are typically high school. She your girlfriend? You kiss her? You sex with her? How many girls you do this with? Very common in America? They are obsessed with white women. Very naughty, very sexy they say. I ask them about Indian women. Very naughty, very sexy, they say. The first boy tells me he has proudly slept with seven to eight Indian girls, all of them his friends, though the second boy tells me they are all prostitutes. The second boy has a meeker sex life however, at “two to three” women. Ambiguous numbers.

In Amritsar recumbent pilgrims lie scattered on the white marble of the Golden Temple. They look identical: long dark beards, white turbans, aged soles of their feet. Here we are far from the anomic lifestyle of Las Vegas, the bathetic pathos of casinos and slots. Here people must have touch, must express total equality even in their style of eating, must cover their heads in humbleness not only to an imaginary God, but to each other. In a state of quiescent repose, we face each other as beings of the same universe.

The first night in Jaipur a fuse blows at our five dollar hotel. We move to another room and that fuse blows out. The next day we relocate to another hotel for three dollars a night. It is ridden with ants, spiders, pleas, mosquitos, cockroaches. The mattress is a cot on wooden planks. It reminds me of living in North Las Vegas. We wake up with new places to scratch.

I rid myself of the tourist monuments like passing difficult excrement. To find myself in a new city, one must survey the perimeter, as a canine around his new home, before he can take in the pleasure of the streets. As soon as I am released from the injunction to see the tourist sites, I perambulate towards whatever seems exigent or within my proximity—a broken down building, a gathering of Indians around a well-lit street, a strange figure in the dark. Very often I simply float within the crowd, an unthinking and unassuming flaneur, imbibing in the aura of the city and its people, retreating from certainty, trusting the void wherever it leads.

And Jaipur is a city full of Gods, Kings, monkeys, and street children. They work in groups, perhaps. Avisha and I give rupees whenever I see Mani, a fifteen year old with a baby covered in flies. I like her because she always takes my money and never asks for more. She takes food when I buy it for her. The street children just take the food I buy for them and then toss obscene gestures at me that say in so many words: damn you, cheap America! Mani gets it, so I always give her money. This is called selfish giving.

In Rajasthan, men follow Avisha, with their eyes, their steps, their hands, and occasionally, with their lips, though none have been reciprocated. In the Guide it warns that “Rajasthanis are known for harassing women in Western style clothing”. This means asking for kisses, asking how many people Avisha “sexs” and whether she uses condoms or not. It means obscene stares and being followed by gangs of them at night. It means always being served last at restaurants. It means that when she orders beer the waiter assumes she is only doing it for the men in the room. It means constant whistles, taunts, and arms and hands “accidentally” falling upon different parts of her skin. It means men standing near her with such propinquity as to peak down any portion of her body where the distance between the fabric and her skin might reveal the curve of a breast or thigh.

In Udaipur breezes compensate for overhead fans. I can spot the scattering colors light Badi Lake. Back-up generators never fail the tourist. We inhabit landmarks for three dollars a night.

Author’s Bio: Kawika Guillermo (or Christopher Patterson) is currently finishing his doctorate in Seattle (USA), where he also teaches writing and writes fiction and poetry. He has been published in journals such as The Monarch Review, Unlikely 2.0, The Houston Literary Review, and Danse Macabre. He can be reached at: kawikaguillermo@gmail.com.

Arts by Eleanor Leonne Bennett

Arts by Eleanor Leonne Bennett

We present three photos by E L Bennett

Untitled

Rain Over Oil Front

All that Comes From Ore

Artist’s Bio: Eleanor Leonne Bennett is a 15 year old photographer and artist who has won contests with National Geographic, The Woodland Trust, The World Photography Organisation, Winstons Wish, Papworth Trust, Mencap, Big Issue, Wrexham science, Fennel and Fern and Nature's Best Photography. She has had her photographs published in exhibitions and magazines across the world including the Guardian, RSPB Birds, RSPB Bird Life, Dot Dot Dash, Alabama Coast, Alabama Seaport and NG Kids Magazine (the most popular kids magazine in the world).

