Projection of Private Self via Dream Symbols: A Psychoanalytical Reading of Lessing's the summer before The Dark

Abstract

This research on Doris Lessing's novel The Summer Before the Dark (1970) studies feminine issue of self and identity in oppressive patriarchy through the subconscious and unconscious activities of the protagonist, Kate Brown, a middle aged woman. Interpretation of her unconscious mind in the form of her dreams reflects her search for 'self 'and identity. In order to interpret Kate's dream, the research uses Freudian concept of dream symbolism and Helene Cixous' idea of unconscious or dream as a source of achieving freedom elaborated. By writing about Kate's dreams, Doris Lessing represents the feminine self and identity as Cixous views that novelists are but the “allies of representationalism." As her dream of leading independent life is thwarted by oppressive, Kate's desires are repressed which ultimately inspire her to seek her 'self.' Kate frequently dwells upon her dream journey as she identifies her dying with a dying seal in her recurring dreams. She is constantly haunted by her own dream that resembles with her threatened ego and her projection of private self.