A psychoanalysis study on silas lapham`s personality to reveal his anxiety in William Dean Howell`s the rise of Silas Lapham - USD Repository
A PSYCHOANALYSIS STUDY ON SILAS LAPHAM’S
PERSONALITY TO REVEAL HIS ANXIETY IN WILLIAM
DEAN HOWELL’S THE RISE OF SILAS LAPHAM
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
SHERLY WELLIKA
Student Number: 004214130
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
A PSYCHOANALYSIS STUDY ON SILAS LAPHAM’S
PERSONALITY TO REVEAL HIS ANXIETY IN WILLIAM
DEAN HOWELL’S THE RISE OF SILAS LAPHAM
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
SHERLY WELLIKA
Student Number: 004214130
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
A PSYCHOANALYSIS STUDY ON SILAS LAPHAM’S
PERSONALITY TO REVEAL HIS ANXIETY IN WILLIAM
DEAN HOWELL’S THE RISE OF SILAS LAPHAM
By
A. SHERLY WELLIKA
Student Number: 004214130 Approved by
Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum. July, 22, 2008
Advisor
Adventina Putranti, S.S, M.Hum. July, 22, 2008 Co. Advisor
A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
A PSYCHOANALYSIS STUDY ON SILAS LAPHAM’S
PERSONALITY TO REVEAL HIS ANXIETY IN WILLIAM
DEAN HOWELL’S THE RISE OF SILAS LAPHAM
By
SHERLY WELLIKA
Student Number: 004214130 Defended before the Board of Examiners
On 28 July 2008 And Declared Acceptable
BOARD OF EXAMINERS
Name Signature Chairman : Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M. Pd., M. A.Secretary : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum. Member : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum. Member : Adventina Putranti, S.S, M. Hum Member : Maria Ananta, S.S. M. Ed
Yogyakarta, August, 28 2008 Faculty of Letters
Sanata Dharma University Dean
Dr. I. Praptomo Baryadi, M. Hum A time to mourn and a time to dance
For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven A time to be born and a time to die A time to get and a time to lose A time to kill and a tine to heal
- -Ecclesiastes-
I dedicate this thesis to My parents My brothers My sister
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I would like to express my greatest attitude to Allah SWT, for His blessing and love that because of Him, finally I made it after a very long and tiring process.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Drs Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum, and my co-advisor Adventina Putranti, S.S, M. Hum who have helped me through my writing process of this undergraduate thesis. Without their helpful and kindness I might have lots of trouble in doing and finishing this undergraduate thesis.
My gratitude also goes to all the lecturers and staff of the Department of English Letters for the knowledge and the information I got during my study.
I would like to dedicate this thesis for my beloved family. I thank my parents who always pray for me. I also thank them for supporting me spiritually and financially. I thank My brothers and sister who always encourage me to do this thesis. I would like also express my thanks to my special mboy, for his unconditional love and support.
Last but not least, my gratitude go to my friends in class of 00, Yuyun, Budi, MbaWen, Pakde, Gaga, Sigit and others that I cannot mention one by one, I thank them all because they always support, accompany, and entertain me all the time. I also thank everyone in kost Kutilang for all unforgettable good times we have and share together.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
15 4. Theory of Anxiety ............................................................................
47 BIBLIOGRAPHY .........................................................................................
42 CHAPTER VP: CONCLUSION .................................................................
31 B. The Main Character Overcomes His Anxiety ......................................
28 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS A. The Main Character’s Character and His Anxiety Problem .................
28 C. Method of the Study ............................................................................
27 B. Approach of the Study ........................................................................
25 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study ..............................................................................
20 C. Theoretical framework .........................................................................
13 3. Theory of Personality.......................................................................
TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................. i APPROVAL PAGE ........................................................................................ ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ................................................................................... iii MOTTO PAGE ............................................................................................... iv DEDICATION PAGE ..................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................ vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................ vii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... viii
11 2. Relation between literature and Psychology ....................................
11 1. Theory of Character and characterization ........................................
8 B. Review of Related Theories ................................................................
6 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies ..................................................................
6 D. Definition of Terms .............................................................................
6 C. Objectives of the Study .......................................................................
1 B. Problem Formulation ..........................................................................
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study .....................................................................
ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................ ix
50 APPENDIX
ABSTRACT
Sherly Wellika, 2008. A Psychoanalysis Study on Silas Lapham Personality to
Reveal his Anxiety in Dean Howell’s The Rise of Silas Lapham. Yogyakarta:
Department of English Letters, Sanata Dharma University.The Rise of Silas Lapham is one of William Dean Howell’s work in which the author describes the factors causing anxiety problems of an individual.