Websites: www.eleanorleonnebennett.zenfolio.com; www.eleanorleonnebennett.zenfolio.com.

Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Oedipus Complex: A Critical Study with Reference to D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lover by Sofe Ahmed

Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Oedipus Complex: A Critical Study with Reference to D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lover by Sofe Ahmed

Abstract
Sigmund Freud and his Oedipus complex are among the most often discussed critical and contentious issues of modern psychology and literature. Freud’s theory of Oedipus complex has brought a lot of controversies in modern psychology and literature while some critics opine Freud’s concept of Oedipus complex deserves a great deal of appreciation. Nonetheless, prominent English novelist D.H. Lawrence is one of those modern writers who are greatly influenced by Freudian theories and have been promoting Freud’s notions through their works. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers is considered as one of the most modern as well as controversial novels of the twentieth century. In this fiction, the protagonist Paul’s extremely emotional dealing with his mother is the illustration of Doctor Freud’s psychological theory Oedipus complex. Nevertheless, this paper aims to critically analyze the facts lying with the hallucination of Oedipus complex as it is presented in Sons and Lovers .The evaluation is conducted liberally and objectively as well as through comparisons between the central characters of Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers and Sophocles’ King Oedipus. This attempt also tends to judge the universality of Freud’s claim, particularly his sexual theory with the help of modern biological experiments and the result of relevant laboratory tests, conducted by eminent psychologists and psychiatrists worldwide.

Key Words: Freudian Psychoanalysis, Oedipus complex, Sons and Lovers.

Through his masterpiece Sons and Lovers, Lawrence has tried his best to universalize this Freudian concept. He tries to show that his hero Paul can never come out from the labyrinth of Oedipus complex as mythical Oedipus could not.

Introduction: Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory Oedipus complex is one of the most influential as well as divisive theories of the twentieth century. Freud coined the term Oedipus complex to refer to a stage in the development of young boys. He felt that young boys, around the age of five, wish to have all their mother’s love which leads to a feeling of jealousy resulting in even an unconscious wish for the death of their fathers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_complex). However, the concept has greatly dominated the modern way of thought. Specially, in case of literature the upshot of this theory is quite vivid because Freud himself has taken the imaginative root of his theory from the masterpiece of Greek literature Sophocles’ King Oedipus. Many of the modern writers are also greatly influenced by the theory and have been trying their utmost to prove the universality of Freud’s theory. Among such writers D.H. Lawrence is remarkable. Through his masterpiece Sons and Lovers, Lawrence has tried his best to universalize this Freudian concept. He tries to show that his hero Paul can never come out from the labyrinth of Oedipus complex as mythical Oedipus could not. Hence he tends to make a universal link between the two worlds modern and ancient in order to prove the eternal appeal of Oedipus complex.

On the other hand, Freud’s views have also been strongly criticized by a number of empirical scientific researchers. Dr. C. Boeree thus perfectly says “Freud's books and lectures brought him both fame and ostracism from the mainstream of the medical community. He drew around him a number of very bright sympathizers who became the core of the psychoanalytic movement. Unfortunately, Freud had a penchant for rejecting people who did not totally agree with him. Some separated from him on friendly terms; others did not, and went on to found competing schools of thought.” (Boeree, 2006).Yet Freud’s Oedipus complex becomes a matter of immense controversy which tends to shake the readers’ thought and belief while they read anything written based on ‘Oedipus complex’.

