Narcissism In Sunshine And Shadow

Narcissism is defined as excessive interest in one’s self-image and physical appearance. Christopher Lasch defined “the culture of narcissism” with seven characteristics, three of which are well reflected through Ann Beattie’s writing. These characteristics are that “they demand love and commitment from others, but they won’t give it”, “they feel their lives are entirely out of control, that they lack power and can’t be expected to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions” and “their dominant moods are anger and self-pity.” In “Sunshine and Shadow”, Jake is is expecting love from Laura Ann and Mary; however he does not want to give either of them all his affection. Throughout the movie Chilly Scenes of Winter, Charles waits …show more content…
The demand for love and commitment from others, but they are unwilling to give it, is well expressed by Jake in Ann Beattie’s story “Sunshine and Shadow.” Jake is cheating on his wife Laura Ann with one of her very good friends Mary. Throughout the story, Jake makes decisions that only benefit himself, while he never thinks about how his decisions will affect other characters. For example, when Jake was younger, he was wearing a bee suit and he was surrounded by bees. He froze up and couldn’t move. His neighbor thought he was being nice because he didn’t want to hurt any of the bees; however he didn’t move because he did not want to get hurt by any of the bees. Jake was being indecisive and was only thinking about himself. He continues this selfishness throughout his relationships with Laura Ann and Mary. Obviously he is not caring about Laura Ann’s feeling because he is cheating on her, however, like Lasch said, he still demands love from Laura Ann. The same applies to Mary. Mary knows that Jake is cheating on Laura Ann because they talk on the phone. However, Mary continues to cheat, and show love towards Jake, but since Jake can not make up his mind, he doesn’t show commitment to either Laura Ann or …show more content…
In the story “Gypsy Moths”, Billy is only focused on his stamps when Alice, his separated wife, is trying to discuss moving to her father’s farm with their daughter and having a new start. A decision like this affects everyone in the family, but he never stops to think about Nicki or Alice. All he cares about is getting his stamps to the farm without them being damaged. “‘Oh, come on,’ Billy says. ‘How am I going to move out of here? I couldn’t transport this stuff. It’s still coming in - cartons every day from the coast. You two think I can just pick up and do what I want, but come on - I’m working. Do you know what I’d have to go through to transport this collection to Connecticut? Do you think I could trust movers? I’d have to pack up the stamps and transport them - come on’” (Gypsy Moths. 4). Billy is only caring about himself and his stamp collection and is too concerned about his problems. He is not putting the most important things first, his wife, daughter and the future of their