On the Daughters’ Loss of Self-identity from TheDaughters of the Late Colonel

Wang Zhe

(The School of Foreign Languages of Huazhong Normal University，Wuhan Hubei 430079)

The Daughters of the Late Colonel stands as one of the best achievements by Katherine Mansfield，admired by Thomas Hardy as the “milestone in the history of English short story”[1].Divided in twelve sections，it narrates the story of two sisters，Constantia and Josephine，whose father，an authoritative and dictatorial figure，has just passed away.Josephine is more active and practical，whilst Constantia is more dreamy and evasive，but both of their thoughts and behavior presents immature due to their father’s repression upon them for years.This oppression is so intense that，even after his death，these women are unable to liberate themselves from his authority.They are unable to deal with the challenges of the everyday life on their own until the end .

一、The Daughters’ Self-identity Loss and Their Effects

After the death of the colonel，the daughters can’t handle their life at all.They can hardly envisage their inner feelings about the world and they have to live to rely on others but for themselves.Their dependence on their late father and even their servants is indicated in their every interaction with others.

Although the colonel is no longer existence，there are many mementos left for the daughters to miss him，to think of him and to be controlled spiritually by him.They find it difficult to believe that he is really dead and not somewhere waiting to criticize them.

Constantia wonders whether “father would mind if we gave his top hat to the porter”.Hat is to be weared on the head，the top part of one’s body.It symbolizes the majesty of their father.Will father be happy if they send his crown to a porter?

When Constantia and Josephine attempt to go through his possessions，merely opening the door to his room without knocking takes almost more courage than they possess.Even Josephine，who seems to be the braver sister，cannot open the chest of drawers.Typically，the decision that Constantia makes，and which she considers one of the boldest of her life，is a denial of action:She locks up the wardrobe and thereby postpones real action.To Constantia and Josephine，however，it is like locking up their father.

Whenever the colonel feels not happy or impatient，he will slam the ground by his stick.The stick also hit the sisters’ heart deeply at the same time and left them an indelible impression.When comes to the sounds of a barrel-organ，which their father detested，Josephine’s first response is asking Constatia to run to stop it.“Then they remembered.It didn’t matter.”It no longer need to be suppressed by giving money to the organist and asking him to go away.

No longer burdened with serving their father，the two sisters let their minds wonder into a private territory that the rigid norms of their society do not allow them to access in ’normal’ times - the territory of simple，impractical contemplating.

Constantia worries about what to wear during the mourning period，and she suggests to wear black because it is propriety.But the truth is that she is afraid of that when Kate(the maid，who is proud and insolent before the two sisters) or the postman might see them，they might think she is not polite.They dare not to ask Kate for more jam from her “burst open the sideboard”，put the empty jam pot on the table and “stalked off”.Kate even questions the sisters in a “bold voice” on how to cook the dinner，and “bounces back leaving their door open and slamming the door of her kitchen”，thus openly showing a careless and rather disrespectful attitude towards her polite，humble and rather frightful landladies.There seems to be a reversal of roles:the maid looks down upon her employers evidently and explicitly while the latter sometimes prefer to do things on their own in order not to “disturb” Kate.They are incapable of asserting themselves as the ladies of the house.Later，although they have proved to themselves that Kate snoops in their bureau，and although they are the victims of her consistent impertinence，they cannot summon up the resolution to dismiss her，although Josephine firmly says they should “come to a definite decision”.

Their self-identity loss also presents when they are with Nurse Andrews who is expected and invited to be a helpful lodger during the funeral time but turns out to take advantages of their kindness and not daring to say “no”.

二、The Culprit of the Loss of the Daughters’ Self-identity ——Father’s Repression

Father，as an important ethical role，occupies an important position in a family，which stands the basic structure in the human society.Traditionally，father is not only to supervise，to educate and protect the family members，but also to do punishment，which makes him the embodiment of authority.“Lacan has pointed out that the image of father，as a pure signifier，is the source and basis of all the binding rules.To the subject，it is an established symbol of unconditional acceptance and obedience.”[2]As for the poor sisters，the late colonel is the biggest abuser.We can actually find it just from the title of this story.The title uses “of” to strengthen the affiliation between the late colonel and the daughter directly，which implies that the daughters are possessions of the colonel，and they are totally controlled by him.

We can see the father’s repression from the following aspects.

三、Economic Repression——“Do you expect me to pay for this gimcrack excursion of yours?”

It is obvious that Josephin and Constatia always have no pocketbook except their father，that is to say，before their father’s death，they can hardly use money on their own mind.The flashback of their nephew Cyril’s visit proves it.Companying Cyril to tea is “one of their rare treats”.It is pathetic to read that they sacrifice their needs to buy the delicacies which he doesn’t even taste.“…the rich dark cake that stood for her winter gloves or the soling and heeling of Constantia’s only respectable shoes.”