…according to him (Freud) (hysteria) was caused by sexual desire but unfortunately this was not acknowledged by his mentor Dr. Joseph Breuer…

The Basis of Freudian Psychoanalysis: To understand and analyze Oedipus complex in better ways it is important to know the basis of Freudian psychology or psycho analysis. Freud starts his mission in the world of psychology with the treatment of hysteria which according to him was caused by sexual desire but unfortunately this was not acknowledged by his mentor Dr. Joseph Breuer under whose guidance Freud learnt about hysteria (Rahim, 2002). This presupposition about psychological diseases was one of the bases of Freud’s sex theories. Besides, he had a guess or assumption of the division of human brain and its functions. He strongly believed and popularized the idea of conscious versus unconscious mind. In his hypothesis, the conscious mind is what one is aware of at any particular moment like someone’s present perceptions, memories, thoughts, fantasies, feelings etc.; and preconscious mind is what closely works with the conscious mind or it is the memory that is not presently conscious but can be made conscious easily. According to Freud, these two are the smallest parts of brain the largest part is what he called the unconscious mind. In Freud’s view this unconscious level of mind is the source of man’s motivations such as desires for sex, food and so on, (Rahim, 2002)

…Freudian psychology is largely based on objects that are guided by needs; hunger, thirst, the avoidance of pain and sex.

 Furthermore, Freudian psychology is largely based on objects that are guided by needs; hunger, thirst, the avoidance of pain and sex. Dr. C. Boeree comments that “When everyone thought of male and female as roles determined by nature or God, he showed how much they depended on family dynamics.” (Boeree, 2006) Hence, Freud’s thoughts are supposed to be guided by desires. To him these desires are the fundamental factors of human life and psyche other than any spiritual and moral functions. According to Freud, among the objects organism is the prime one whose important part is nervous system which is known as id at beginning. This id transforms the needs of organism into motivational forces which Freud called wishes. Here there is a great contradiction regarding this id. Dr. C. Boeree says “The infant, in the Freudian view, is pure or nearly pure id” (Boeree, 2006). Now question comes if a child’s id is pure how does he or she possess sexual complexity or desire which causes him to envy his father even to wish death for him?

A picture of normal human brain
Major internal parts of the human brain	Freud’s imaginative division of brain

—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_brain

It is a well-known fact that the human brain has both some conscious and some unconscious feelings and functions but the question is whether the brain is naturally divided or not? Or does there truly exist any unconscious level of mind which lays the foundation for sexual desire? If it is true with empirical evidence then Freud can have a universal appeal, otherwise modern psychology and civilization have to reconsider and be careful about its disastrous effect on them. According to Dr. C. Boeree “Behaviorists, humanists, and existentialists all believe that: (a) the motivations and problems that can be attributed to the unconscious are much fewer than Freud thought, and (b) the unconscious is not the great churning cauldron of activity he made it out to be. Most of the modern psychologists today see the unconscious as whatever we don't need or don't want to see. Some theorists don't use the concept at all”, (Boeree, 2006). Carl Jung, another famous psychologist, says that it is the concept of unconscious which has made Freud nothing but puny. The conscious is on the other hand a function or feeling of brain not its level or part. There is no separation or any separate parts in brain known as conscious, unconscious and preconscious (Boeree, 2006).

All Freudian movement is run based on this concept, actually it is nothing but a scheme.

Professor Joseph Jastrow in his prominent work Freud: his Dream and Sex Theories gives a rather rational evaluation of unconscious mind hypothesis of Freud. He says that unconscious is the fundamental source of Freudian psychology. All Freudian movement is run based on this concept, actually it is nothing but a scheme .The fundamental question is here cheated. If we accept this then we may also accept the ancient concept of ghost, applied by Morceress for the treatment of hysteria. Though Freud got some popularity but it was like Hoodman who also achieved fame for his division of mind based on guess. He claimed that man has two minds but later this assumption was dumped as an unscientific one. It indeed remained as an erroneous chapter in the history of unconscious. Likewise, Dalpon says Freud’s unconscious mind does not have any scientific value. It is a shadow of ghost and should be thrown out as Hoodman’s. He further says that I am supposed to come to this conclusion that Freud’s unconscious is nothing but a groundless imaginative story, (Rahim, 2002). So it is now easy to conclude that Freud’s concept of sex remaining in unconscious is also groundless as because there is no existence of such level in brain or unless there is any level which contains sex from one’s birth then it is quite easy to agree with those biologists who claim that sexual desire is not inherited by birth other than it is rather a physical need which depends on growth of human anatomy or body. For instance, those who suffer from any physical weakness or diseases consequently suffer from sexual weakness too. That means there remains a causal relation or interconnection between body and sex.

