He first knows himself as lacking. And as he grows up and through his life he tries to fill in the gap between his fragmented or fractured self and the ideal image or the whole image, and usually search for this sense of a unified self in others as they represent the ideal image.
Here, and as for Trepliov, he seeks to achieve this sense of wholeness through one of three things, either through literature, which turns to be a mere illusion, or through Nina representing the ideal "other", or through returning to the imaginary state, where he identifies himself and his mother as one thing.
This sound a little weird, perhaps the following quotations explains my point of view:.
"She always has this man of letters of hers on her mind,.
and the newspapers are always frightening her to death,.
and I am tired of it. Plain, human egoism sometimes speaks.
in my heart, and I regret that my mother is a famous actress.".
This man of letters, Trigorin, plays the father for Trepliov, who comes between him and his mother and forces him to recognize separation. .
Trepliov is so attached to his mother, she is the core of his life and thinking. It's so obvious in the fore-mentioned quotation, as it is also obvious in the scene where Trepliov presents his play. Though he is revolting against the kind of theatre she and her "man of letters" represent, unconsciously, she is the only one who sets the roles for him. .
A careful reading for the scene shows that she is the only one who passed comments on Trepliov's play, and these comments were enough for him to order for the curtain to be down, creates for him a sense of failure. what further supports this point, that Dorn's opinion meant nothing for Trepliov. He is totally anxious to know where is Nina, when he is supposed to listen to the only person who believed in his art Thus he is struggling to get separated from his mother, yet he can't help to be attached to her.