[the] ENGLISH-BLOG [.com]

Cecilia B
Dr. Hobbs
ENG 435
11th March 2009
1. List the types of defenses which occur when the unconscious strives to keep its contents repressed.
- Defenses include: selective perception, selective memory, denial, avoidance, displacement, regression and projection (Tyson 15).
2. What unconscious process does Jacques Lacan observe as similar to metaphor?
- Condensation is similar to metaphor, because it brings dissimilar things together such as substituting a person or object for several dissimilar persons or objects (Tyson 31).

Wesley Johnson
Hobbs
Eng 435
March 10, 2009

1. Why does Tyson use the term "pattern" of behavior? This shows that humans have been acting under the influence of a behavior for a while
2. What is condensation? This is when a single dream image represents more than one unconcious conflict/wound.
3. What is the libido? One's sexual energy.
4. What is meant by the imaginary order? This is the world of images.

Jessica P.
Dr. Hobbs
ENG 435
3/10/09

Questions for Psychoanalytic Theory

Short Answer:

Q: What is the definition of the psychoanalytic name for displacement?

A: Basically, it is a name for the action of our transfer of anger with one person onto another individual.

Discussion:

Q: Can one find psychoanalytic elements in literary works that were written before Freud’s development of his theory? Further, can critics use psychoanalytic criticism to analyze works written before Freud’s theory?

A: Yes, Freud did not invent his theory, he simply discovered the principles that already existed. Thus, the basic elements of Freud’s theory can be found in all works, as they have always existed.

Liz H

Dr. Hobbs

ENG 435

March 10, 2009

Questions/Class Discussion

1. Why is psychoanalytic theory helpful?

A. In Tyson’s text, she states that psychoanalysis is about human behavior and literature is about our understanding of it, so by knowing this theory, we can understand why people act the way that they do (14).

2. Why do some critics reject using psychoanalytic theory as a valid way to look at literature?

A. The characters are not real; therefore, they do not have psyches to be analyzed (Tyson 29).

Discussion topic:
Do you see Freud’s death drive in any of the works we’ve read?

Ava Littlefield
Dr. Hobbs
ENG 435
10 March 2009
Reading Check Questions on Psychoanalytic Criticism

1.What does the word “displacement” mean?
A.Displacement is the name of the transference of our anger with one person onto another person.
2.What branch of psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud is used to apply psychoanalytic criticism to literature?
A.Classical psychoanalysis.
3.What is the goal of psychoanalysis?
A.The goal of psychoanalysis is to help human beings resolve our psychological problems.
4.What is the unconscious?
A.The unconscious is the storehouse of painful experiences and unresolved conflicts including fears, emotional wounds, and guilty desires.
Discussion Questions
1.Why is an individual’s family important in psychoanalytic theory? Site an example of how this is applied.
A.Family is important because we become a product of the environment and influences that we are subjected to. If an individual is constantly being told that he or she is a failure, then eventually they will begin to believe it.
2.Name at least two of the types of defenses an individual uses to repress emotions he or she cannot handle and describe what takes place.
A.Selective perception-hearing and seeing only what an individual chooses to.
B.Selective memory- the modification of memories or painful events that an individual chooses to remember or forget entirely.
C.Denial-choosing to deny that a painful event ever took place.
D.Avoidance-intentionally avoiding places or people that make an individual uncomfortable or that will produce anxieties of the individual.
E.Displacement-transferring ones anger onto someone other than the individual that evoked it.
F.Projection-projecting one’s own fear on another individual and then condemning the individual in an attempt to deny that he or she has it.
G.Regression-resorting back to a psychological state that is not just imagined but relived.
3.Identify two of the core issues associated with depression and describe them.
A.Fear of intimacy-the overwhelming feeling that becoming close with an individual will result in hurt.
B.Fear of abandonment-the fear of being deserted by the individuals we care about.
C.Fear of betrayal-the fear of trusted those we love.
D.Low self-esteem-the misconception that we are not as deserving of happiness, love, or attention like those around us.
E.Insecure or unstable of self-the fear of not having any form of self identity resulting in the continual change of an individual behavior and appearance.
F.Oedipal fixation-A dysfunctional relationship that exists between an individual and his or her opposite sex parent which is never resolved even in adulthood.