Therefore we can say that in Freud’s time medical science, biology and the equipment of biological test were not as modernized as they are today. When Freud divided human brain into three levels, he had quite little opportunity to find reliable and diagnostic evidence about the formation and function of brain. Consequently, he had to depend on his imagination and presupposition for this division. For instance, Freud was totally dependent on Hypnotism for the treatment of hysteria. This hypnotism was not indeed any scientific remedy prescribed by medical science rather it was used by sorcerer, charmer, and those who treat with amulet and quack remedies (Rahim2002). But unfortunately Freud was guided by this unscientific method of superstitious people for his psychoanalysis and sex theories. Possibly for this reason Freudian psychoanalysis has almost lost its value and rationality to modern psychologists.

On the contrary, modern psychologists and biologists have rather invented the existence of glands which actually contain and pass our feelings and sentiments instead of three levels in our brain. These glands create feelings in the body and not in the brain, which grow with age and require maturity of themselves as well as body to create (sexual) feelings .Hence it is quite clear that children’s glands and feelings must differ from those of adults’. C. W. Valentine thus perfectly says, “…children are free from all sexual feelings” (Rahim, 2002).

Picture of glands in human brain

—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland

Oedipus Complex; the Theory: Sigmund Freud introduced the term ‘Oedipus complex’ in his Interpretation of Dreams (1899). According to him the concept is a desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex, which produces a sense of competition with the parent of the same sex and a crucial stage in the normal developmental process (Freud, 1913). In brief, Freud used the term to refer to a stage in the development of young boys. He assumed that in early development young children, in the age group of five, wish to have their mother’s entire love. Thus, jealousy causes them to resent and even unconsciously wish for the death of their father. The term Oedipus complex was indeed named after the name of Greek mythical figure Oedipus who was the son of king Laius and queen Jocasta of Thebes, and finally killed his father and married his mother unconsciously which according to the belief of the writer and people of that time, was designed by fate( Safra, 1768).

But according to Sigmund Freud the accidents or incidents in the life of Oedipus happened because of sexual complexity between Oedipus and his mother. And on the basis of this story he invented the concept Oedipus complex which he attributed to the children of about the age of three to five. He views that all human behavior are motivated by sex or by the instincts, which in his opinion are the neurological representations of physical needs. He firstly referred to those as the life instincts which perpetuate the life of the individual, initially by motivating him or her to seek food and water, and secondly by motivating him or her to have sex. The motivational energy of these life instincts, the "oomph" that powers our psyches, he called libido, from the Latin word for "I desire", (Boeree.2006).

Freud's clinical experience led him to view sex as much more important in the dynamics of the psyche than other needs. We are, after all, social creatures, and sex is the most essential of social needs. Here, we have to remember that Freud put much more importance on sexual desire than anything else.

Critical Evaluation: Thus, it is clear that Freud thought that man was born with some feelings and sentiment like sexual desire, propensity etc. Accroding to him, man is sex-driven by birth; a child must possess sexual desire even when he is in his mother’s womb and this inborn sexual predisposition lays the foundation for all other propensity. But this claim of Freud has been disproved by a number of modern biological experiments or tests which suggest that every propensity or sentiment is originated from separate nerve, and sex producer nerve is unable to produce other feelings, similarly other nerves are not also involved in producing sex. And at the time of birth sex producer nerves are immature which require a certain stage of age to produce sexual feelings that means theses cannot work before blooming youth.

However, there are a number of empirical researches which prove that during childhood children are free from all kinds of sexual feelings or complexities. In this case eminent modern American psychologist Dr. C.W Valentine’s experiment is remarkable. Dr. Valentine observed thousands of children, aged up to six in order to verify Freud’s view of child-sexuality. Finally he came out with the result that is shown in the following diagram.

