finally knew how hard his feeling about being stressed and desperate. He was desperate in that case, it would kill him in just a little time.
b. Projection
Ruch 1971: 473 mentions that projection is the mechanism of the individual who is able to direct his aggressive feelings toward others rather than
towards himself. It can be said that projection also enables a person to blame other people-or even things-for failure that are essentially of individual’s own making.
This statement is supported by Kagan and Havemann 1976: 358 who say that, “projection becomes the risk of a completely distorted view of the truth about
oneself and others”. People who undergo this reaction will tend to blame another person for failures made by himself. This mechanism works effectively to reduce
anxiety. In the novella, projection is reflected in Roger’s behaviour of blaming his
first wife. It happened when both of them had met in Lausanne and she was just crying at that time. He blamed her in case she had tromper-ed him or fallen in love
with someone else. This bad moment was recounted to Helena in one evening. He shared with her because she really wanted to know his real story that made him
frustrated. With a sadness tone, he said what thought he had. She cried as though her heart was broken. Do I have to tell this story?’
‘Please tell me.’ ‘All that morning she would not tell me and I thought of all the worst
possible things that could have happened and asked her if they had happened. But she just shook her head. The worst thing I could think of was
that she had tromper-ed me or fallen in love with someone else and when I
asked her that she said, ”Oh How can you say that?” and cried some more. The Strange Country: 738.
In those lines, Roger told that she had tromper-ed him. The worst thing in Roger’ minds that she had been fallen in love with another person. He was himself
emotionally in trouble. He had accused her because she had a relation with someone else. What roger did is referring to projection. He blamed her for the
things that she didn’t bring all of his stuff. She cried some more until she told to him honestly about what really did
happen with his manuscript folders. Roger was still sitting and Helena accompanied him. He shared with her about his feelings painfully. His first wife
told him why she cried in Lausanne. She cried because she was no responsible with his manuscript folders.
It happened because she had packed them in a suitcase and left the suitcase with other bags in her first class compartment in the Paris-Milan Express- in the
Gare de Lyon while she went out to buy a London paper. When she got back into the compartment, she found that the suitcase was gone. He was surprised after he
heard about it because his manuscript folders were his greatest works and the better part of his production for four years. Then he blamed her for a mistake she
had done. She said it was dirty luck and a great misfortune and was it true that all my
works were in it. I said yes and she said but how was it there were no copies? I said the copies were there too. Then she said Mais ca alors. Why
were copies made to lose them with the originals? I said Madame had packed them by mistake. It was a great mistake, she said. A fatal mistake.
The Strange Country: 740.
In that narration, Roger told Helena with an upset tone that his first wife had packed all the manuscript folders by mistake. In that place, he told her that he had
met the concierge. He actually convinced the concierge to recheck that it was a great misfortune about the manuscript. The concierge made him sure that all of his
works in the suitcase were gone. He felt depressed because he lost all of his works. Then he also blamed his first wife for the loss of his stories because the
copies were also lost along with the original ones. As for him, it was a fatal mistake.
c. Sublimation