Travis R
Dr. Hobbs
ENG 435
10 March 2009

Psychoanalytic Quiz Questions

Q: Core issues are an integral part of Psychoanalytic Criticism. What core issues does Tyson define? (Tyson 16 – 17)
A: Fear of intimacy, Fear of abandonment, Fear of betrayal, Low self-esteem, Insecure or unstable sense of self, and Oedipal fixation (Oedipal complex).

Q: Define what Lacan refers to as the “Mirror Stage” of infancy. (Tyson 27)
A: By looking at its reflection in a mirror, an infant perceives itself as a whole rather than simply a mass.

Kristin Brittain

Dr. Hobbs

ENG 435

3/10/09

Psychoanalytic Questions

1. Why is the family important to psychoanalytic theory (Tyson 13)?
A. The family is important because people are the products of the role they are given in the family structure; and, the unconscious is grounded in the placement of the family and the self-definition that relates to that place.

2. How is regression a helpful defense and therapeutic tool?
A. Regression can involve a return to a pleasant or painful experience but it can be helpful because it has the opportunity for active reversal which gives the opportunity to work through repressed experiences and emotions and heal an old wound (Tyson 15-16).

Sarah Tatko
Dr. Hobbs
Eng-435
11 March 2009
Psychoanalytic Reading Questions
Q: According to Tyson, how does the id, the ego, and the superego work together to tell us about our culture?
A: They work together because the superego is our internalization of social values and taboos and how we experience them as right and wrong. The id is our secret desires based on these values and taboos; and, the ego is in between, it is our conscious self that experiences the society. This means that these are three (un)conscious levels in which we experience our culture; therefore, through our actions we are able to determine information about our culture.

Q: List 3 defenses that we use to keep our repressions repressed.
• selective reception
• selective memory
• denial
• avoidance
• displacement
• projection

Sarah Tatko
Dr. Hobbs
Eng-435
23 March 2009
Freud’s Theory of Identification
In 1921, Sigmund Freud wrote an essay titled “Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego”, which concerns the role of identification in psychoanalysis. He claims that a child’s identity is created through social interactions, especially between caregivers and parents. To form one’s identity a child must undergo the process of identification which is “the earliest expression of an emotional tie with another person” (Freud 438). This definition of identification is the foundation to two other “symptom formations” in regards to the identity (439).
In early stages of identification a child typically identifies with their parent of the same sex. However, this also leads into the development of Oedipal complex. This occurs because a child (a boy in this instance) begins to identify with his father; he wants to be like him because he is the ideal male in which he will emulate. In result of this, the boy will develop “object-cathexis” or “object choice” towards his mother; this is the first symptom formation of identification (Freud 439). Object choice is a sexual longing or desire for the child towards the parent of the opposite sex (439). At first this does not interfere with the development of the boy’s identity but later in life it does because the identification will become identical with the father, therefore, the boy will want to take his place.
Eventually the boy will need to make a distinction between” identification with the father” (meaning emulate the father as the boy would like to be) and the “choice of the father as an object” (what the boy would like to have, in this case his mother) (Freud 439). In other words, the boy needs to decide the route his identification will be taking; he can remain attached to the subject or the object of his ego.
The second symptom formation of identification is based upon the possibility or desire of putting oneself in the same situation as someone or sharing the same quality (Freud 439). This arises because sympathy is formed by identifying with someone (perhaps a friend or relative) when they are in a situation. However, it becomes a symptom formation when that person wants to share it equally. All of these descriptions of different identifications represent the formation of a new emotional tie. Not all lead to good identities though.

Work Cited
Freud, Sigmund. “Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego.” Literary Theory: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Eds. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004. 438-440.

