Analysis of Katherine's Return to the Real Order in The Well: Based on Lacan's Three Orders Theory

Elizabeth Jolly, a famous female writer in Australia, has created various characters on the margin of society. The Well is one of her representatives. It tells the story of Hester Harper and her adopted orphan Katherine living together in a farm. The originally quiet life was broken by a sudden car accident, after which Katherine became insane. This thesis discusses the process of Katherine’s return from the Symbolic Order to the Real using Lacan’s Three Orders Theory of psychoanalysis. The purpose is to reveal Katherine’s madness for returning to the Real, as to draw a conclusion that Katherine’s madness is not only the escape from the Symbolic, but also her resistance to the patriarchal society and oppression of Hester.

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