Psychoanalytic Criticism Essay

Sigmund Freud, a well-kn reserve got psychologist, believes the unconscious elicit be unlocked through dreams. He defined the unconscious as, the storehouse of those amazing experiences and emotions, those wounds, timiditys, guilty desires, and unresolved conflicts we do not know close to because we feel we volition be overwhelmed by them (Tyson). Psychoanalytic criticism, a form of criticism which allows the reader to study an agents unconscious through the characters of his or her work(s), is heavily influenced by Freudian theories of psychology. Since Sigmund Freud explored the workings of the unconscious, he found that his patients developed compassionate racey defense and anxiety mechanisms to vie with disagreeable ideas, painful memories, feelings or impulses. Nella Larson, author to of Passing, created two diverse characters showing various signs to support Freuds defense mechanisms and repressionClare K subvertry and Irene Redfield.Clare Kendry, w locatingness of the main characters in the book, represses much of her colored memoir to meet societal expectations. At the beginning of Passing, Larson gives a short backstory to Clares life portraying her biracial background. As the novel progressed, readers meet an attractive- pictureing charrwith those dark, intimately melanize, eyes and a wide m bring outh giftle a scarlet flower against the b iodin of her skin (Larson, 9). Once this eye-catching woman introduces herself to her longtime friend, Irene Redfield, as Clare, she declares she has courseed into the albu manpower residential area. During the urbane rights movement, if a biracial individuals skin complexion take careed closer to tweed than melanize he or she would be able to pass into the white fiat. As she tells the story of her lost years to Irene, unmatchable can tell Clare has repressed her pitch blackness history as a emergence of moving in with two white aunts after her father died. She has this a venue in the family since her aunts were racist against the black community.This disfavor against black hatful unconsciously helped Clare in repressing her black identity. Clares aunts were hypocrites in their religious beliefs because for all their Bibles and praying and ranting about h iodinsty, they didnt call for anyone to know that their earnest br other had seducedruined, they called ita Negro girl. They could assuage the ruin, provided they couldnt forgive the tar-brush (Larson, 19). When aliment with her aunts, she was knowing to believe she was 100% white. This condition influences Clare to pass into the white community, leaving her black history behind. In a way, since Clare has conditioned herself to live among white people, she devotions her identity result be compromised. Eventually, she marries a rich, white man named John Bellewan extreme racist. During one of Irenes visits, Clare confessed that she would never go through the horrors of pregnancy again because she nearly died in scare the whole nine months beforehand Margery (her daughter) was natural (Larson, 26) because she feared that Margery big businessman be dark (Larson, 26).This fear coincides with Clares repression of half of her identitysomething she has been prepare not to accept especially since she married a very prejudice man. afterward re-meeting Irene in the restaurant in Chicago, Clare begins to look up to her as more than a friend by reaching out to Irene Redfield and showing discreet signs of projection. Since she did not have a bun in the oven a mother figure maturement up, she instinctively projects that solitary take in onto her friend, Irene. When Irene and Clare infract into each other at the restaurant, Clare professes her need to see Irene on a timed basis, And now, Rene dear, that Ive found you, I connote to see lots and lots of you (Larson, 16). This proves Clares need for projection, hoping that Irene would fill that motherly spot. Clares projection c ould resemble many things exactly one stands out clearshe is kickoff to unconsciously revert back to her black heritage and needs that motherly role modal to guide her back to her own identity.Unlike Clare, Irene Redfield has different psychoanalytical issues, one of which regards low self-esteem. Throughout Passing, Irene belongs to despise Clare because of her confidence. Clare shows traits that she yearns to possess indicating that Irene doesnt see her self-worth. Irene is jealous of Clares beauty and outgoing attitude. Irene knows Clare carries heavy baggage because she is hiding her identity from her husband but it seems like Irene hates the fact that Clare doesnt appear to have a care in the world Irene doubted the genuineness of it, seeing herself totally as a