Abstract
Sherwood Anderson (1879-1941) made his name as a leading naturalistic writer with his masterwork, Winesburg, Ohio (1919), of which stories concern an inward reality that focuses on the psychology of individuals within a small American town.
In this study, I psychoanalyze the inner conflict of Reverend Curtis Hartman in “The Strength of God, ” pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Winesburg. To help understand this story I also look at “The Teacher, ” a story of a female teacher at elementary school in Winesburg called Kate Swift, which is the reverse story of “The Strength of God.”
By accident, the minister saw the bare shoulders and neck of the teacher through the window of the study room in the bell tower of the church. While this sight gave him a great shock, he also realized his own lust, which he believed to be an evil desire. I observe his desire to peep at the teacher as the result of the domination of id toward ego. Put it at its most extreme, I regard this action of id causes his evil desire. I also apply this view to the notion of “shadow, ” one of the archetypes of Jung's collective unconscious. I consider this pastor's “shadow” as a man having the carnal desire while his “light” as a successful clergyman to be greatly respected by the town' s people. I judge it is necessary for him to accept own “shadow.” Then the shadow makes his light more stand out.
In his work Anderson depicts the real aspect of men which is not possible to express with evading the issue of sex and through the work he wants to tell us to respect humanity which always has a dark side as the “shadow” while we accept the actual aspect of men.
