Casebook Home | Twelve Winters Miscellany
A Lacanian Analysis of the Storm
at the Grocery Store and
Welcome-Home Party
Palwasha Fayyaz
“Vox Humana,” a short story by Ted Morrissey, explores the shattered mind of Harry Gale, a man battling the effects of war and his estrangement from social norms. The narrative centers on Harry’s return to his little hometown, where two significant incidents—the storm at the grocery store and the welcome-home party thrown in his honor—elucidate his inability to balance his inner conflict with the outside world. This study examines how these instances mirror Harry’s fractured identity and his eventual rejection of social standards using Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic framework, which places an emphasis on the Real, the Imaginary, and the Symbolic.
The storm at the grocery store is a powerful metaphor for Harry’s encounter with the Real, the raw and overwhelming aspects of reality that defy articulation within the Symbolic Order. As Harry shops, the storm outside intensifies, creating a sensory overload that mirrors his internal turmoil. The narrative captures his disorientation: “Harry dropped the basket and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt: He was suffocating.” This bodily response illustrates how Harry’s emotional barriers have crumbled, causing him to face suppressed feelings. Lacan’s concept of the Real explains this as an intrusion of raw, unprocessed trauma into Harry’s structured consciousness.
The grocery store, representing routine and normalcy, aligns with the Symbolic Order—the structured reality of societal norms and language. However, the storm disrupts this stability, as illustrated by the chaotic imagery of falling cabbages and shattered jars: “A head of purple cabbage shifted and fell to the floor, followed by another, then another.” These cascading objects symbolize the breakdown of Harry’s fragile sense of control, highlighting his inability to maintain composure in the face of the Real.
The narrative’s description of the storm itself further emphasizes this rupture: “Monsooning rain” and “a crash of thunder so loud it seemed to come from within” blur the boundary between external chaos and Harry’s internal experience, showing how deeply the Real invades his consciousness.
The calm young woman at the grocery store counter serves as a stark contrast to Harry’s fragmented state. Described as calmly solving a crossword puzzle amidst the chaos, she represents the emotional stability and resilience Harry lacks. Her unaffected demeanor underscores Harry’s alienation and highlights his struggle to find balance and coherence in his life.
This same tension is evident during the welcome party, which serves as a symbolic representation of Harry’s struggle to navigate the Symbolic and Imaginary Orders. The villagers’ efforts to celebrate Harry’s return are dominated by the Symbolic Order, as seen in the banner reading “Welcome Home, Harry!!” and the carefully organized event. However, these gestures feel hollow to Harry, who perceives them as disconnected from his reality. The narrative describes his alienation poignantly: “The village had donned a disquieting mask,” suggesting that Harry views their kindness as performative and insincere.
The Imaginary Order is also at play during the party, as the villagers project an idealized image of Harry as a returning hero. Yet Harry cannot align himself with this perception, as he feels fragmented and disconnected from this role. His internal thoughts reflect this tension: “They strike me as ghosts, a part of my past that has returned to me unwanted and unbidden.” The gap between their idealized vision of Harry and his internal reality deepens his sense of isolation.
Beneath these layers of the Symbolic and Imaginary lies the unaddressed Real—Harry’s raw trauma that disrupts his ability to find meaning in the party. To Harry, the event feels more like a funeral than a celebration: “A funeral, that’s what this feels like to Harry: The village turning out to pay their respects, then have a free meal and eat a piece of white cake.” This imagery underscores the dissonance between the villagers’ structured celebration and Harry’s unprocessed emotional reality.
Harry’s brief interaction with Beth Ann Ferguson during the party further highlights his fragmented state. Beth Ann’s arrival is described in surreal terms: “At first, before his vision returns completely, he thinks she is a child at Mr. Reynolds’s side … a faint residue of the blinding light seems to linger in the space around Beth Ann, like an aura.” This description situates her at the intersection of the Real and the Imaginary, representing both a connection to Harry’s past and a reminder of his inability to fully engage with the present. Their stilted conversation reflects Harry’s struggle to bridge the gap between his fragmented self and the expectations of the Symbolic Order.
Harry’s ultimate decision to leave Crawford shortly after the party underscores his rejection of the Symbolic Order imposed by the community. The villagers’ well-meaning efforts to reintegrate him fail because they do not address the deeper fractures within his identity. His request to Beth Ann—”Would you drive me to Crawford? To the bus terminal?”—symbolizes his need to escape the masks and projections of the community and seek a space where he can confront the Real on his own terms.
From the Lacanian perspective, the storm at the grocery store and the welcome party together illustrate Harry Gale’s fragmented identity and his struggle to reconcile societal expectations with his inner turmoil. The storm vividly portrays his confrontation with the Real, as raw, unprocessed emotions disrupt his fragile stability. The welcome party, on the other hand, highlights the inadequacy of societal norms in addressing the complexities of his experience, leaving him alienated. Together, these events offer a poignant exploration of Harry’s inner conflict and his search for authenticity in a world that fails to accommodate his trauma.
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Palwasha Fayyaz is a final-semester BS English student at NUML, Islamabad. She has co-authored Eden’s Cry, an anthology published under TWS Publications. With a keen interest in research and exploring ideas beyond the text, she actively engages in literary discourse and critical inquiry. She has served as the Director of Publications for the Social Responsibility Society (SRS) and as the Spokesperson for both the Career Planning Society (CPS) and Sophy Forum at NUML. In addition to her academic and organizational roles, she has worked as a freelance content writer for How to Discuss.
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