Age of children	Son’s attraction to father	Daughter’s attraction to father	Son’s attraction to mother	Daughter’s attraction to mother
2 years	11%	20%	77%	87%
3 years	20%	28%	61%	66%
4 years	38%	36%	57%	66%
5 years	28%	25%	57%	66%
6 years	23%	15%	68%	78%

—(Valentine: 1962. P. 108)

Through the above mentioned diagram Dr. Valentine shows that there is no imbalance in attraction in son or daughter towards father or mother as Freud claimed. Neither male nor female children have any revengeful propensity towards their parents of opposite sex. He rather shows that there is a regular and harmonious fluctuation of attraction or affection of children towards their parents; in some stages sons feel more attracted to their fathers, and in other stages towards their mothers. So is the behaviour among the daughters towards their mothers and fathers. That means the feelings does not remain fixed.

Another research was conducted on children psyche by famous research institute The Gesell Institute of Child Development .The institute carried out an experiment on a group of children aged up to ten and has published a book named Child Behavior that analyzes the attitude, behavior and sentiment of children. The book dedicated its full three chapters to the analysis of the sexuality of children, mother-child relation and father-child relation. But there is no mention of Freud’s view of child-sexuality. The author of the book seems not to even assume any possibility of sexual desire in children’s mind as because they totally ignored the significance of the concept of Freud to be discussed.

If we now evaluate Oedipus’ case there are also a lot of follies and contradictions behind the concept. Wikipedia says “Oedipus himself, as portrayed in the myth, did not suffer from this neurosis – at least, not towards Jocasta, whom he only met as an adult if anything, such feelings would have been directed at Merope – but there is no hint of that”, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_complex) So neither natural mother-son relation (as between Oedipus and Jocasta) nor the duplicate one (as between Oedipus and Merope) has any sexual complexity.

Later on Freud tried to arbitrarily support his theory with fatalistic beliefs what must contradict with his so called-scientific claim. He says; “His (Oedipus’) destiny moves us only because it might have been ours – because the oracle laid the same curse upon us before our birth as upon him. It is the fate of all of us, perhaps, to direct our first sexual impulse towards our mother and our first hatred and our first murderous wish against our father. Our dreams convince us that this is so”, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_complex).So according to Freud himself this complex happens because of the curse of oracle. This warrants to question the scientific merit of Freud’s claim. Here it becomes very complex and unscientific claim as because neither science nor any major religion reveals and universalizes that we all human beings are cursed like Oedipus. In particular Oedipus may be a cursed one according to Freud’s belief in imaginative myth. Being a Jew though it is also irrational on his part, but how can it become universal and scientific?. And if we review the concept from the viewpoint of fatalism as Freud suggests, then it also lacks to be universal because it is the belief of all fatalists that fate must vary from person to person so how Oedipus fate goes to all human being equally? By the above comment Freud has made the concept or theory much more complex and irrational. He is Jew and that in Judaism there is no concept of oracle, it is the belief promoted by pagan religion. Hence Freud seems to go against his own belief and claim as a scientist.

Concept of Oedipus Complex in Sons and Lovers: D. H. Lawrence’s masterpiece Sons and Lovers is the most reliable and remarkable illustration of Freud’s Oedipus complex in modern literature.Hu Junjie being a Freudian psychologist writes that Lawrence is one of the most original and controversial English writers of the twentieth century. The major theme of his writing was relation between man and woman. And for the pornographic nature of his work Lady Chatterley’s Lover was rejected by his contemporary English society (Junjie, 2007). However, Oedipus complex is the dominant theme of Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers .The complex here chiefly centers around Lawrence’s protagonist Paul and his mother’s dealings or relation. Among the sons of Mrs. Morel, Paul is shown to have most serious Oedipus complex. After the birth of this unhealthy boy Mrs. Morel mysteriously asserts; “With all her face, with all her soul she would make up to it for having brought it into the world unloved”, (Lawrence, 1985). The expression vividly exposes her complexity with Paul. On the other hand, as Paul grows he also begins to fulfill his mother’s wish. He sticks to his mother and trots after her like her shadow. Like a true romantic lover he watches every physical movement of his mother, enjoys her dressing up with plenty of delight and sensual pleasure. Lawrence delineates “Paul loved to sleep with his mother, sleep still most perfect in spite of hygienists, when it is shared with a beloved...”. “His ambition as far as this world’s gear went was quietly to earn his thirty or thirty five shillings, somewhere near home and then when his father died have cottage with his mother”, (Lawrence, D. H. 1985)

