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Hawthorne’s Ego Defense Mechanism on “The Birthmark” Herin Ratnaningsih
International Journal of Pedagogical Language, Literature, and Cultural Studies (i-Plural) Vol. 1 No. 3 (2024): International Journal of Pedagogical Language, Literature, and Cultural Studies
Publisher : Nexus Publishing

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.63011/ip.v1i3.22

Abstract

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" is a rich embroidery of human psychology entwined to Puritan society. The following analysis examines human imperfection and the attempt to pursue perfection by employing the ego defence mechanism. In Hawthorne's "The Birthmark", Aylmer endures the anxiety and fear of intimacy that he leads to deny and projects Georgiana’s birthmark removal through scientific surgery. His fixation on her birthmark is also a way to unleash his scientific insecurity. Georgiana not only internalizes Aylmer’s ideals but also rationalizes the removal of the birthmark. This study exhibits Aylmer’s and Georgiana’s denial, repression, projection, idealization, and rationalization through the specific analysis.
Feminist Defiance in My Brilliant Career: Female Independence and the Rejection of MarriageFeminist Defiance in My Brilliant Career (1901): Female Independence and the Rejection of Marriage Herin Ratnaningsih; Zhang Jiasheng
International Journal of Pedagogical Language, Literature, and Cultural Studies (i-Plural) Vol. 2 No. 3 (2025): International Journal of Pedagogical Language, Literature, and Cultural Studies
Publisher : Nexus Publishing

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.63011/ip.v2i3.50

Abstract

This article examines Miles Franklin’s novel My Brilliant Career (1901) through a feminist and postcolonial lens, focusing on Sybylla Melvyn’s rejection of marriage and her efforts to achieve artistic autonomy amid the limitations of British settler colonialism. The novel subverts the Victorian ideals of womanhood- domestic, passive, and submissive—by featuring Sybilla, who defies patriarchal and colonial expectations. Drawing on the theories of Woolf and Spivak, this analysis highlights how Sybylla’s refusal to surrender her intellectual and economic independence to the institution of marriage reveals that feminist ambitions are inextricably intertwined with the formation of national identity in the Australian colonial context. Her struggle to define herself beyond the role of wife or daughter criticizes the doctrine of coverture and exposes gendered exclusions in the Australian literary canon. The study argues that My Brilliant Career articulates a proto-feminist spirit that not only defies colonial legacies but also demands a rereading of Australian national identity through the lens of women’s autonomy and resistance. Keywords: Australian colonial context, feminist, My Brilliant Career, rejection of marriage.