Ava Littlefield

Dr. Hobbs

ENG 435

13 March 2009
The Pleasures of Control
Sigmund Freud in his 1920’s essay “Beyond the Principle Pleasure” attempts to explain why human beings behave as they do and what initiates them to do so. The essay was written in “an attempt to come to terms with his realization that more seemed to be at work in the mind and in human life than a drive for pleasure” (Freud 431). Freud states that there are two types of drives in human beings, one which focuses on the excitement that having attachments presents, the other on reducing or annihilating the attachment. The later drive, also known as the Death Drive, is the approach individuals take in order to cope with “traumatic experiences of loss” (Freud 431).
During one of his earliest attempts to explain human motives, Freud observes the behavior of a toddler who is a year and a half old. During his observation of the child, Freud noticed that the child would hide toys and later reclaim them as a means of trying to control the emotions he felt regarding his mother’s departure. Freud states that the child’s choice of play was not motivated by strictly pleasure, but also, as an attempt to take control over his mother’s actions. Freud claims that the child either choose to play this game to seek pleasure in finding the toys (the guaranteed return of his mother) or that by hiding the toys (the departure of his mother), the child recognized this as a negative experience.
Freud states that since the child care was administered mostly by his mother, he became angry when he was forced to share her affections with his father. This type of behavior on the child’s behalf is considered textbook for Freud’s model of Oedipal Fixation. The child becomes upset and jealous when his mother departs from him to greet his father. He feels the need to fight for his mother’s sole affections.
Freud further discusses how a child will draw on a traumatic experience and attempt to turn it into a pleasurable one by using displacement. The child will make a game out of the experience and attempt to subject another individual to his or her trauma. By doing so, the child passes from disagreeable experience from his/herself onto another individual, allowing him/her to find pleasure in play. For the child, this is a way to both deal with the experience and also regain control.
Drawing from this study of the child and twenty five years of experience, Freud attempts to explain the process of helping adults cope with psychological issues. His says that first, he must help the patient to understand that a problem exists by having them recognize their problem without having to re-experience it. Freud states that it is important for the patient to recognize a pattern or repetitions in the individual, who is now capable as an adult to understand where the root of the problem lies. Freud also asserts that “These reproductions, which emerge with such unwished-for exactitude, always have as their subject some portion of infantile sexual life, Oedipal complex”(Freud 434). The patient is unable to cognitively exact the beginnings of the development of the problem.
According to Freud, the patient’s resistance to recognize the problem “arises from his ego” (Freud 434). The patient does not want to recall traumatic experiences that he or she has repressed. The patient will continue to repeat any behaviors that have been influenced by his or her traumatic experience until he or she recognizes the problem exists. This type of repetition is known as transference. Freud says that the process of getting the patient to recognize the problem is a long endeavor that often does not take place until half way through treatment.
Freud states that there is a pattern of behaviors that are often revealed by patients who are treated. The patient will attempt to place blame on situations that he or she can recollect or claim that his or her repetitive behavior is a result of being destined to act in such a way. The patient is unable to consciously recognize that his or her behavior stems from infancy. Freud explains that even individuals who seem relatively content in life struggle with psychological issues that he or she is unaware of. However, many human beings refuse to recognize a problem exists because he or she does not care to understand his or her repetitive behaviors. The patient is content to go on living life, avoiding any and all explanations.

Work Cited
Freud, Sigmund. “Beyond Principle Pleasures.” 1920. Literary Theory: An Anthology 2nd ed. Eds. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004. 431-37.

Wesley Johnson
Hobbs
Eng 435
March 22, 2009
Précis 7: “Pre-Oedipal Configurations”
Nancy Chodorow’s article “Pre-Oedipal Gender Configurations” is an exploration of gender differences in the manners by which each gender navigates pre-oedipal stages of life. From this, Chodorow seeks to explain how these stages manipulate the way that one understands his or her separation from the world. That is, Chodorow’s article examines the creation of identity.
The article begins with the understanding that family structure dictates the ability and mode by which a child differentiates and creates an identity. Therefore, a child’s upbringing is of the utmost importance. Chodorow then establishes that the gender differences dictate how one goes through the pre-oedipal stages. However, this is not to say that gender is the differentiator. What matters is the relationship between the child and mother. So, whether a child is a boy or a girl and how that sex interacts with its mother is what matters.
Chodorow goes into a pretty scientifically in depth discussion of mother child relationships and how that affects a child’s development. Basically, children share a distinct relationship with their mother because she is an external object. That is, children are intrinsically connected to their mother and therefore maintain a more direct relationship. However, the father is an internal object. That is, his relationship to the child is one of conflict and separation.