Hu Junjie opines that if we accept Freud’s claim in Sons and Lovers then the Freud theory also lacks to be a universal one as because Lawrence himself describes Mrs. Morel turning her relation to son because of unusual reasons (Junjie, 2007). Lawrence along with describing the complex and unusual relation also finds many unusual factors behind this unusual relation. Among all the factors, the most common one is Mrs. Morel’s shifting her attraction or lust from husband to son which was the outcome of the unusual relation or mismatch between her and her husband regarding character, family status, education, intellect etc. While she is an exceedingly religious woman, her husband is hard drunkard, her refined manner also contradicts with his vulgarity. The marriage life of Mrs. Morel is in fact full of conflicts and frustration as Lawrence himself delineates “Their marriage life has been one carnal bloody flight”. Along with the mental torturing Mr. Morel also often beats her severely and puts her out of home. “The mother is unsatisfied and angry with the coal miner, because he not only fails to live up to her bourgeois idea, but also hurts her in body and mind”. All these hurting and agonizing facts lastly cause her to substitute or to move passionately towards her son to find a bit satisfaction into the world “unloved”. Thus Hu Junjie concludes that “Her personal abnormal emotion is the direct factor for Paul’s Oedipus complex”. That means mother’s abnormal maternity is indeed the basis of Paul’s Oedipus complex. If it is so then how come the theory is universal? Because all the mothers of the world may not necessarily be dissatisfied, wounded, agonized with their husbands, and not all the fathers of the world are drunkard, characterless, unsympathetic like Mr. Morel. Hence, it is clear that Mrs. Morel’s case is an exceptional and individual case and not a universal one. A critic says “Most personality theorists, however, consider these examples aberrations rather than universals, exceptions rather than rules. They occur in families that aren't working as well as they should, where parents are unhappy with each other, use their children against each other. Where there is no mismatch or bizarre relation between wife and husband and the relationship is typical there may be no possibility of such complexity or unusual acts or relation.Hu Junjie further explains that healthy spiritual states must be based on healthy life styles and social systems. The problem described in Sons and Lovers are not only the mental problems but also social factors. So along with psychological factors the sickly life style and mechanical social system are also responsible for the unhealthy and sickly relation between mother and son. Such relation is not healthy and cannot happen in healthy and regular or natural life.

Contrast Between Oedipus and Paul: In order to verify the universality of Freud’s Oedipus complex, we must compare Oedipus and Paul’s theories. Oedipus married his mother Jocasta totally unconsciously. He was even so ashamed and afraid of getting married with his own mother that on hearing the Delphic oracle he left his country Corinth to escape from such crime, and finally he is informed that he married his own mother and after being conscious of his relation with his mother he plugs out his own eyes out of remorse, agony and guilty feelings. On the contrary, Paul makes affair with his mother very consciously, feels quite pleased and comfortable of it instead of feeling ashamed or guilty like Oedipus. If it is a universal phenomenon then why the feelings of both of them are different in the same relation. Also, all critics agree that Oedipus was a victim of fate—Sophocles’ aim behind the drama was mainly to focus on the dominant power of fate what the society throughout history from ancient to Shakespearian to modern time does believe. So on one hand all the Greek or human society views Oedipus is guided or motivated by fate; Freud finds he is guided by sex what Oedipus nor the Greek nor the writer Sophocles himself imagined by his story on the other hand.