Further, the analysis also covers how the individual overcome his anxiety problems. This novel is an expression of human internal battle in overcoming the anxiety. Silas Lapham, the main character in this novel, is a reflection of human being undergoing a psychological disturbance that is anxiety. As the author, Howells is very popular for his ability to present many characters that experience internal conflicts.
This study aims to find out the factors that cause the emergence of anxiety in the main character of the novel and how the main character overcomes his problem.
The method of the study is library research. Theory of character and characterization, theory of personality, theory of anxiety and relation between literature and psychology are applied in this study. The writer applies psychological approach since it covers some aspects that are relevant to answer the problem formulation. In analyzing each anxiety, the writer tried to identify how the id, ego, and superego of Lapham influenced each other so that the anxiety occurred.
The results of the study can be formulated as follows. Firstly, the main character’s childhood played an important role in creating his personality. His hard poor life, that was very religious, suppressed the main character’s id of eagerness to live happily and let the superego develop. That is why, when he got rich and got a chance to relieve his id, he lost his control. He did not want to loose his chance again. Unfortunately, the superego could not control the id. This happens because Lapham knows the joy of life after his long hard poor life. Most of Lapham’s anxiety derived from his inability to conduct or to control the demand from the id. Either the social or religious values in his superego were not capable to prevent the id to force the ego to fulfil what he demanded. Finally, the anxiety could be overcome by making a balance among three elements of personality. The id was not supposed to be demanding, so that the superego could control it, and the ego could do the best.
ABSTRAK
Sherly Wellika, 2008.: A Psychoanalysis Study on Silas Lapham personality to
Reveal his Anxiety in Dean Howell’s The Rise of Silas Lapham. Yogyakarta:
Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.The Rise of Silas Lapham merupakan salah satu karya William Dean
Howells yang menggambarkan faktor faktor penyebab masalah kecemasan pada seseorang. Selanjutnya, analisa ini juga menghadirkan bagaimana seseorang mengatasi masalah masalah kecemasannya. Novel ini adalah sebuah ekspresi pertempuran dalam diri seseorang manusia dalam mengatasi kecemasan. Silas Lapham, karakter utama dalam novel ini adalah sebuah refleksi dari pengalaman manusia sebuah gangguan psikologi yaitu kecemasan. Sebagai penulis, howell sangat terkenal akan kemampuannya dalam menghadirkan bayak karakter lam hal inidengan pengalaman masalah internal.
Riset ini bertujuan untuk mencari faktor faktor yang menyebabkan berkembangnya masalah kecemasan pada tokoh utama novel dan bagaimana tokoh utama mengatasi masalahnya.
Metode yang diterapkan dalam penelitian ini adalah penelitian kepustakaan. Teori karakter dan characterisasi, teori kepibadian, teori kecemasan dan hubungan antara literatur dan psikologi diterapkandalam penelitian ini. Penulis menggunakan pendekatan psikologi karena pendekatan tersebut mencakup beberapa aspek yang sesuai untuk menjawab rumusan permasalahan. Dalam menganalisa setiap kecemasan, penulis mencoba untuk mengidentifikasi bagaimana id, ego, dan superego dari tokoh utama sehingga kecemasan itu timbul.
Hasil penelitian dapat dirumuskan sebagai berikut. Pertama, masa kecil karakter utama memegang peranan yang sangat penting dalam menciptakan kepribadiannya. Kehidupannya yang miskin, sangat religius membuat hasrat id karakter utama untuk dapat hidup bahagia dan membiarkan superego berkembang.Oleh sebab itu, ketika dia menjadi kaya dan mempunyai kesempatan untuk menghilangkan id, dia kehilangan kontrol. Dia tidak ingin kehilangan kesempatan lagi. Sayangnya superego tidak dapat mengontrol id. Ini terjadi karena karakter utama mendapatkan kebahagian hidup setelah lama mengalami kehidupan miskin, sebagian besar kecemasan karakter utama didapatkan dari ketidakmampuannya mengarahkan atau mengontrol permintaan id. Baik nilai nilai social atau agama dalam superego tidak dapat melindungi id atau memaksanya untuk memenuhi permintaan. Akhirnya, kecemasan dapat diatasi dengan membuat sebuah keseimbangan pada tiga elemen kepribadian. Id tidak diharapkan untuk meminta, sehingga superego dapat mengontrolnya, dan ego dapat melakukan yang terbaik.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study A literary work is a work that represents the form of life. A literary work has
many similarities to the real life itself. The characters, situation, and problems in a literary work, for example, are the reflection of human life with all of its complicated aspects.