The gender differences that Chodorow mentions early on are described in complex terms. Simply put, as girls begin to separate themselves from their mothers and create their own identity, a mother becomes symbiotic on another level. That is, the mother exists as the mother, and daughters become a reflection of their mother’s fantasy. If this fails to successfully happen, a woman can experience emptiness. This is the failure to separate oneself and become an individual. Boys can experience similar problems when women have experienced problems with men. That is women will project their prejudices of men onto their male children. This creates unhealthy relationships between mothers and sons. And, it prevents the son from maturing and correctly separating himself and developing an individual identity.

Work Cited
Chodorow, Nancy. “Pre-Oedipal Gender Configurations.” (1978) Literary Theory: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Eds. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004. 470-486.

Jessica P.
Dr. Hobbs
ENG 435
3/22/07

Précis: The Interpretation of Dreams

Sigmund Freud states in his article, The Interpretation of Dreams, that dreams are translations of the unconscious. Desires and feelings that are unfit for expression in conscious life are instead conveyed in dreams. Freud states that psychoanalysis must be used to interpret dreams, as one must understand the relationship between the latent content and manifest content of dreams. Comprised of dream thought and dream content, dreams have two governing factors, dream condensation and dream displacement, which form their structure.

Essentially, dream thoughts are the underlying messages of the unconscious while dream content is the dream itself which symbolically represents the dream thoughts. Dreams are formed by a mass of dream-thoughts with which the prevalent ones are included in the dreams. To analyze dreams, one must dissect the elements of a dream and see how they are related to recent personal events and all other associations that might lead off from them. To understand the factors of dream structure, one must understand the two terms associated with it. Thus, dream condensation is the association of two ideas by a single element. In contrast, dream displacement is the idea that the real meaning and body of the dream thoughts may not be physically represented in the dream at all, rather must be understood through conclusive analyzing of the dream’s elements.

Works Cited
Freud, Sigmund. “The Interpretation of Dreams”. Literary Theory: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 200

Travis R
Dr. Hobbs
ENG 435
23 March 2009

Reciprocal Encroachments and Expanding Inclusions: A Brief Look at Lacan

In his essay “The Instance of the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason since Freud,” Jacques Lacan utilizes and further defines some of Sigmund Freud’s ideas concerning the unconscious. Lacan beings his essay by stating that the perception of the role of the unconscious should include the entire structure of language—unlike Freud who believed the unconscious merely stowed painful past experiences. He further states that language exists before one learns it, and one is not a slave to language but, instead, is a slave to the cultural discourse and echelon of society where he resides. Lacan continues this point by stating that through tradition, the discourse of culture is inscribed in the unconscious of an individual before he even has the power to utilize language.

In the essay, Lacan includes the algorithm that grounds linguistics: S/s or signifier over signified. He believes that signification cannot be sustained except by reference to another signification. Meaning exists in the chain of signifiers, but none of the chain’s elements consist in the signification it provides. Further, no language in existence can capture the signified. The signifier serves the function of representing the signified and this process is an illusion. Thus, states Lacan, all language, save for mathematical algorithms, is trifle. The structure of a signifier is articulated, and its elements are reduced to different parts and are combined to make order. These parts of the whole (or elements) are called phonemes. By scrutinizing the structure of phonemes, one can see that essential elements of speech have moved into textual reproduction.

Lacan states that the letter is essentially the localized structure of the signifier; the element which separates two words—it does not matter if a word is pronounced differently in the future (if a consonant is added to the word, etc.) as long as the word remains autonomous and can be distinguished from other words in the language.

Included in Lacan’s essay are several key terms that are utilized by the subconscious: Metonymy is the word-to-word nature of a connection beyond the signified—the first actualization of the signifier. Metaphor is the conjunction of two signifiers; it is present between two signifiers when one signifier takes the place of another in the signifying chain, one word for another—this is where the poetry is created. In addition, Lacan states that dreams should only be understood as signifiers as they have displaced and hidden agendas. In conclusion, he says that an object’s constitution can only be found at the conceptual level, and when reduced to this bedrock conceptual definition, an object splits into the “double, divergent ray” of something (e.g. meaning of a word in French) and nothing (e.g. its lost meaning in Latin).

Work Cited
Lacan, Jacques. "The Instance of the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason since Freud."
Literary Theory: An Anthology, 2nd Ed. Eds. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan.
Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004. 447 - 461.