Another evidence comes at that they torment themselves with thoughts of their dead father reappearing to scold them for burying him and to go into a fury about the expense of the funeral.Josephine “heard him absolutely roaring，‘And do you expect me to pay for this gimcrack excursion of yours?’”Could it be said that the colonel is a poor father without much money? Or a miser who seldom permit anyone to spend his money or even himself? We are not sure about it，but at least we believe that under the economic repression ultimately from father，the two sisters can’t deal with money independently，they might be lacking of money，but what they really lack is the self-affirmation to make decisions.

This deficiency also presents when they are discussing on whether they shall keep Kate or not.Josephine first tries to persuade themselves that they don’t need Kate anymore because “there’s not father to cook for.”How craven they are to put father forward as a shield to hide their weak ego.It is father that is dependent on Kate.They are attached to father to have a finger in the pie.Now father is dead，they lose the host’s power to ask for more jam.But what if they dismiss Kate? It comes to the economic question again.If they lose Kate，they have to deal with food which are “considered so very expensive.” Hence，to the end，they still have to endure Kate’s impoliteness and continue to pay her wages.

四、Discourse Repression——“I can’t say what I was going to say.”

In the story，there are many times when the two sisters want to say something to express their instant true feelings，ellipsis always appears.Their voice stops abruptly，so as their pursuit for their self-identity.Everyone is born with the power of discourse，but when it is oppressed，when people get no chance to express oneself，their mind will be gradually imprisoned.

Though there are only two sections describing their life before the colonel’s death，his discourse repression to the sisters undoubtedly exposes.The stick is his second mouth to thunder out his orders.The authoritative father，without much words，thumps his stick when he talks.Sometimes even “waved Josephine away with his stick.”No wonder that people who are in the face of him fears a lot to say anything.What’s worse，at this moment he will cry “out with it!” testily and begin to thump again.This series of actions of him is suffered by Cyril who is an outsider just coming to visit him.One can imagine that how much torment the sisters bear for those years.

Two days after the funeral，Josephine and Constatia feel relief and they “forgot to be practical and sensible” which was what conventions called for.They allow the sun to come in and stay for a while and release their hidden feeling of freedom by longing for “this other life”.They both seem to have something important to say to each other，about their future life.But neither of them speaks out.They let their lives slip back to the daily routine their father had forced them into，again.

五、Emotional repression——“He never even looked at them when they came in.”

“How Father approaches life will serve as an example for his daughter to build off of in her own life，even if she chooses a different view of the world,” says Michael Austin，associate professor of philosophy at Eastern Kentucky University.“A father’s involvement in his daughter’s life is a crucial ingredient in the development of a young woman’s self-esteem.”

In this story，the sisters’ mother died when they were very young.Hence，from the beginning，the sisters only have father to rely on.Though father is a ruthless dictator，he is still a kinsfolk who performs responsibilities and obligations to raise them and protect them，to some degree.The sisters have got accustomed to him and identified with him.Their love to father is another repression for them to lose themselves.They are infatuated with father’s authority，in a sense，and eager to receive acknowledge from father.They know what father like or dislike very well and try their best to cater to them.They feel astonished when Cyril doesn’t know which kind of cake his father like to eat，which reflect how much their father occupies in their heart.However，the colonel seems never be touched by the daughters，he is still that fearful，cold，intolerant and authoritarian father.On the daughters’ last sight of the father on his dead bed.

“He lay there，purple，a dark angry purple in the face，and never even looked at them when they came in.Then，as they were standing there，wondering what to do，he suddenly opened one eye.”

The father even doesn’t take a look at his daughters before death! What a totally negation to the poor sisters! The closest father underestimate them from the beginning to the end.Do they have any excuse to find themselves worthy? They deny themselves，as father did，which is another deep wound in their poor ego.

It is grieved to read this story without hope.But from the tragic life of the daughters in The Daughters of the Late Colonel，we can summarize the features of a tyrant father in a family，which are always controlling his family，restricting children’s rights to freedom of speech and of making choice，not allowing children to develop their personalities，to grow free from misconceptions about life，and not permitting their feelings to be expressed.We should educate our children from positive side and make them have clear self-identity，which is the basic factor to help them grow up and be independent.Let us not make the similar tragedy happen again.

参考文献：

[1]徐晗.英国短篇小说研究：凯瑟琳·曼斯菲尔德[M].北京：科学出版社，2013.

[2]范荣.父亲是一种隐喻——试析拉康的“父亲之名”在杜拉斯作品中的能指作用[J].外国文学研究，2006(5).