On the Reasons of Biddlebaum’s Aberrant Personality in Sherwood Anderson's Hands

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Sherwood：Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio has occupied a unique position in American literary history. Hands is a typical story in it. The short story describes Biddlebaum’s life experience, whose fate is changed because of his hands. The story analyzes the local town at that time very deeply, and especially the process of how the hero was considered a grotesque. The thesis illustrates the reasons why the hero in Hands is a grotesque through three factors: id, ego and superego based on Freud’s theory. Driven by the id, biddlebaum couldn’t release his unconscious desires. He gradually caught in fear and isolated from other people because of rational depression and self-control of ego. The fear to people changed into the conquest of the material through Biddlebaum’s hands, which shows through his incredible speed of picking strawberries, and this point reflects the function of superego in his personality pattern. Id, ego and superego interact each other, and they are depressed by the social reality. So Biddlebaum’s normal mental state is destroyed and not balanced. Therefore, the thesis holds the opinion that “grotesque” comes from the social reasons of the “aberrant town”.

Key words: Hands, Biddlebaum, personality theory

中图分类号：G4 文献标识：A 文章编号：1674-3520（2014）-04-00134-03

一、Introduction

sherwood anderson is a famous American writer. He is productive, and it was Winesburg, Ohio that made him famous at that time. He portaryed grotesque characters from a unique perspective. hands is the first story in Winesburg, Ohio and its hero Biddlebaum is a typical “grotesque”. The first part will introduce the author and the story briefly.

（一）A Brief Introduction to Sherwood Anderson and Winesburg, Ohio

Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) was the first mature novelist in the modern sense in early 1920s although he didn’t accept the systematic education (li Gongshao 150). He was born in Ohio and made a living by himself at the age of 14. After the experience of being a solider, a college student and a businessman, he started to write at the age of 40. He was productive and his works included Windy McPherson's Son, Marching Men, Poor White, Death in the Woods, Other Stories and Winesburg, Ohio. It was Winesburg, Ohio that made him a A-list-writer in America literature history. His work influenced Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald and a series of master writer, so he was regarded as the guide to some writers (Growley 8). Faulkner called Anderson the forefather of writing of his generation(Li Gongshao 216).

Winesburg, Ohio was published in 1919. It consists of one introduction ― "the Book of The Grotesque" and another 24 short stories. Anderson delivered a series of artful and poignant character sketches through the narrative voice of George Willard, the town reporter of Winesburg, Ohio. These short stories lead readers enter the lonely and strange lives of the inhabitants of the small town. The character in each story of this book shows his or her strange aspect in some ways, and the reason which made them grotesque were different. But there was something in common. That is, they were eager to communicate with other yet they were unable to do it.

（一）A Brief Introduction to Hands

Hands is the first story in Winesburg, Ohio. The central character of Hands is Wing Biddlebaum. Actually, he had once been a school teacher in Pennsylvania, he was not known as Biddlebaum, but by a less euphonic name of Adolph Myers. And he is a famous teacher beloved by most of his students. He likes to touch his boys’ heads and shoulders when he talks to them, and he dreams to plant dreams into the young minds. A half witted boy of the school becomes enamored of the young master. In his bed at night the boy imagines unspeakable things and in the morning he tells his dream’s as facts. It leads the young master into a big trouble for. His attentions to his students are misunderstood as being erotic. He is regarded as homosexual. And even he is beaten by the boy’s father. From then on, his hands can’t be accepted by the adults. People in his town want to hang him on account of his hands, but they let him go at last. He flees to Winesburg. On the way to Winesburg, he changes his name into Biddlebaum. In Winesburg, he makes a living by picking strawberries. And the speed of his hands is the fastest in the town, and he is famous for his hands. Then he is called Wing Biddlebaum. He is a mystery or someone to be ignored or to be mocked in Winesburg although he has lived in the town for twenty years. He is “forever frightened” and who has almost no connection with the people in Winesburg (Anderson 9). And all the reasons of those things are just because of his hands. Through this story, the author wants to tell readers the reason why a common person becomes a grotesque.

（三）A Brief Introduction to Personality Theory

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is a famous psychiatric doctor, psychologist and the forefather of psychoanalysis in Austria. His theories of psychology are not the pure philosophy in general and even different from the psychology in general, and they are intend to cure mental disease.

Freud clearly and briefly explained personality structure in Analysis of Personality Structure, and he believed human’s mind can be divided into “id”, “ego” and “superego” three parts. “Id” stands for uncontrollable animal instinct, its actions follow the “Pleasure Principle” (Huang Longbao 86). “Superego” is the best quality of a person, its actions follow “Perfect Principle” (Huang Longbao 86). “Ego” is the bridge connecting “id” and “superego”. It is a kind of rational thinking, and its actions follow “Reality Principle” (Huang Longbao 86). “Id” “ego” and “superego” comes from one's spiritual world and they indicate people's actions.

