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A Melancholic Depressed Person: A Kristevian Approach to “The Depressed Person” by David Foster Wallace
Volume 3, Issue 4, 2021, Pages 71 - 75
1 M.A. student of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract :
"The Depressed Person" by David Foster Wallace is a monologue that is told in the third person point of view. It is a narration of the person's struggles with depression. This paper aims to demonstrate that not only she is depressed, but also, she is melancholic. The melancholia that is defined by Julia Kristeva happens when somebody loses his/her object of love in infancy. As an infant has not entered the realm of the Symbolic yet, it feels the loss but cannot comprehend it through language. Hence, when one grows up, he/she becomes melancholic, feeling a hint of deep sadness and loss but is unable to understand the reason. Another symptom of melancholia is the inability to communicate properly. All the processes mentioned are experienced by the narrator of "The Depressed Person". She feels that she has been abandoned in her infancy, however, cannot specify it and blame her depression on her parents' lack of attention to her in her childhood. She also finds it extremely hard to communicate with other people and finally does so because of her therapist's insistence. It is therefore concluded that she is melancholic based on Kristeva’s idea of melancholia.
"The Depressed Person" by David Foster Wallace is a monologue that is told in the third person point of view. It is a narration of the person's struggles with depression. This paper aims to demonstrate that not only she is depressed, but also, she is melancholic. The melancholia that is defined by Julia Kristeva happens when somebody loses his/her object of love in infancy. As an infant has not entered the realm of the Symbolic yet, it feels the loss but cannot comprehend it through language. Hence, when one grows up, he/she becomes melancholic, feeling a hint of deep sadness and loss but is unable to understand the reason. Another symptom of melancholia is the inability to communicate properly. All the processes mentioned are experienced by the narrator of "The Depressed Person". She feels that she has been abandoned in her infancy, however, cannot specify it and blame her depression on her parents' lack of attention to her in her childhood. She also finds it extremely hard to communicate with other people and finally does so because of her therapist's insistence. It is therefore concluded that she is melancholic based on Kristeva’s idea of melancholia.
Keywords :
Melancholia, Julia Kristeva, "The Depressed Person", David Foster Wallace, Depression.
Melancholia, Julia Kristeva, "The Depressed Person", David Foster Wallace, Depression.