Liz Hardy

Dr. Hobbs

ENG 435

March 23, 2009

Précis of “The Black Hole of Trauma”

In the book excerpt, “The Black Hole of Trauma” by Bessel A. van der Kolk and Alexander C. McFarlane, trauma and its lasting effects on our psyches is explored. Surprisingly enough, Kolk and McFarlane take an atypical approach to the subject because their premise is that trauma is a natural condition of humanity. To be human, for them, is to suffer heartache and pain that shapes our worldview. Most people are able to rise above unfortunate events. Studying trauma is important because it affects all aspects of life and gives greater insight into why people act as they do. Kolk and McFarlane highlight this example when they state, “an experience does not really exist until it can be organized and placed into larger categories” (488).

Kolk and McFarlane examine trauma from all areas of influence. They highlight Biblical and secular examples. Quite important to the study is the recognition of PTSD as a legitimate disorder, proving that trauma can leave an overwhelming mark on a person’s psyche and ability to function. PTSD gave credence to the “scientific investigation of the nature of human suffering” (488). The issue behind trauma, and why it affects some to a greater extent than others, is the meaning that people give it in their lives. This definition can change and evolve over time. PTSD is examined in depth in the book excerpt. A common example for van der Kolk and McFarlane is the occurrence of PTSD in soldiers returning from war and abuse victims. According to van der Kolk and McFarlane, it is incredibly important for people with PTSD to experience some feeling of shame. Shame is the emotion that brings the greatest insight for humanity. If a person is unaware that his actions after the experience are sometimes motivated by a sense of shame, traumatic experiences can continue to occur (497). One weakness that was raised is van der Kolk and McFarlane’s acknowledgement that trauma is a complex topic and cannot be covered completely because the experience is personal.

Works Cited

Van der Kolk, Bessel A., and Alexander C. McFarlane. "The Black Hole of Trauma."
Literary Theory: An Athology. Eds. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. 2nd ed. Malden: Blackwell, 2008. 487-502.

Cecilia B
Dr. Hobbs
ENG 435
23rd March 2009
Précis on Sigmund Freud’s “The Uncanny”
In Freud’s psychoanalytic essay, “The Uncanny,” the concept of abnormal unconscious effects is brought to the fore. As Freud exclusively defines it, the uncanny refers to the unconscious results that “surprise us” and create a feeling of unfamiliarity since man is unaware of how the unconscious functions (418). Specifically, Freud documents at length the words used in various languages that define the same phenomenon of the uncanny including the German unheimlich which has several connotations describing the strange and foreign (419). The uncanny’s role in literature is also important since “the reader must be left in uncertainty whether a particular figure in the story is human or automaton, and to do it in such a way that he may not be led to clear up the matter immediately” (Jentsch qtd. in Freud 421). With this notion, Freud catalogues the instances of the uncanny in a famous short story by Hoffman entitled, “The Sand Man.” Freud notes the protagonist’s uncertainty of a doll’s humanity, but Freud also points out a more striking instance of uncanniness with Hoffman creating a world that could be plausibly real or “purely fantastic” (423). For example, “The Sand Man” in true psychoanalytic fashion plays upon the irrational fears and anxieties of its reader’s unconscious and thus simultaneously exploits something the reader is familiar with while still presenting doubts. As Freud argues, this device in literature constantly perplexes the audience since it can satisfy desires, conjure doubts, or amplify fears.
Work Cited
Freud, Sigmund. “The Uncanny.” 1919. Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin
and Michael Ryan. New York: Blackwell Pub., 1998. 418-429.

