REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMALE DEPRESSION IN LAURENCE'S 'THE STONE ANGEL' AND SHIELDS'S 'STONE DIARIES' (Pages 90-99) by Ms. SK. Rehena * and Mr. Pavan Gollakoti** in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

Canadian women's writing illustrates a pathology that, while not of nationalist origins, is gender-specific. Female characters in works such as the eerily similar Stone Diaries by Carol Shields, and The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence, suffer in fact, from feminine depression, an often debilitating condition which women today experience in epidemic proportions. Current research into women's depression focuses on Self-in-Relation theory. This theory departs from traditional theories of developmental psychology deriving from the work of Freud and his followers, theories which were developed by, for and about men and subsequently adapted to accommodate women. Self-in-Relation Researchers reject the Freudian focus upon separation and autonomy, particularly from the mother, as developmental goals. They favour a model which affirms that a woman's identity and subsequent state of mental health depends upon the dynamics that occur within all significant relationships. Self-in-Relation theory, unlike object relations theories which highlights feminine "otherness," emphasizes growth and continued existence within relationship. It identifies patriarchy and its devaluing of emotions and feminine economic skills as catalysts to depression in women. Self-in-Relation researchers suspect that depression in women is, in fact, a normal reaction to abnormal social conditions. Depression, according to this view, is part of the feminine experience. Keywords: gender study, depression, nationality, Freudian theory, relationships, separation, autonomy, patriarchy, psychology, socio-cultural conditions.