Hannah Peace’s Suicide in Toni Morrison’s  Sula : A Psychoanalytic Approach

Nindy Andini; Nur Saktiningrum

doi:10.22146/lexicon.v7i1.64592

Hannah Peace’s Suicide in Toni Morrison’s Sula: A Psychoanalytic Approach

https://doi.org/10.22146/lexicon.v7i1.64592

Nindy Andini⁽¹⁾, Nur Saktiningrum^(2*)

(1) English Department, Universitas Gadjah Mada
(2) English Department, Universitas Gadjah Mada
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract

This research discusses Hannah Peace’s suicide by exploring her past life, from her childhood until she decides to commit suicide. This research aims to find core issues faced by her and what triggers her to commit suicide. Psychoanalysis theories and theory of suicide proposed by Shneidman are applied in this research. The results show that her suicide is caused by psychological pain which stems from many painful experiences in her past life. After exploring her distressing experiences, it can be said that Hannah faces two core issues, which are fear of abandonment and fear of intimacy. However, her suicide is not merely caused by psychological pain. There are two factors which lead to her suicide: intrapsychic and interpersonal factors. Intrapsychic factor refers to the internal psychological processes of an individual, while interpersonal factor refers to the relationship between an individual and other people.

Keywords

psychoanalysis; suicide; psychological pain; fear of abandonment; fear of intimacy

Full Text:

PDF 95-105

References

Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss Volume III: Loss, sadness and depression. New York: Basic Books.

Freud, S. (1949). An outline of psychoanalysis. (J. Strachey, trans.). New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1949.

Jones, K. (2018, April 6). What sleeping with married men taught me about infidelity. The New York Times. Retrieved Feb. 5, 2019 from nytimes.com/2018/04/06/style/modern-love-sleeping-with-married-men-infidelity.html.

Krohn, F. B. & Bogan, Z. (2001). The effects absent fathers have on female development and college attendance. College Student Journal, 35, Dec. 2001, pp. 598.

Leenaars, A. A. (2010). Edwin S. Shneidman on suicide. Suicidology Online, 1, Mar. 2010, 5–18. suicidology-online.com/pdf/SOL-2010-1-5-18.pdf.

Leenars, A. A. (1996). Suicide: A multidimensional malaise.” Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior, 6(3), 221–236.

MoonShiriya, M. (2018). Women’s resistance portrayed in Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, The Bluest Eye and Sula. 2013. (Unpublished undergraduate thesis), BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Morrison, T. (1975). Sula. New York: Bantam Books, Inc.

Ospina, M. M. C. (2014). The negation of the other in the novel Sula by Toni Morrison. (Unpublished undergraduate thesis), University of Valle, Cali, Colombia.

Shneidman, E. S. (1998). Further reflections on suicide and psychache. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior, 28(3), 245-250.

Sy, K. (2008).Women's relationships: Female friendship in Toni Morrison's Sula and Love, Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter and Sefi Atta's Everything Good Will Come. (Unpublished PhD. Ddissertation), Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.

Talmantaitë, A. (2008). Conceptual metaphors of death in Tony Morrison’s novel Sula. (Unpublished master thesis), Vilnius Pedagogical University, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Timofte, I. (2002). The disabled body in Toni Morrison’s novel Sula. (Unpublished undergraduate thesis), Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Tyson, Lois. Critical theory today : A user-friendly guide. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2006.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/lexicon.v7i1.64592

Article Metrics

Abstract views : 4197 |

Refbacks

There are currently no refbacks.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Lexicon Office

English Department
Faculty of Cultural Sciences,
Universitas Gadjah Mada
Soegondo Building, 3rd Floor, Room 306
Yogyakarta, Indonesia 55281
Telephone: +62 274 513096
Email: lexicon.fib@ugm.ac.id

ISSN: 2746-2668 (Online)

View Stats

LEXICON is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Lexicon is indexed in

About Us	Submission	Issue	Policies	Review
Editorial Team Journal History Contact	Author Guidelines Article Submission Account Registration	Current Issue All Issues Upcoming Issue	Privacy Statement Open Access Publication Ethics	Review Process Peer Reviewers Reviewer Guidelines

Username
Password
Remember me