Kristin Brittain

Dr. Hobbs

ENG 435

3/23/2009

Précis of Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego

“Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego” written by Sigmund Freud examines a child’s ability for identification. “Identification is known to psycho-analysis as the earliest expression of an emotional tie with another person” (438). A little boy will be interested in his father and consider the father his ideal. The boy will begin to emulate him in everyway which prepares the boy for the Oedipus complex. The boy then develops a “true-cathexis towards his mother.” Now the boy has two psychological ties; a sexual tie towards his mother and identification model with his father. The two ties coexist until the boy realizes the father stands in the way of his relationship with his mother. The identification with the father turns hostile. “Identification, in fact, is ambivalent from the very first; it can turn into an expression of tenderness as easily as into a wish for someone’s removal” (438-439). The identification with the father can easily be lost, or the Oedipus complex can be inverted and the father becomes the object-tie (which can happen with little girls as well). The distinction between identifying with the father—wanting to be him, and the father being the object-tie—wanting to have him and this distinction relies on whether the object attaches to the subject or to the object of the ego. In another case, if a little girl develops a cough like her mother she is acting out her desire to take her mother’s place and she identifies with the Oedipus complex with “a hysterical symptom” (439). Or, if the little girl was copying the person who was loved and developed the same cough as her father she is identifying with him because as previously stated “identification is the earliest and original form of an emotional tie” (439). The third case of symptom formation is a girl at boarding school who receives a love letter and reacts with hysterics. The other girls become jealous and “catch the fit, as we say, by mental infection” (439). The jealous girls identify with the desire of being in that situation and develop the same symptom.

Work Cited

Freud, Sigmund. “Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego.” Literary Theory: An Anthology 2nd Ed. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 1998. 438-440.

Wesley Johnson Hobbs Eng 435 March 24, 2009 Pre-Oedipal configuration in Portrait
Nancy Chodorow’s critical article “Pre-Oedipal Gender Configurations” illuminates the notion that ones family structure yields varied modes of ego development (Chodorow 471). James Joyce’s novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man explores the life of a developing artist, Stephen Dedalus. The novel follows the childhood and early adulthood of the narrator and traces his social and psychological development. Applying Chodorow’s article to the protagonist of Portrait presents some difficulties. Mainly, the fact that the novel doesn’t pay attention to Stephen’s pre-oedipal life creates an obvious schism in examining the pre-oedipal configuration of the character. However, to note the pre-oedipal development of Stephen Dedalus, one must examine scenes from Stephen’s later life.
Chodorw emphasizes the point the to successfully create an individual identity, one’s development is paramount. Failure to separate from the mother or father can yield identity crisis (Chodorow 478). For Stephen Dedalus, one need only examine his final words in the novel to pick up on psychoanalytically loaded diction. The line “Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead” shows that even as Stephen is emancipated and escapes his land of entrapment and confusion, he is still tied to his father (Joyce 224). Stephen Dedalus cannot successfully get away from his bond with his father. Psychologically, the two characters are conjoined. An attempt to figure out why these characters are woven together is problematic in that one has to assume details and draw conclusions that may or may not be in the text. Using Chodorow’s article as reasoning, one could conclude that Stephen’s connection to his father stems from the failure of the male child to correctly separate (pre-oedipally) from his father (Chodorow 480). So, if one were to try and find the textual examples of Stephen’s failure to separate from his father, the beginning of the novel is of particular significance.
As the novel begins with Stephen’s father telling him a children’s story of a young boy and a cow, the reader can see that already the father son bond is strong. Perhaps this detail is pointing out that Stephen’s mother failed to communicate with the infantile Stephen. Therefore, this failure to properly rear Stephen during his pre-oedipal stage has left the child broken in some way and fixated on his relationship with his father. It is significant that A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man begins and ends with reference to Stephen’s father. This literal connection of the characters highlights their figurative psychological link.

Works Cited
Chodorow, Nancy. “Pre-Oedipal Gender Configurations.” 1978 Literary Theory: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Eds. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004. 470-486. Joyce, James A. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. 1916. Ed. R. B. Kershner. 2nd ed. New York: Bedford, 2005.

