A Piteous Victim——An Exploration into the Psychological Trace of the Grandmother in The Acorn-gatherer

On the perspective of psychoanalytic criticism,three human psyche models propounded by Freud,Jung and Lancan were employed to reveal the psychological trace of the tragic character,the grandmother in The Acorn-gatherer.Back to the country life in late Victorian England,a lonely elderly widow had to bring up her illegitimate grandson,but her grandson couldn’t bear her mistreatment,left home and died accidentally.The old grandmother bore the hardship strenuously but had to live her old and ailing days lonely which is like a candle guttering in the wind.Deluged with the social discrimination and bias led by the collective unconscious,her help doesn’t come from anyone in the utilitarian oriented grass roots.Nor does it come from the Lord’s real redemption owing to a country woman’s limited knowledge and inwardness.Under the great strain from the grey society,she was gradually distorted mentally.As a result,she was victimized by the grey tide of the society but she herself was a victimizing force to her grandson.The psychological exploration of the piteous victim can thoroughly interpret the author’s implication,i.e.condemning the evils of the society and man’s wicked nature.