Contrast Between Jocasta and Mrs. Morel: Contradiction between Jocasta and Mrs. Morel also resembles the contradiction between Oedipus and Paul. If Freud’s claim is universal then the feelings of Jocasta and feelings of Mrs. Morel irrespective of their relationship with their sons should have been the same. But unfortunately this does not happen. Where Jocasta is married with her son unknowingly and upon being informed she commits suicide out of her agony and shame, Mrs. Morel gets consciously involved in sexual dealings with her own child and feels quite pleased and gratified for it.

Contrast Between Electra and Annie Morel: Freud’s female Oedipus complex known as Electra complex has also failure in Sons and Lovers .Electra’s abhorrence to her mother aroused from her sense of taking revenge of her father’s murder and mother’s relation with that killer .This sort of bitter propensity or reaction is quite usual from any daughter or child when his or her parent is slain. These feelings may rise from affection not from passion. However if Electra complex is a universal phenomenon caused by sexual feelings why Lawrence’s Annie is totally indifferent? Why he fails to apply it equally in case of Annie? In no stage Annie’s feelings resemble Electra’s in the novel. She is neither jealous of her mother nor feels weak to her father. Freud’s so-called child sexuality cannot prevent or cause Annie love her father nor abhor the mother. He rather has to show all the children’s abhorrence towards their vagabond and characterless drunkard father what is realistic, logical and is supposed to be a natural behaviour as all men admire good and detest bad. Annie as a rational creature of God and acts naturally.

Conclusion: It is true that in the history of psychology, Freud’s view of sexuality has intensive influence upon a number of thinkers. Some of his followers seem to have dedicated all their creativity behind the establishment of Freudian sex theories. But along with modernization of psychology and psychoanalytical process Freudian sex theories have been losing their appeal or acceptance. Possibly for that very reason Joseph Jastrow being a follower of Freud says that Freud’s Oedipus complex is an indecent and inadequate concept. It is impossible to find any root or origin of this claim. After constant perusal we have become able merely to know that it is nothing but a consequence of Freud’s imaginative psychoanalysis based on his personal supposition that lacks evidence. (Rahim, 2002) Besides this, if we come to conclude Paul’s case, his Oedipus complex and its causes are already vivid to us. Paul has not become a normal adult by getting over some problems like other children. That is not only determined by his mother’s abnormal maternity. The reasons are many ; some originate with the parents; some with himself and his brothers, some even from the society, the mechanical civilization, which all lead to the family tragedy and distortion of personality and devastate people’s healthy development on spirits. Hence, it is easy to realize and recognize that Paul’ relation with mother is the outcome of many unusual and abnormal causes, what are partial, exceptional and individual rather than universal. Thus it can be asserted that it is not usual or natural for the people living in a healthy family and environment to have such anomalous and complex emotional problems.

References:

1. Boeree. Dr. C. George. 2006. Personality Theories e-text book.
2. Freud, Sigmund. 1913. Interpretation of Dream, 3rd edition. Translation in English: Macmillan. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig & Vienna. Germany.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_complex
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_brain
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland
6. Junjie, Hu.2007. “Analysis of Paul’s Oedipus complex in Sons and Lovers”, Xiaogan University.
7. Lawrence, D. H. 1985. Sons and Lovers London: Banton Books.
8. Rahim, Moulana Mohammad Abdur. 2002. Pashchatto Sobhyotar Dharshonic Bhitthi (Philosophical Ground of Western Civilization). Khairun Prokashoni, Dhaka.
9. Safra, Jacob E. 1768. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15^th Edition, Volume: 8, Chicago.
10. Valentine, C.W.1962. The Normal Child and Some of His Abnormalities Penguin Books. Baltimore.

Author’s Bio: Sofe Ahmed is currently working as a lecturer of English at Ideal College, Sylhet, Bangladesh. He has research interest and experience in several fields. Currently his work on primary education in Bangladesh has been published in Teaching Journal of the OOI Junior Academy, U.S.A titled “The Strategic Priority for the Primary Education Development in Bangladesh: From Divergence to the Convergence of Multidimensional Institutions as Option”. Transactions on Primary Education, Volume 10,Number 1,2010, ISBN 0-9703797-8-1.