Personality structure is a kind of dynamic power system. Personality is also a complex and accurate psychology power system, too (Huang Longbao 88). And the power changes among id, ego and superego and influences their relationships.

二、Literature Review

Many people had done a lot of comments and analyses of Winesburg, Ohio. Of course most of them thought Winesburg, Ohio had a good influence in the literature history. The poet Hart Crane in Anderson’s time was the most ecstatic, proclaimed that “America should read this book on her knees. It constituted an important chapter in the Bible of her consciousness”. (Growley 25)

For the analysis of its writing types, there were several analyses. For example, in Wang Yahong's thesis "The Use of Symbols in Winesburg, Ohio”, she focused on several images, especially hands. In her thesis, she said hands refer to the communication between people. The writer said Anderson used the images to connect the theme and protagonists of the fiction tightly. Winesburg, Ohio was a milestone in American short story history. It mixed realism and modernism perfectly. It showed the modernism color in creative subject matter, written skills or representation techniques. So in Tang Bin's thesis "Modernist Perspective in Sherwood Anderson' Winesburg, Ohio”, Tang Bin analyzes the modernist perspective from the above three points. The thesis will analyze Hands in Winesburg, Ohio by using Freud’s Personality Theory. It will help readers know Anderson's profound insight and sharp foresight towards the society and people.

三、The Reason of Aberrant Personality of Biddlebaum

（一）The Forbidden Sexual Impulse of Biddlebaum’s Id

Id is the first rank in Personality Theory. In his Psychology Analysis Essential, Freud makes an answer to what is id. Id includes all the things natural borne; all the things inherited; all the things in physical structure, that is instinctive impulse and primitive needs. Id has four features. First, it belongs to unconscious area, and it is the most bottom part of mental activities (Xu Xinhua 172). Second, id is irrational. Because it satisfies the instinctive needs without rational control. The impulse is blind (Xu Xinhua 172). Third, id is timeless. For instinctive impulse, when it produced, it never changes with the pass of the time (Xu Xinhua 172). Fourth, id is immoral. It follows “Pleasure Principle”, it only pursues self-satisfactory but ignored moral (Xu Xinhua 172).

Id’s power shows the true ambition of individual organism. And the ambition here is to satisfy one’s inner needs. The power of id comes from instinct, and the root of instinct is desire and impulse, especially the sexual impulse, therefore, sexual impulse is the core impulse of id. Id is the store for sexual impulse (Huang Longbao 82).

In hands, Biddlebaum shows his sexual impulse though the way of touching boys’ heads and shoulders. For Biddlebaum, he is meant by nature to be a teacher of youth, and when he communicates with his students, he likes to touch them to pass on the love of a teacher which can’t be expressed by words. As the book said, that here and there went his hands, caressing the shoulders of the boys, playing about the tousled heads (Winesburg, Ohio 10).

Here shows his instinctive impulse, he touches boys without conscious, irrationality. At his time, touching between the same sexes is regarded as uncommon activity. People in his town think his actions are sexual harassment. But he couldn’t stop doing that. The words “caressing” and “playing” shows Biddlebaum’s friendly in the bottom of his heart, it shows his action is driven by sexual impulse as well. Sexual impulse is blind and immoral. When he talked with George, again he raised the hand to caress the boy (Winesburg, Ohio 9). Here shows the id is timeless. Because many years passed, although he had moved to Winesburg, the impulse of touching others still couldn’t be changed.

Based on Freud’s Theory, everyone no matter he is a baby or an adult, had the sexual impulse. Sexual impulse is natural and without conscious, conditions or reasons. For example, a baby sucks nipple is the sexual impulse. Biddlebaum likes touching students because of it. But people in his town blame Biddlebaum and even beat him, they ignore everyone has id. This is the first reason why Biddlebaum is aberrant in other people’s eyes.

（二）The Relutant Repression of Biddlebaum’s Ego

Ego in psychoanalysis, the division of the psyche that is conscious, most immediately controls thoughts and behaviors, and is most in touch with external reality. It accepts the stimulation from outer world and feels the exciting of the inner world as well. “Ego” stands for reason and judgement, it follows “Reality Principle”. (Huang Longbao 86) It both needs to satisfy the request of “id” and made itself conform to reality. It would satisfy one’s instinctive desire and need after making sure the human’s survival and normal development (Huang Longbao 85). When some actions are driven by sexual impulse of id, and the actions don’t conform to reality, ego would start to work.

