Psychoanalytic Analysis Of Crow Lake

When Kate Morrison was seven years old her parents were shockingly killed in a car accident. Relying on each other and their neighbours, Kate along with her three siblings, Bo, Luke, and Matt are forced to subsist. Now as a twenty six year old biologist attending university in Toronto, Kate is forced to reflect on her childhood as she is about to return to her hometown, Crow Lake. Specifically, Kate contemplates on her relationship with her older brother Matt, who mentored her as a child. This novel is extremely relatable throughout many various attributes. When observing the text through a critical theory lens it is apparent the psychoanalytic literary theory is applicable. The psychoanalytic literary theory seeks to explore the character’s …show more content…
Primarily, the Pye family, who live beside the siblings, offer many of these symbols which is why they are essential in the story. As Kate states during chapter one, “The other thing we didn’t know was that the Pye nightmare was destined to become entangled with the Morrison dream” (Lawson 7). The Pye family becomes increasingly familiar throughout Crow Lake, many of the interactions between the two families reveal essential symbols found in the text. The first symbol which can be discerned is the belt which Calvin Pye used to abuse his children with. “There were marks on his back. Small curved marks like little horseshoes. Some were bluish red and stood out from the skin, and some were white and faded and flat. His back was covered with them, all the same shape, like a U on its side” (Lawson 132). One would assume these marks are the aftermath of an attack with the use of a belt. It is clear that the belt represents obedience which Calvin is trying to bestow on his children. When working on the Pye family farm Matt witnessed Calvin Pye threatening to beat his son, Laurie, with a belt. This malicious character is driven by the death of his own once abusive father. As a child Calvin and his brothers were also abused by their spiteful father just as the generations before had been. Kate learned of this wretched past when she was …show more content…
After observing the text through a critical theory lens it is clearly visible that the psychoanalytic literary theory is significant. Symbols and character affiliation each suggest connections to this theory. The unsettled relationships between the Morrison and Pye families is the motive for these relations resulting in the connections made. As mentioned in Quill and Quire “Every detail in this beautifully written novel rings true, the characters so solid we almost feel their flesh”. Lawson did an outstanding job truly bringing the story to