《小城畸人》為舍伍德•安德森最知名作品，而在書中的二十五篇故事，描寫了在一虛構的小鎮裡各式畸人的不同面向。縱然畸人們的背景不一，心理的創傷卻是共有的特徵。小鎮中的人們心懷悲楚卻無處宣洩，日復一日的苦悶單調生活讓他們無所遁逃，無法回復正常狀態。當內在不可見的受創層面擴張滋長，外顯的行為與生活也就隨之受影響而使他們變成畸人。安德森本人也曾經於一九一二年時發生精神混亂的狀況，放下手邊的公司營運且拋家棄子，最後才藉由書寫創作回到生活的常軌。一九一九年出版的《小城畸人》即為安德森歷經精神崩潰後的首部作品集，書中滿溢著作者對於其筆下人物的關懷與同情。然而在本書中，一名角色—喬治•威拉德，身為少數免於淪為畸人的他，展現了安德森對於脫離畸人狀態可能性的提示。
本論文共有兩章。第一章解釋西格蒙•佛洛依德於《性學三論》中所提出的性心理發展以及伊底帕斯情結，還有其晚年所提出的自我、本我與超我。接著再應用此論點分析書中角色伊莉莎白•威拉德的成長背景及與其子喬治•威拉德間情感上難以表達溝通之關係。再接著藉由安娜•佛洛依德承繼其父並發揚光大之心理防衛機制，探討伊莉莎白在追尋愛情真義的過程中因為對婚姻的錯誤認知與心理防衛機制使用失敗而無法突破人生困境，最後只能以畸人的狀態含悲而逝。
第二章再繼續採用自我、本我與超我，及心理防衛機制來討論喬治•威拉德的尋愛之旅，與探討喬治因為與其母一樣想要了解愛情的真諦而開始追尋。儘管喬治在過程中遭逢了感情上來自其他女性的挫折，他卻不會和其他小鎮的人們一樣落入受創的困境；反之，他成功地擺脫自我的性力影響，改以本我來作主判斷，更懂得應用了不同的心理防衛機制來調適自己，並轉換目標來找尋自我肯定。到本書結尾，喬治明白了愛情並非只是身體的慾望或口頭之詞，而是應該要透過互相了解來獲取。他也才成為了一位足以脫離小鎮所給予其中居民的生理與心理困局的成人。

Winesburg, Ohio is Sherwood Anderson’s most famous work, and among the twenty-five stories, Anderson depicts various grotesques in a fictional town. Though these grotesques have different reasons, they have mental traumas in common. The characters in town harbor a grudge and can’t show their emotion through communication; the gloomy and dull life day after day stifles them and offers no way out. They are not able to resume normal mental state. When the invisible trauma grows from inside, the outward behavior are out of their control and transform them into grotesques. Anderson suffered from mental breakdown in 1912, and at the time he laid his business aside and left his families. He later got life back on track by writing creative works. Winesburg, Ohio, published in 1919, is the collection of his composition just after he recovered from the confused mental state. Anderson shows great concern and sympathy toward the characters of Winesburg. However, among the characters he created, through one lad, George Willard, Anderson hints the possibility of not being a grotesque by means of psychological adjustment.
This thesis includes two chapters. Chapter one delineates the Oedipus complex of psychosexual development from Sigmund Freud’s Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, and id, ego, and superego. Then I apply the above theories to review the family background and process of growth of Elizabeth Willard, George’s mother. Further, I analyze the inarticulate relationship between the mother and son. With the employment of Anna Freud’s mechanisms of defense, I regard Elizabeth’s process of seeking love as failure; for she mistakes the meaning of marriage and misuses the defense mechanism. Finally, she cannot turn the corner in life, and dies with a deep grief, as a grotesque.
In the second chapter, I continue to use the theory of id, ego, and superego, and the mechanisms of defense to examine George Willard’s quest for love. Like his mother Elizabeth Willard, George also sets out the journey of seeking love. Although frustrated by other female characters in the romantic relationship, George avoids the pitfalls which traumatize the other Winesburg characters and turn them into grotesques. On the contrary, he is no longer bonded to the influence of libido from id, and he can make use of the defense mechanisms of ego to let off his emotion and reach self-fulfillment; thus he is able to proceed on his quest by getting along with different women. Till the end of the book, George realizes that love is not acquired through sexual desire or verbal commitment but mutual understanding. Hence George becomes immune from the physical and mental plight in Winesburg.

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