When id works, if it comes across one outer resistance, outer frustration is produced; if it comes across the resistance of ego or superego, inner frustration is produced. Outer frustration produces because of surroundings and conditions; inner frustration produces because of the restriction from ego to id. And inner frustration is caused based on outer frustration (Huang Longbao 85). One who had suffered outer frustration, his ego would make self-control to his impulse and actions. Moreover, if the impulse of id is stronger than the control of ego, some thoughts or actions may be produced; otherwise, the thoughts or actions may be repressed.

One afternoon a man of the town, Henry Bradford, who kept a saloon, came to the school house door. Calling Adolph Myers into the school yard, he began to beat him with his fists. As his hard knuckles beat down into the frightened face of the schoolmaster, his wrath became more and more terrible. (Winesburg, Ohio 12)

The beating which Biddlebaum suffered is the outer resistance. It comes from people around Biddlebaum. It produces by the outer conditions and surroundings. People’s thoughts and hostility are the conditions and surrounding. This is outer frustration. From then, his ego is going to work in order to make sure his survival.

He had been ill for a year after the experience in Pennsylvania, and after his recovery worked as a day laborer in the fields, going timidly about and striving to conceal his hands. Although he did not understand what had happened he felt that the hands must be to blame. (Winesburg, Ohio 12)

Outer frustration causes inner frustration. Biddlebaum comes across outer frustration, ego would control the id based on “Reality Principle”. Here, ego is working yet, it controls the impulse of id. Because there are many reactions of Biddlebaum after he is beaten. For example, he is sick for one year and he always conceals his hands.

“Oh, you Biddlebaum, comb you hair, it’s falling into you eyes,” commanded the voice to the man, who was bald and whose nervous little hands fiddled about the bare white forehead as though arranging a mass of tangle locks. (Winesburg, Ohio 12)

This shows Biddlebaum gets nervous after the outer frustration. And the reaction shows that his id is controlled by ego.

In Hands, Biddlebaum likes to touch boys, and it is a kind of impulse. But he is beaten by one boy’s father, which is outer frustration. He suffers outer frustration, his live is threatened, and then his ego starts to work. The ego gives a strong resistance to id. So the action of Biddlebaum’s hands is repressed.

A few stray white bread crumbs lay on the cleanly washed floor by the table; putting the lamp upon a low stool he began to pick up the crumbs, carrying them to his mouth one by one with unbelievable rapidity (Winesburg, Ohio 10). The nervous expressive fingers, flashing in and out of the light, might well have been mistaken for the fingers of the devotee going swiftly through decade after decade of his rosary (Winesburg, Ohio 13).

This part wonderfully shows Biddlebaum’s nervous about his hands, his loneliness and a little sentimentality. Actually, the fast speed, like “a hundred and forty quarter of strawberries in a day” and the “the unbelievable rapidity”, all shows his fear, nervous that are caused by the sense of moral. What’s more, his self-close makes him lonely, and he has no truly friend because he doesn’t want to join others’ lives. He became a foundling and grotesque of the town finally.

（四）The Negative Response from the Town

The age in which Anderson lives and writes is a transitional time from agricultural society to an industrial society, and it is also an age when mechanical life substituted idyllic life. In order to survive, people have to discard the warmth in relationship, and they make their efforts into the acquisition and possession of money. What they believe is money and benefit.

Winesburg is a town in that time, and it is also a miniature of America of that time. People in Winesburg and Biddlebaum are all the miniature of true people in America who are influenced by the society. Anderson thought that in the conversion process of the society, as the social subjects, the people were suffering from distortions in industrialism and lost the possibility to be himself. For example, Biddlebaum feels he doesn’t belong to that town. Biddlebaum is a man who wanted to love and beloved, who wants to communicate with others. Unfortunately, he is in a transitional society. It is difficult to understand each other at that time, because they lost the ability of communication and love. There is a spiritual alienation and isolation between people.

四、Conclusion

In Hands Anderson shows one “grotesque”, Biddlebaum, he expresses his instinctive desire of communication, but he is misunderstood by the people around him. They think he is a grotesque, they even beat him, and he is driven out by them. He has to repress his love, to endure the torture of distorted emotions. His original mind becomes abnormal due to the heavy repression. Under the lead of superego, his actions become more grotesque. Based on Freud’s theory, when “id” “ego” and “superego” can not be in a state of equilibrium, people are giving rise to psychological problems. In addition, the social environment is also a factor that influences Biddlebaum.

Through the description of Anderson in Winesburg, Ohio about Biddlebaum and the other town people, it shows that Biddlebaum is a person who urges to communicate with others, but he is afraid of being misunderstood, thereby he represses his emotion. And makes himself more grotesque and misunderstanding. People in that society are indifference. He urges to beloved by others but he isn’t ready to get into others life. He lives under the repression, and loses the ability to communicate with others. Actually he is not the grotesque, he is a person who comprehends love but can’t express it properly.

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