摘要
Alice Munro,the first short story writer in Canada to receive the Nobel Prize laureate in 2013,applies the unconscious to the portrayal of characters and the construction of engrossing stories.Based on the unconscious theory of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis,this article focuses on one of Alice Munro’s short stories,Open Secrets,by analyzing the unconscious of representative characters,to explore their power conversion through the conflicts triggered by their unconscious mind.Via uncovering their unique personalities and values,as well as displaying their power against each other through conflict,this article reveals that the relationship between characters is sophisticated and changeable,and their power against each other has been a state of change in continuous conflicts.Behind the unconscious displays a thoroughly different comparison of forces:the strong who behaves violently and arrogantly actually shows weakness;in turn,the obedience and endurance of the weak strongly manifest a tenacious resistance.