frustrating condition for the daughter which makes her unable to build a relationship with others.
Earlier separation with a mother also makes the daughter lose the first educator that should teach her knowledge of life and introduce her to the social
realm. Mo ther is a teacher who guides the daughter to get success in life. Mother‟s
role as the educator for the daughter is explained by Cori as follows: Here Mother is a teacher not simply of some isolated subject but of a
much bigger curriculum. She orients the child to live and to successfully living in the world. She teaches her child how to get
along with others, how to make good decisions, and how to manage time, meet responsibilities, and pursue goals. Mother is in this sense
the first life skills coach.…
48
From the argument, it can be argued that mother should provide enough knowledge about lifes condition and situation. She is also supposed to support the
daughter to move forward, to socialize with other people and be involved in the social world. In
other words, mother‟s role is to help the daughter completing her lacking subjectivity, from being an innocent one into a knowledgeable and
experienced figure. About the notion of the lacking subject, Mikkel Borch- Jacobsen and
Douglas Brick argue that a girl‟s first identification is virile or male. They submit
that a girl should pass through the castration complex and penis envy to achieve her femininity or to be the complete subjectivity.
49
This metaphorical masculinity reflects the daughter‟s inexperience and unawareness toward her feminine gender
48
Cori, p. 36
49
Borch-Jacobsen and Brick, p. 273
identity. Further, the construction of the daughter‟s identity through unity with the mother is explained by Julia Kristeva as follows:
By giving birth, the women enter into contact with her mother; she becomes, she is her own mother; they are the same continuity
differentiating itself. She thus actualizes the homosexual facet of motherhood, through which a woman is simultaneously closer to her
instinctual memory, more open to her psychosis, and consequently, more negatory of the social, symbolic bond.
50
Unity with the mother creates the inheritance of mothers attributes. The daughter also becomes the reflection of her mothers figure. The daughter is dependent on
her instinct because she has not been prepared yet to believe in her own ability. Symbiotic relation with mother limits the daughters chance to recognize her self-
reflection, to be aware of her self-identity and ability. It makes her unable to negotiate or adapt herself to new surrounding and new people.
Metaphorical masculine identification represented by Jacobsen, Brick, and Kristeva above indicates a formation of unfeminine identity for the daughter. It is
stated before by Jacobsen and Brick that in order to recognize her femininity, the daughter is supposed to separate herself from relation to the same sex parent
mother and shift her relation to the father. Richard A. Lippa proposes that femininity usually deals with emotional sensitivity; artistic sensibility; a focus on
manners; a tendency to timidity and non-aggressiveness; a nurturant, attached orientation to others; and sexual attraction to men.
51
This is an essentialist view of femininity that should be possessed by a woman in society. A daughter is
supposed to learn those feminine gender models in order to be recognized as a
50
Judith Butler. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. NY London: Routledge, 2010, p. 114
51
Lippa, p. 46
mature woman and be accepted as the part of society. For that reason, the daughter should shift her love to the father who has a role as a representative of
the laws of culture.
52
To conclude, mother-daughters symbiotic relation is constructed by the patriarchal culture that constitutes mothers role as the primary nurturer for her
daughter. Patriarchal mothering allows the construction of the emotional bond between the mother and her daughter. Moreover, the mothers experience of being
an oppressed woman by others and society will also affect the patriarchal mothering. The emotional bond with the daughter encourages the mother to
protect her from the repetition of the oppressive situation. As the consequence, they fall into imaginary unity and symbiotic relation. Patriarchal mothering builds
dependency between the mother and her daughter and gives less chance for the daughter to leave symbiotic orbit with the mother and join social life. Since the
daughter becomes the lacking subject for social life under the self-identification of mothers figure, a shift to symbolic father must be made. Symbolic father is
regarded as the source for knowledge and experience of social life; the help for the daughter to leave her innocence and immaturity.
2.2.2 Feminine Identification in Symbolic Law
This part of discussion explains the daughter‟s shift to the father‟s side and the effect of the shift toward the development of her identity. It has been
explained in the previous sub-chapter that self- identification to mother‟s figure
cannot construct a complete self-identity for the daughter. The daughter is unable
52
Jane Flax. Thinking Fragments Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Postmodernism in the
Contemporary West. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990, p. 56
to separate herself from mother‟s love. As the impact of the patriarchal culture that oppresses m
other‟s freedom, who restrains her daughter‟s socialization process with others, will interrupt her daughter‟s self-development. It constructs
the daughter‟s identity as a passive, dependent and immature figure. Thus to help the daughter develop herself in the social relationship with others, the daughter is
supposed to leave maternal attachment and shift her desire to the symbolic father. In symbolic realm, there is the symbolic order which is constructed by
paternal law, and it regulates social action in a community.
53
The symbolic order also has the elements which are regulated in language.
54
Related to the function of the symbolic order in regulating social action, Lacan states that subject is an effect
of a language and subject comes into being in the symbolic order of language.
