One Foot in Eden by award winning New York Times bestselling author Ron Rash is a story surrounding the lives of the people in the small town of Jocassee in South Carolina. A local Korean War veteran and town troublemaker, Holland Winchester, is missing and his body is nowhere to be found. The novel is separated in sections rather than the normal order of any other novel. It gives the story more depth. As the reader goes further into it, they soon learn how the lives of the people intertwine and what they have to do with Holland’s disappearance. One Foot in Eden has surely been analyzed by many critics and from very different perspectives. It is a very captivating Southern Gothic story loved by many. Has anyone looked deeper into what Rash had been implying when he wrote these characters? Is there a deeper meaning to person’s motives when they do anything at any time? Of course there is. There is meaning behind everything. The purpose of this essay is to highlight the psychoanalytical points of two of the main characters: Sheriff Alexander and Billy Holcombe.
When psychoanalyzing any character an analyst will most likely resort to Freudian viewpoints so they can base their research off of the character’s actions and how they go about resolving issues. It makes absolutely perfect sense because Sigmund Freud was and is, after all, the father of psychoanalysis. Freud firmly believed that what someone does is influenced by situations that occurred in the person’s childhood (Brizee & Tompkins). The first character discussed is Will Alexander, the high sheriff of Jocassee, South Carolina. Some brief observations about him are that he can read people easily. For instance, he knew Billy was lying immediately about not knowing where Holl...
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...gs that happened to him as a child; just as Freud said.
One Foot in Eden is beautiful novel. The way Rash wrote it was very clever; allowing readers to go from confused to finally understanding why he pieced it the way he did. All the characters in this novel could be psychoanalyzed for days and there would always be a shocking outcome. Will and Billy were the most intriguing. Highlighting the points and explaining what made them do the things they did and how it affected their lives—if it did will hopefully intrigue the reader. After all, no one can hide anything in that town. It is after all, a place for the lost.
Works Cited
Brizee, Allen, and J. C. Tompkins. "Psychoanalytic Criticism." Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism. N.p., 3 June 2013. Web. 016 Apr. 2014.
Rash, Ron. One Foot in Eden: A Novel. New York, NY: Picador, 2004. Print.
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