Document Type : علمی- پژوهشی

Authors

• fatemeh hayatdavoodi ¹
• mohammad hassan hassanzadeh ²
• asad abshirini ³

¹ Ph.D. student of Persian language and literature, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz. Ahvaz. Iran

² Department of Persian Language and Literature,, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran

³ Department of Persian Language and Literature, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz. Ahvaz. Iran

Abstract

Ecopsychology studies human psyche in relation to environment. Psychology, which is based on Freud's theory of personality structure, is product of mutual, interactive and conflicting relationship between three factors of Id, ego and superego. Of course, ecopsychology is opposed to Freud's views when it emphasizes introduction of God into individual's worldview. Now, with a descriptive-analytical method, we will deal with question of what effect nature has had on spirit and behavior and actions of people in fictional community of Empty Place of Solouch of Dolatabadi? To show the dominance of nous that such crises have created in personality structure of Solouch family and caused balance of their ego to be disturbed. The results of research show that dominance of nous in this novel, with mechanization of agriculture by Mirza Hassan, regardless of its compatibility with environment and its people, Solouch with chaotic impulses of "id", Mergan with grief and Makholia Abrav with inability of his "ego" to balance between "id", "superself" and outside world, Abbas with antisocial personality disorder and Hagar has faced dependent personality disorder. In fact, the dominance of nous, because it was used without considering the resilience of the environment and people of that region, has upset the ego balance of the novel's characters and caused them to have personality disorders that cause of such disturbances can be seen in lack of unconscious emotional participation of characters of novel with natural phenomena influenced by capitalist world and humanism of Enlightenment era.

Highlights

Expanded Abstract

Criticism and analysis of ecopsychology in Solouch Vacancy novel of Mahmoud Dolatabadi with a look at Freud's theory of personality structure.

Introduction

Ecopsychology as a branch of ecology "was developed in the 1990 by the work of Theodore Roszak, Mary Gomez, Allen kanner and Robert Greenway" (Douglas, 2014: 50). Ecopsychologists have provided solutions to break the harmful connection and modify the behavior of humans with natural environment and have called for a change in worldview and performance of humans in dealing with their environment. Solutions that can play an effective role in minimizing environmental damage that is root of many personality disorders. In general, ecopsychology is combination of psychological and environmental issues that deals with study of human psyche in relation to environment, which can be investigated in fictional society of Solouch Vacancy.

Research background and theoretical foundations

Researches using environmental approaches have been carried out in field of literary texts, examples of which can be seen in collection of articles collected by Glotfelty, Garrard, and books and articles by Thoreau, Muir, Thomashow, etc.

The natural environment has great impact on formation and continuity of human life and their identity structure, and in addition to the human body, it also has effects on the soul and psyche. Therefore, deep ecology emphasizes self-reconstruction and an ecocentric view of environmental ethics, including the inherent value of all forms of life, and creates an ecopsychological view (Thomashow, 1995: 59). An ecopsychological perspective that examines the human psyche in relation to nature; Psychology, which is the product of the mutual, interactive and conflicting relationship of three factors (Shamlo, 1989: 32), id, ego and superego. Id is subject to the principle of pleasure and "includes all the characteristics that a person inherits" (Freud, 2012: 3). ego adjusts the demands of the " id " and "controls the ways of motility, i.e. the expression of emotions to the outside world" (Freud, 2013: 232). The superego is the conscience that is established in childhood under the upbringing of parents, and as Freud says, "the transcendental nature is here. In "ideal self" or "superego" which is the manifestation of our relationship with our parents" (Freud, 1994: 247).

Discussion and review

Solouch Vacancy novel of Mahmoud Dolatabadi depicts people in the 40 and 50 that nature plays an essential role in their lives. The nature that has undergone changes due to land reforms, mechanization of agriculture and drought and has left an impact on their individual growth and identity reconstruction. For example, Solouch " ego " has not been able to homogenize the chaotic impulses of his " id " in relation to the realities that are going on in nature, and also to give it a logical appearance in front of the threats and dangers caused by the society, so he leaves the family that Such abandonment makes Mergan face challenges that we find out by analyzing his inner " ego " as well as his self-blame. Blame that originates from "an object or subject of affection that has been transferred from that subject to the patient's own ego" (Freud, 2012: 89) and has caused grief and mourning in him:

"O mergan! Your love can only be expressed in own oldest face: tear. So you are free to just cry until the Day of Judgment. crying and crying. Your mother's tears are silent swamp in you. Dig a hole and let it go. Let it flow in you. make flow. yourself make flow. You can cry with the eyes of all mothers. Get into the turmoil..." (Dolatabadi, 1982: 263-262).

In Abrav, his "superego" or his superior self, which should have been established in childhood under the upbringing of his parents, suffers from disorders to the influence of the outside environment and the departure of his father from home that we see the manifestation of such disorder in his behavior with his mother for kicking him out of "God Earth" and throwing dirt on his head with a tractor shovel:

“Abrav put his hand on the collar of Sanam's son and said: - Bring Abbas out, you! I am not my father's son if I don't bury this woman today. You just take that innocent child out!/ Without saying anything, he ran to the tractor, sat on the seat and started the engine..." (Ibid.: 419).

Since Abbas has not been able to include and experience such an environment in his life as it is, it has not led to giving meaning to his life; Because the memories of his childhood places are associated with the understanding of troubled places and his life has faced changes. As Yung also says, "children's neuroses are more signs of the unhealthy environment of parents than they are symptoms of their own illness" (yung, 2014: 45-46). In this novel, Abbas is an impulsive, uncontrollable and antisocial character; Because "antisocial personality is known with a pattern of disregarding the rights of others and its violation " (Reza'i et al., 2015: 683), that is also manifested in Abbas. The character of Hajar also has a weak "ego" in this novel; Because she is a dependent character. This dependence goes so far as to make him suffer from dependent personality disorder; Because people with this disorder are "usually passive and allow others to take the initiative and take responsibility for most of the important areas of their lives" (Reza'i et al., 2015: 714).

 Conclusion

The most important component that we reach in Solouch Vacancy novel of  dolatabadi by analyzing ecopsychology based on Freud's theory of personality structure is that the natural environment plays an essential role in the physical and mental life of humans. The environment in Solouch Vacancy novel has undergone changes due to land reforms, mechanization of agriculture and drought, and has created disturbances in the actions and values of the novel's characters, which are framed based on their understanding of the natural ecosystem. For example, in Solouch, the inability of his "ego" to homogenize the chaotic impulses of the "id", in mergan mourning and mourning and followed by makholia, in Abrav, the inability of his "ego" to balance between "id", "superego" and the outside world. In abbas has led to antisocial personality and in hajar has caused dependent personality disorder that the cause of such disturbances can be seen in the lack of unconscious emotional participation of the characters of the novel with natural phenomena.

References

Abedin, A (2018), diagnosis and treatment of borderline personality disorder from a psychodynamic view, with collaboration Elham Shoghinia, Tehran: ghatre.

Antonov, V (2008), Ecopsychology, CreateSpace.

American Psychiatric Association (2015), Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, translated by Farzin Rezaei and others, Tehran: Arjmand, 3rd edition.

https://doi.org/10.22034/perlit.2023.56829.3493

Keywords

• ecopsychology
• Empty Place of Solouch
• Id
• ego
• superego

Main Subjects

• Literary theories