55
From Lacan‟s statement, this study notes that a shift to the symbolic realm can construct certain gender identity for the human being. It is to argue that the
daughters shift to symbolic father leads her to the imposition of symbolic order or social regulation to her self-identity. The daughter will be trapped into the
construction of gender subjectivity; especially to become a feminine subject. In this following discussion, the process of feminine identification in
symbolic law will be discussed deeply. It will be divided into two processes; the construction of ego, symbolic stage and the development of ego-ideal. These two
processes lead the daughter to the recognition of symbolic order and to the imposition of feminine gender identity to her.
53
Campbell, p. 44
54
Campbell, p.44
55
Campbell, p. 32
2.2.2.1 The Construction of Ego
In the process of feminine identification, there are two phases that must be passed by the daughter; mirror stage and symbolic stage. It is explained in the
previous sub-chapter that in the first identification with her mother, a daughter sees herself as the equal subject with the mother mirror stage. According to
Lacan, mirror stage is the phase in which individuals seek out smooth and consistent reflections of themselves. Regarding the mother‟s reflection as hers, it
gives her an imaginary unity with the mother. Nancy Welch states that mirror stage gives a gratification, sense of shape and wholeness.
56
Having the same opinion with Welch, Mari Jo Buhle affirms mirror stage as strong construction for
mother- daughter unity. Using Lacan‟s view of mirror stage as the realm of
imaginary, Buhle argues that the image of the self, as reflected in the mirror, is a distortion and misrecognition that does not allow the complete separation between
the subjects.
57
Distortion of the image produces no difference between the daughter‟s image and her mother. They fall into imaginary unity. From Welch and
Buhle‟s point of view, it can be concluded that equal reflection between the mother and her daughter makes no clear boundaries between the reflection of the
mother and her daughter. It is to claim that mother inhabits her daughter‟s life physically and emotionally, provides nurturance and pleasure for her daughter.
Meanwhile, separation from the mother cannot be avoided, for instance by death. In the process of separation from mother‟s figure, the daughter will be
56
Nancy Welch .” Playing with Reality: Writing Centers after the Mirror Stage”. College
Composition and Communication 51.1 Sep., 1999: p. 52. JSTOR. Web. 20 Nov. 2015
57
Mari Jo Buhle. Feminism and Its Discontents: A Century of Struggle with Psychoanalysis. London: Harvard University Press, 1998, p. 327
involved in interaction with other people. Initially, there is awareness of the existence of the others
in the daughter‟s life. The new reflection of the others shows how the daughter actually has her own reflection. For this new recognition
of others people‟s reflection, ego is constructed. According to Lacan, ego is the nucleus of consciousness. It is the ego which forms the consciousness and the
experience of se lf as the „I‟.
58
Consciousness makes the daughter as a „knowing‟ subject, a person who is aware of her lacking identity. It is to argue that the
existence of other people helps the daughter to compare herself with them. There is the evocation of self-awareness toward the different subjectivity between the
daughter and the others. Knowing and recognizing her lacking identity, the ego then stimulates the daughter to join others‟ realm or to socialize with society.
So, ego is the core for the daughter‟s desire because it evokes the earlier awareness toward her self-identity. Ego helps the daughter to recognize others as
a different reflection or subject. Knowing the differences between self and others self-constructs the daughters awareness to begin a socialization process. Seeing
self- reflection as the different „I will later evoke the daughters desire to adapt
herself to the differences and to construct bond relation with them. This condition leads the daughter to enter the symbolic stage and to learn using fathers language
which is seen as a universal language used by society.
2.2.2.2 Symbolic Stage and the Development of Ego-Ideal
It is explained previously that separation from the mother constructs the daughter‟s ego. While the daughter begins to shift her relation to others, the ego
58
Campbell, p. 36
develops into ego-ideal. It is explained by Lacan that ego-ideal appears while the subject enters the symbolic realm. According to Lacan, ego-ideal is the
identification of self from which the subject will see herself as the others see her.
59
He explains that ego-ideal makes self-believe in its own competence and fantasies, that they can control all things by themselves. Henceforth, this ego-ideal
is actually dangerous for the development of self. Anthony Easthope proposes that ego-ideal is harmful to self-identity because it is followed by the repression of
self-desire.
60
Easthope describes how ego-ideal does not only affect the other people but also changes the self-identity. Ego-ideal forces the daughter to trust
hersel f as the competent one and willingly takes responsibility for others‟ failure.
Easthope strongly emphasizes that ego-ideal makes people adhere to their own thinking, to make own conclusion about other‟s opinion on them.
61
Easthope‟s argument gives an understanding about the submissive condition of the daughter.
Ego-ideal encourages the willingness to give priority to others‟ interest and
demand, but in other sides, it represses the daughter‟s own desire.
Easthope also reviews Lacan concept of Being and Meaning in order to show the process of self-repression while entering the symbolic realm. In
Easthopes point of view, the shift from Being into Meaning is the development from nature into culture.
62
Easthope reveals this process as the movement of Being primary self-identification, which is actually immune to the distinction
between self and the world, into the realm of Meaning secondary self-
59
Easthope, p. 62
60
Easthope, p. 63
61
Easthope, p. 64
62
Easthope, p. 91