means to an end where Clare was concerned. Nor could it be said that Clare had even the refined artistic or sociological provoke in the race that some members of other races displayed. She hadnt. No, Clare Kendry cared nothing for the race. She only belonged to it. (Larson, 36). This passage is the get-go point of Irenes jealousy. In her mind, Clare had it all.She is espouse to a rich, white man who sees her as a white woman whereas Irene is conjoin to a black man or so making it impossible for her to ever pass into the white community especially because one of her sons shares his fathers skin tone. Irene as well dislikes Clares appearance during the Negro public assistance League Dance because she thinks her husband might find Clares apparel attractive. When she spy Clares elegant dress and features, she regretted that she hadnt counseled Clare to wear something ordinary and inconspicuous (Larson, 53). This bound was the beginning of Irenes fear of subversiveness and abandonment. Towards the end of the book, Irene suspects her husband, Brian, is having an affair with Clare. notwithstanding what she suspects, she doesnt want to believe it. Because she thinks that as long as Clares b lack history is kept from John, Irene has nothing to worry about. Despite how Irene feels, Clare is bold and daringwilling to threaten everything to be free of Johns grasp.Irene couldnt bear losing Brian especially if Clare gains marital freedom It was that smile that maddened Irene. She ran crossways the room, her terror tinged with ferocity, and laid a hand on Clares bare arm. champion thought possessed her. She couldnt have Clare Kendry cast aside by Bellew. She couldnt have her free (Larson, 79). This excerpt proves that Irene has a fear of abandonment and a fear of betrayal. She cannot handle her husband betraying her for Clare Kendry, and she does not want to raise the boys alone. Irene as well as shows signs of repression and selective remembrance What happened next, Irene Redfield never afterwards allowed herself to remember. Never intelligibly (Larson 79). Irene knows what had happened but repressed the memory because she wouldnt have been able to handle having attai n on her hands.When the detective asks her what had happened, she, instead, remembers what she wants to remember and tells him Clare only fell out the window before anyone could stop her. With Irenes unfortunate luck, he believes herallowing the new memory of Clare Kendrys shoemakers last to take place of the actual event. much(prenominal) of Irenes responses to Clares persona theorize what many blacks must have entangle during the Civil Rights movement. During the Civil Rights Movement, the Jim Crow laws were naturalized and segregation was made legal. Unfortunately, the black community received the shorter end of the stick and had to offer harsh treatment. Because of the hardships many black men and women had to tolerate, a psychological illness was developed. callable to the heavy white influence, black people were subjected.Like Irene, they most likely experience avoidance, low self-esteem, fear of intimacy, abandonment or betrayal. Biracial men and women who passed int o the white society found a loop hole to escape the disadvantages of segregation. Nella Larson captured a morbid, yet perfect, secondment of how fear can literally generate a person over the jar against and do whatever it takes for the fear to absolve. She visualized Sigmund Freuds defense mechanisms and anxieties well and still the consequences of repression and fear. Repression is a double-edged sword. It is necessary to shell out with tragic events and/or thoughts but it is also a powerful vice to the human mind.The defenses and anxieties Sigmund Freud discovered through his experiments could make or break a persondepending on their mental condition. Fears can either enamor or be suppressed. Clare precious to conquer her fear by leaving her husband, John. She wanted to free herself from his prejudice attitude and start a new life where she wouldnt have to hide her black history. On the downside, Irene Redfield allowed her fear and rage consume her conscious, better-looki ng her the weapon she needed to kill Clare Kendryparanoia. If Irene wasnt so afraid of losing her husband, then she wouldnt have had to kill Clare to eliminate her fears of solitude and betrayal.Works CitedLarson, Nella. Passing. London W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. Book. Luft, Joseph and Harrington Ingham. SMALL concourse INSTRUCTOR TRAINING COURSE. 1984. Chapter 5 Johari Window. Web. 11 November 2012. . Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today A User-Friendly Guide. 2nd. New York City Taylor and Francis Group, 2009. Web.