The White Hotel by D.M. Thomas
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The novel The White Hotel by D.M. Thomas is structured around a complex mix of mythology, psychology, dream references, and archetypal images, and it includes real-life characters such as Sigmund Freud and is in fact based on a case-history written up by Freud. The imagery is often sexual in nature, derived from the fantasies and dreams of a girl named Anna who claims to have had a sexual relationship with Freud's son, though Freud says she never met his son and is only recalling a story he told her once about his son being in the military. Thomas's method in telling this story adds richness to the themes, characterizations, and structure, but it can also be daunting for the reader who must analyze images and decide whether they are real or imaginary as well a what they mean to Anna and to Freud. Much of the sexual imagery is linked, and in addition it links to earlier legends and myths suggesting that certain images and ideas are archetypical, residing in what Jung called our collective unconsciousness, meaning that they convey their meaning to generation after generation because they are manifestations of our deepest psychology. An examination of some of the sexual imagery in this novel shows how the story links back to mythical archetypes and so extends the meaning of the novel to all humanity. The nature of the novel is noted by Milton, who points out that the novel deals with the fact that truth "is multiple, many-layered, and seldom final" (Milton 50), and that t
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of running from soldiers:
There was no escape except to become one of the trees. She would gladly give up her body, her rich life, to become a tree, frozen in humble existence, the home of spiders and ants (Thomas 31).
Such a transformation here is linked particularly with escape, protection from the soldiers who would then be reduced to standing by the tree in disappointment.
The image comes from classical myth as Daphne was pursued by Apollo, Daphne was a nymph and follower of artemis, the virgin goddess. As Apollo was about to overtake her, she prayed to her parent, either the Earth or an aquatic male god, to save her. Just as she was about to be captured, Daphne turned into the laurel or bay tree. This metamorphosis rescued her from Apollo's clutches. It also created the laurel or daphne, and chewing the leaves of this tree was supposed to induce a fit of clairvoyant possession in religious rituals.
Anna dreams of running from the men and in her dream collapses in the woods:
Her hand touched something hard and cold; when she cleared away the leaves she found the iron ring of a trapdoor (Thomas 32).
The trapdoor would mean escape from the death following her, an escape into a different realm through the door--
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Ring Nibelungen, Apollo Daphne, Thanatos Freudian, Babi Yar, Anna Freud, Sigmund Freud, Pushkin Janacek, Anna G's, DM Thomas, London Review, milton 50, white hotel, becoming tree, thomas 86, thomas 86 swans, hotel york, thomas 31, sexual imagery, lake sense, human life, freud's son, soldiers waiting shoot,
Approximate Word count = 1616
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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