Yunhong Li
FIQWS 101008 &100008
Prof. Elisabeth von Uhl & Prof. Alyssa Yankwitt
10/31/2019
Reflection of “Connie’s Inner World”
This essay “Connie’s Inner World” is an exploratory essay of mine. In this essay, I chose to use Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” to exposit Freud’s psychoanalytic concepts of absence, the unconscious, and some elements of the dream. Also, I used the protagonist of the story Connie’s lack of self-confidence that leads from the reproaches of her mother and the indifference of her father as my thesis to start this essay. The genre of this essay requires me to read the story over and over again, and have a clear understanding of Freud’s lectures in order to show my detailed analysis and interpretation of the story and psychoanalytic terms to readers. This is also my purpose for writing this essay. I want to use what I have learned from Freud’s lectures to prove and support my view of this story, and persuade my readers, let them identify with me. My essay will guide readers to have a deeper understanding and new cognition of the story. The first readers of my essay will be Prof. Alyssa Yankwitt and Prof. Elisabeth von Uhl, who will read and grade my essay. The following readers may be loyal readers of Oates’s story, and those interested in psychology.
As I write this article, I wanted to focus on analyzing Connie’s dream and the psychoanalytic concepts revealed in her dream. It’s also the climax of the whole story. But because I changed my thesis and content a lot when I was about to finish the essay, and there are some reasons why I am not familiar with and understand the Freudian concept properly. Therefore, I didn’t analyze the indifference of Connie’s father affect Connie and how this relation illustrates the Freudian concept of dream adequately. If I had the opportunity to supplement this essay, I would analyze the relation of Connie and her father in detail and explain how the concept of dream revealed in it. In addition, I didn’t understand these psychoanalytic concepts well, which shows I have great difficulty in understanding the course. As a result, I couldn’t accurately explain psychoanalytic concepts and connect to the story. I need to improve my English listening, and if I don’t understand the content of the class, I should ask the professor and classmates actively.
After writing this exploratory essay, I learned how can I use what I have learned to help me re-understand and explore other readings. Writing an exploratory is very different from writing a literacy narrative essay. It’s a challenge for me. I cannot write it in my own opinion. I have to use Freud’s statement to prove the thesis, then make the analysis. Even though I didn’t do a good job on writing this essay, I will sum up the experience, and try my best to show my improvement in the next essay.
