The “Production” of “Reflection”: Adolescent Choices in John McGahern’s The Dark

Production, defined here as the application of one’s energies to the production of a good or service and Reflection, meaning the pursuit of a purely contemplative life, with the benefit of sharing the fruits of this reflection with others, are projected in this study to Chapters 4 to 7 of John McGahern’s novel The Dark (1965). By overlaying these terms in an Aristotelian sense to McGahern’s work, the dysfunctionalised adolescent’s guideless struggle between Production and Reflection is manifested, but the resultant diminishment of the positive section of self is also depicted, translated as destruction of self-esteem and privileging of negative selfworth via the chapters’ portrayal of corruption of body, mind and spirit.