Johnson 2

Jessica McLean
Dr. B. L. Hobbs
ENG 122 CA 17 Academic Writing II
14 April 2009
The Psychological Analysis of Katherine Mansfield’s Miss Brill
The purpose of the Psychological/Psychoanalytical method of analysis is to deepen the “understanding of character by claiming that behavior is caused by hidden and unconscious motives” (Roberts 189). Besides analyzing the main characters behavior, the author of the story must also be studied to see if there are underlying reasons for the character’s behavior. Miss Brill’s unusual conduct can be psychologically analyzed to reveal that she suffers from avoidant personality disorder and depression, among other things. The reasoning for such behavior can be explained by the author, Katherine Mansfield’s troubled past, which she expresses through her writing.
Miss Brill is a lonely old woman who only leaves her house once a week. On Sundays is when she dresses up and goes to a nearby park, sits on a bench, and observes the people there. On this particular Sunday when the story takes place, she wears her most prized possession, a fur coat, and heads to the public gardens. She “people-watches” all day and eavesdrops on the conversations of the citizens around her. At the end of the story, she listens in on the wrong conversation and is deeply hurt by a young couple making negative comments about her.
By closely examining Miss Brill’s behavior, one may conclude that she has a personality disorder, which “indicates a long-standing pattern of cognition, affectivity, and interpersonal functioning that is inflexible and leads to significant distress” (Rosowsky 13). In other words, Miss Brill has different thinking patterns than the average person and irregular social interactions. More specifically, however, Miss Brill has an avoidant personality disorder. This can be defined as a persons “pervasive fear of exposure and rejection. As a result, they appear timid and inhibited, and avoid social situations” (Friedman 115). Leaving the house only once a week is not normal behavior and would be considered as retreating from society. Miss Brill does not interact with anyone the whole time the story is taking place. She listens in on other people’s conversations and thinks to herself, but not once does she attempt to actually talk to anyone. She is happy with just observing the scenery and commotion around her while making comments and having discussions inside her head. Without having any friends or family to spend time with, she’s always alone. Her life is unsatisfying because she has nothing substantial in her life. She doesn’t have anything to look forward to except her Sunday outings when she just gets to look at the people surrounding her.
Miss Brill avoids doing new activities as well, yet another sign of avoidant personality disorder. She goes to the same park, listens to the same band, on the same day, every week. She doesn’t alter her plans or try anything different. Another indication of this disorder is the creation of a fantasy life in which the person can escape to and not worry about rejection. Mansfield tells us that Miss Brill thought her life was “like a play”, and that “they were all on stage” (Mansfield 232). She also seems delusional when she envisioned an old man talking to her and she answers, “Yes, I have been an actress for a long time” (232). Pretending she was an actress on stage was her escape from everyday life. She is afraid of what others will think of her in real life, so she comes up with a scenario in her head where she is someone people are impressed with and look up to.
At the end of the story Miss Brill is sent into a depressive state because while eavesdropping on a young couple, they make fun of her and the fur coat that she cherishes so much. The boy says that she should, “keep her silly old mug at home” and the girl calls her fur “fried whiting” (233). Upon hearing these remarks, Miss Brill goes straight home without making her usual stop at the bakery and just sits in her dark room. She was enjoying her afternoon until she let the meaningless comments made by two strangers upset her, instead of ignoring what they said or confronting them about being so rude. Withdrawal from people, loss of enjoyment, and sadness are all signs of being depressed. Such mood swings, from happy to sad, are unhealthy and shouldn’t happen so quickly. They become more problematic when the cause is as insignificant as two teenagers being ignorant and not having respect for the older generation.
An avoidant personality and the easy onset of depression aren’t the only things that define Miss Brill’s odd personality. At the beginning of the story, she personifies her fur coat, meaning she gives it human-like qualities. She hears it talking to her when she takes it out of its storage box. It says to her, “What has been happening to me?” (231). Then when she goes to put it away again after her encounter with the young couple, she thinks she hears crying, as if it is upset to be put back in the box it came out of after such short usage. This behavior shows mental instability on her part. It is not normal behavior to hear inanimate objects, or in her case dead animals, talking.
She does the complete opposite of personification as well, and dehumanizes the conductor of the band and other people around her. This means that she takes away their human-like qualities. The conductor became a “rooster about to crow” (231) and the little girls walking through the park became “French dolls” (231). Miss Brill also uses a psychological defense mechanism known as projection, that is the tendency to take one’s own negative mannerisms or traits and try to make them seem like someone else’s. When she makes fun of an old woman complaining about the eyeglasses slipping off her nose and says that she’ll never be satisfied, Miss Brill is really just projecting the fact that she herself isn’t happy and will never be satisfied with the life she is leading. Another trait of hers that she projects onto others is the fact that they are self-involved and unfriendly. It is clear to see though that she herself is the unsociable one who doesn’t want to start up a conversation or become friends with anyone.
Now we ask ourselves, why is Miss Brill such an odd and troubled character? Katherine Mansfield, being the author of the story, is responsible for the characterization of Miss Brill. So the reader must wonder, what was going through Mansfield’s mind as she was writing the story? Mansfield led an uneasy and heartbreaking life which led to a lot of anger and sadness bottled up that she expressed through her writing. This explains why a lot of her works are focused on psychological conflict (“Katherine Mansfield”). It all started off when she had a miscarriage. This greatly upset her and she was never able to fully recover from it emotionally. Her traumatic life continued when her only brother, Leslie, was killed in a military accident in 1915. She wrote poems about him in order to help ease the pain, but nothing can help endure the loss of a loved one. Her suffering didn’t stop there, however. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis and carried out the last five years of her life in agony and sadness. With all of this chaos in her life, it’s no wonder Miss Brill was such an unusual and unhealthy character. Mansfield used her stories, and the characters within them, as an outlet for all of her emotions. She wanted her characters to express the agony and mental state that she was in without having to express her feelings in real life. In writing Miss Brill, she went through a lot of trouble to develop the character and get the structure just right. Mansfield herself said, “In Miss Brill I chose not only the length of each sentence, but even the sound of every sentence. I chose the rise and fall of every paragraph to fit her, and to fit her on that day of that very moment. After I’d written it I read it aloud...trying to get it nearer and nearer to the expression of Miss Brill—until it fitted her” (Disher). Therefore, it is clear that Miss Brill was intentionally created to be unbalanced and socially awkward. The creation of Miss Brill and her sad tale was just a desperate attempt to release feelings that remained unshared for a long period of time.
After a close examination of Miss Brill as a character and Mansfield as her creator, the two seem to go hand in hand. Mansfield released much of her suffering into her work as a creative outlet. In doing so, Miss Brill became a mentally tortured character that couldn’t lead a normal life if she tried to. By analyzing this story using the psychological theory, a lot was learned about the main character and the author’s purpose for writing the story and developing the character. Miss Brill suffered from an avoidant personality disorder because she had issues leaving her home and making friends. She also showed signs of depression by retreating into her home after being made fun of for wearing the thing she treasured and was most proud of, her fur. Mansfield’s purpose for all of this was just to express her feelings about what was going on in her own life. This was a good method to use for this specific work due to all of the unexplained meaning behind the story.

