Uncanny in Fall on Your Knees
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- Date Submitted: 01/25/2010 08:05 PM
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Character Demonstration of Uncanny in Ann-Marie MacDonald's Fall On Your Knees
“They're all dead now” (Fall On Your Knees, MacDonald 1). through repression and resurgence, being repulsed and attracted at the same time, something that is familiar, although like nothing you have ever seen before, creating a strange, uneasy feeling, the feeling of uncanny. “The uncanny is much more than a weird feeling or intellectual uncertainty. The uncanny is something – a mental stage, an infantile complex – that was once familiar, harmless even, but after years of repression inexplicably bursts forth and now appears strange” (Studies in Canadian Literature, Baetz). Ann-Marie MacDonald's novella Fall On Your Knees creates a strange feeling of the Freudian concept of uncanny by character demonstration of repression, resurgence, and the formulation of strange and familiar instances. James, Materia, Kathleen, Mercedes, Frances, and Lily Piper all demonstrate forms of uncanny through their lives in Fall On Your Knees. “MacDonald's novel goes to great lengths to dramatize the psychological uncanny. On a number of occasions, the characters in Fall On Your Knees experience the uncanny” (Baetz).
Firstly, James Piper, father to the Piper sisters, demonstrates uncanny through mental processes, emotional response, and issues with identity. After the death of his beloved daughter, Kathleen, James mentally attempts to repress any memories of her. However, James demonstrates uncanny when his memories resurface after seeing a photo of Kathleen on the piano:
“Then he sees the photograph … James can hear Kathleen laughing at him, totally unafraid, nothing to be afraid of. Not like now in this room. Now is the dim past. Then was the shining present. He hears her laugh … You think you're safe. Until you see a picture like that. And then you know you'll always be a slave to the present because the present is more powerful than the past, no matter how long ago the present happened” (260)....
“They're all dead now” (Fall On Your Knees, MacDonald 1). through repression and resurgence, being repulsed and attracted at the same time, something that is familiar, although like nothing you have ever seen before, creating a strange, uneasy feeling, the feeling of uncanny. “The uncanny is much more than a weird feeling or intellectual uncertainty. The uncanny is something – a mental stage, an infantile complex – that was once familiar, harmless even, but after years of repression inexplicably bursts forth and now appears strange” (Studies in Canadian Literature, Baetz). Ann-Marie MacDonald's novella Fall On Your Knees creates a strange feeling of the Freudian concept of uncanny by character demonstration of repression, resurgence, and the formulation of strange and familiar instances. James, Materia, Kathleen, Mercedes, Frances, and Lily Piper all demonstrate forms of uncanny through their lives in Fall On Your Knees. “MacDonald's novel goes to great lengths to dramatize the psychological uncanny. On a number of occasions, the characters in Fall On Your Knees experience the uncanny” (Baetz).
Firstly, James Piper, father to the Piper sisters, demonstrates uncanny through mental processes, emotional response, and issues with identity. After the death of his beloved daughter, Kathleen, James mentally attempts to repress any memories of her. However, James demonstrates uncanny when his memories resurface after seeing a photo of Kathleen on the piano:
“Then he sees the photograph … James can hear Kathleen laughing at him, totally unafraid, nothing to be afraid of. Not like now in this room. Now is the dim past. Then was the shining present. He hears her laugh … You think you're safe. Until you see a picture like that. And then you know you'll always be a slave to the present because the present is more powerful than the past, no matter how long ago the present happened” (260)....