Madness Through Water Symbolism in Janet Frame's Faces in the Water

Abstract

Janet Frame in Faces in the Water turns against the canonical literary world in a number of ways. First she chooses a theme considered as a taboo: life in mental hospitals. Secondly she borrows traditional symbols, for the sake of attacking then their contingent nature and at the same time creating new interpretations of them beyond the patriarchal system. Among these symbols I will be mostly interested in water and all the other metaphors related to it in any way. Thirdly, Frame familiarizes this multi-dimensional perspective through a mentally disordered patient, who has been considered to have no voice. However her voice is not exclusive, but other patients, their relatives, doctors, nurses etc. can share it with their own experiences, anguish and struggles.