From What Other Characters Do
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2005: 74. Here it concerns with consciousness, which is the contents of mind, something that we are aware of or not unconscious. Flahive in his book has an
opinion on the psychoanalytic theory of personality 2005: 77 suggests that: “Much of our behavior, perhaps the majority of it, is determined by the
unconscious forces, and that much of our psychic energy is devoted either to finding acceptable expression of unconscious ideas or to keeping them
unconscious.”
And in using psychoanalytic view to analyze one’s personality, it is found some important terms such as ID the most primitive part of the personality,
containing unconsciousness and aggressive impulses, Superego the conscience part including the internalization of moral standards set by one’s parents, Ego part of the
personality that mediates between ID and the Superego, as well as responding to the environment, the rational, reality-oriented component of personality, Ego defense
that is the ego’s unconscious mechanisms distorting feelings or perceptions that make some people turn aside feelings of anxiety, guilt, and conflict Cirese, 1985: 53-55.
According to Freud, ID represents the source of all drive energy. It pursues pleasure and avoids pain. In the other word, it is the basis of personality, the energy
source for the whole system, and the foundation from which the Ego and Superego later become differentiated Mischel, 1976: 31. ID functions according to primary
process and the pleasure principle, unconsciously seeks immediate satisfaction of biologically based drives, and is the source of psychic energy libido.
Then Ego functions according to secondary process and the reality principle; it refers to processes whereby the individual becomes aware of eternal reality and
makes judgments or decisions about what actions are relevant and appropriate
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Lindgren, 1969: 189. Freud describes it in this way: The Ego is in direct contact with the external world. It is governed by
considerations of safety, and its task is preservation of the organism. The Ego wages its battle for survival against both the external world and the internal
instinctual demands of the id. It has to continuously differentiate between the mental representations of wish-fulfilling images and the actual perceptual
characteristics of the outer world of reality Mischel, 1976: 31-32.
In another word, it can be said that Ego mediates between the instinctual demands of the ID and the outer world of reality.
But Superego represents society’s restrictions and produces guilt and ego ideal Cloninger, 2004: 63. As said by Freud, “Whereas the ID seeks pleasure and
the Ego tests reality, the Superego seeks perfection or the ideal” Mischel, 1976: 32. Superego involves the morals and standards of society that have become part of the
internal world of the individual in the course of the development of one’s personality. It is the conscience, the judge of right and wrong, of good and bad related to the
internalized standards of the parents and indirectly of the society. In another word, Superego represents the internalized moral standards of the society, achieved through
the internalization of parental control and characteristics in the course of socialization. It is more related to the conscious part of human mind.
This theory of psychoanalytic is crucial to study further the literary work in this study because the writer can use this theory to analyze the personal character
including the character’s actions, motivation, personality, feelings, and desires. Psychoanalytic also describes the developmental stages in early life as a period of
great significance in determining one’s personality from birth through adolescence. Freud considered the five psychological stages oral, anal, phallic, and genital stages
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crucial in the development of a personality. The oral stage characterizes the first year of life, which occurs at time when an infant is totally dependent upon others for
satisfaction of his needs. The anal stage occurs in the second year of life in which a child has experience with imposed control of an instinctual impulse through trainings
that can later affect traits and values and show character traits of obstinacy, stinginess, precision, and orderliness. Next the phallic stage occurs after the age of
five which remains a vital force in later personality. It is characterized by masturbatory stimulation and the observation of the anatomical distinction between
the sexes. For example, as Freud said “Both boys and girls love their mother as the satisfier of their basic needs and resent their father as a rival for their mother’s
affection” Mischel, 1976: 41. The genital stage is the final phase of maturity and in it; the individual is capable of genuine love and adult sexual satisfaction. “The love
objects of the pregenital period are essentially selfish or narcissistic: that is, others are loved only because they provide additional forms of body pleasure to the person”
42. According to Freud early personality development occurs in the setting of the
family. In that context, Freud strongly emphasized the child’s attachment to the mother and the rivalry between son and father 43.