The Oedipus Complex applied to Canada and Quebec in Hugh MacLennan's Two Solitudes

                 A review of Hugh MacLennan’s novels led literary critic T.D. MacLulich to declare that “all of MacLennan’s novels exhibit oedipal motifs."  MacLennan’s fascination with the Oedipus complex, shorthand for the Freudian theory of the child’s (usually male) fondness for the parent of the opposite sex and the subsequent jealousy and animosity towards the parent of the same sex, stems from his relationship with his parents. Whereas he developed a close friendship with his mother, his attempts at being accepted by his father were futile. Dr. Samuel MacLennan, a third-generation Canadian descended from Calvinist highland Scots, was a severe man; in fact, many family members remember being “terrified” of him. Having achieved the dreams his father had set out for him, Hugh finally rebelled against his father as a twenty-five year old man, disillusioned with the path he had taken in order to please his father. As he wrote late in life, upon reflection of his youth, he considered his rebellion to be the “slaying of a father-image."  MacLennan’s relationship with his father led to his interest in the Oedipus complex, which he applied to the characters of Athanase and his son Marius Tallard in his novel Two Solitudes, in which this Freudian concept is also applied to the relationship between federalist and nationalist Quebeckers.

Like Hugh and Samuel, Athanase and Marius have a strained relationship. Their rupture occurs when Marius becomes aware that Athanase makes love to Kathleen in a hospital room while his wife and Marius’ mother, Marie-Adèle, dies. In Freudian oedipal theory, this moment is the “primal scene” in which the son realizes that his father’s relationship with his mother is sexual. In their case, the mother-figure is not Marius’ biological mother, but his youthful step-mother who is not much older than him. Consistent to the framework of the Oedipus complex, Marius feels a sexual attraction towards a maternal figure. When Marius feels “sick from shame” after lusting after Kathleen’s “lush body," he recovers by focusing on the “virginal face” of his mother which is like a “nun’s."  Thus, he considers his own mother to be sexless, but Kathleen, his step-mother, to be a sexual being. A latent rivalry develops between Athanase and Marius as they position themselves as Kathleen’s lover. Hence their relationship echoes the oedipal myth which is based on sexual tensions within family triangles. Since the root cause of the animosity Marius develops towards Athanese is not vocalized or acknowledged, it reveals itself in the secondary political dissention of the nationalist son and his federalist father.

The political debate surrounds the decision for the Canadian parliament to force conscription on Quebeckers during the First World War. Athanase, a parliamentarian, supports the bill, but only in an effort to improve the perception that English-Canadians have of Quebeckers. He reasons that the English-speaking provinces would force conscription on French-Canadians no matter how he votes, but by voting with the other provinces Quebec appears willing to cooperate in the war effort. However, Marius reacts against his father and his political position, without trying to understand the reasons behind Athanase’s federalist leanings. After speaking at an anti-conscription rally, punching an English-Canadian soldier, and then fleeing from the scene, Marius “felt wonderful. He felt as if he had broken all the chains that had held him all his life." He is thus an Oedipus overthrowing his father’s ideology. As his neighbour Yardley reflects, “Marius is the mathematical product of conflict within the country and also within his own family." Their troubled father-son relationship magnifies the federalist and nationalist debate in Canada.

Marius’ desire to bring about the demise of his father is based on misunderstanding. His father is not advocating the colonization of the French, but rather a unified country. Until Canadians came to view each province as an equal partner, rifts between the French and the English would continue to surface. Yet, at the time of the First World War, Canada had not yet adopted a flag, how could it be expected to have forged an identity based on the views of ten equal provinces? The epigraph that MacLennan chose for his novel suggests that until the “two solitudes” come together to “protect, and touch, and greet each other,” Oedipus would attempt to overturn the father, King Laius. In the last moments of Athanase’s life Marius reconciles with his father. He is relieved that as he lies dying, he calls out for Marius’ mother, the religious Marie-Adèle, and also hints of a desire to return to Catholicism. Athanase is thus re-baptised into the faith and into his son’s favour. In fact, Athanase dies in a similar way to MacLennan’s father, Samuel. Both die from complications of high blood pressure. Both sons arrive at the deathbed in the final moments to hear the Cheyne-Stokes breathing that announces the end of life is near. For MacLennan the oedipal struggle is over, as inscribed on his father’s gravestone, in “Peace, Perfect Peace," but for Marius his struggle continues as he now places his efforts on convincing his half-brother to follow nationalist ideals instead of the more moderate position Athanase had hoped for him. Such is Quebec’s continued struggle for a national identity within Canada.

Biographical information taken from Elspeth Cameron's book Hugh MacLennan: A Writer’s Life. She has provided a short biography here:  Hugh MacLennan: Biocritical Essay 

Information about the Oedipus complex from T.D. MacLulich's Oedipus and Eve: The Novels of Hugh MacLennan.