Works Cited
Disher, Gary. Writing Fiction: An Introduction to the Craft. Crows Nest, NSW: Australia Allen & Unwin. 2001. This book gives insight to Katherine Mansfield’s thought process as she was writing Miss Brill. Gives direct quotes from Mansfield herself on why she wrote the story the way she did and even explains the sentence structure.
Friedman, Joseph H. and Jeste, Dilip V. Psychiatry for Neurologists. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2005. This book explains avoidant personality disorder and what symptoms to look for in a person who has it. This book will help me prove that Miss Brill has an avoidant personality disorder.
Mansfield, Katherine. “Miss Brill.” Writing About Literature. Comp. Edgar V. Roberts. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. 230-233. The primary text for my research paper. A short story about a lonely old woman who likes to “people-watch” on Sundays. She saw life as if it were a play being performed on a stage.
“Mansfield, Katherine.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 20 Apr. 2009 . Since it is the biography of the author of my primary text, it will give me insight into her life and reveal if there were any underlying reasons for the production of Miss Brill. Will hopefully give reasoning for the characterization of Miss Brill.
Roberts, Edgar V. Writing About Literature. Brief 11th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall,
2005. 189-190. Explains the Psychological/Psychoanalytic approach to criticism, which is the basis of my paper. Also gives guidelines and examples for me to follow while writing my paper.
Rosowsky, Erlene. Personality Disorders in Older Adults: Emerging Issues in Diagnosis and Treatment. LEA Series in Personality and Clinical Psychology. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1999. In trying to prove that Miss Brill has a personality disorder, I will need to define what it is and what the symptoms are. This book explains these items.
Williamson, Gail M. et.al. Physical Illness and Depression in Older Adults: A Handbook of Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000. Will be useful in explaining why Miss Brill’s behavior changes at the end of the story and why she races home without doing the normal activities after a day in the park. Explains what depression is and how it affects everyday life.