The emergence of literary work cannot be separated from the author since literary work is a realization of the author’s opinions of life. This understanding begins from the fact that an author, just like others, is an individual who cannot be free from the influence of his community. His life is influenced by the culture, religion, idea, and any convention of his society. This is in accordance with Abram’s Theory of Mimesis, saying that a work of art is the imitation of nature.
(Abrams, 1985:36) Likes many other kinds of literary works, novel has a close relationship with human life. Novel is an appropriate media to express the social life in which many human problems exist. That is to say that in a novel, a character may face the problems that real human being usually faces in the real life. Besides, a novel also tells about important experience that happens in the life of the characters that can change their faith of life. It shows the psyche turbulence of the characters that can change their faith of life. Understanding novel through the presentation of novels are the portraits of the real life. There are many values that are presented through the characters, and we can analyze them further by applying an appropriate approach. However, it is worth nothing that “any discussion of characters in fiction, then, must include the discussion on the relationship between characters and the story as a whole” (Kenney, 1966:41).
The psychological aspects of the characters in a literary work can be seen through an analysis of the characters. That is to say that feeling, thought, attitude and view of the characters can be analyzed through a psychological theory. This is because, again, the characters have a great similarity to the real life of human being.
As a revelation of the real life of human being, a literary work has the characters who also bear close similarities to the real human beings. That is why to understand the characters, the critics should see them as human beings. In other words, they also should consider the feeling, thought, and attitude that motivate the characters to do their actions. This can be done by using psychological approach. Besides, by applying psychoanalysis approach, it is expected that the critics will be able to perform any psychological problems and the solutions of the characters so that the readers of the criticisms can learn how to solve their daily psychological problems. By doing so, the readers will get not only pleasure, but also practical knowledge.
Stimulated by the fact clarified above, the researcher is intended to conduct a study on a psychological aspect of a character in a novel. The research then is
Lapham, a novel written by William Dean Howells. Meanwhile, the theory of
psychoanalysis that is employed in this research is Freud’s psychoanalysis.Freud sees that an individual comprises of two aspects. Those are conscious and unconscious aspects. In New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, he differentiates the two as follows:
“The oldest and best meaning of the word “unconscious” is the descriptive one; we call “unconscious” any mental process the existence of which we are obligated to assume – because, for instance, we infer it in some way from its effects – but of which we are not directly aware… If we want to be more accurate, we should modify the statement by saying that we call a process “unconscious” when we have to assume that it was active at a
certain time, although at that time we knew nothing about it” (1989: 99- 100).
Further, Freud puts his emphasis upon the unconscious aspects of human psyche. He declares that most individual’s actions are motivated by psychic forces. This becomes the first major premise of the theory of Psychoanalysis. The second one is that all human behavior is motivated ultimately by sexuality or sexual energy.
Theory of psychoanalysis views that mental process of an individual has three systems. They are id, ego, and superego. The three, however, do not stand in isolation. In other words, they are closely interrelated. Individual’s personality is much influenced by his id as the principle of pleasure, ego as the principle of reality, and superego as the principle of morality. Id drives the individual to “imagine” happiness. Ego leads the individual to make what he imagines become reality. Finally, superego controls the individual not to do what is prohibited by the norms and values of the society.
To meet his needs, an individual has to adapt himself to the surrounding environment. However, it is worth nothing that the environment does not always meet what the individual needs at once. That is to say that the individual has to adjust his instinct that comes from his personality to the reality. When the adjustment is so hard to do, the individual feels uneasy and threatened. Then, such a feeling leads the individual to an anxiety. In short, an anxiety emerges as a result of a strained relation among the elements of personality system. This deals with how ego accepts or refuses what id wants to do, or how super-ego controls the other two elements of personality.
Since the personality consists of three systems: id, ego and superego; there are three kinds of anxiety. The first one is neurotic anxiety. It occurs when ego cannot control the instinct coming from id. The second one is objective anxiety that is caused by the dangers coming from the environment. Finally, there is moral anxiety that occurs because the individual breaks the rules of the norms of the society. In such situation, super-ego presses the ego not to break the rules.
In The Rise of Silas Lapham, Howells performs Silas Lapham, a village businessperson of paint as the main character. It is told that at the beginning of his business, he could successfully overcome the resisting problems. However, because of some societal problems, he was anxious of his life. His anxiety influenced him so much that it made him a mistake. His family then fell in a hard life. Fortunately, he realized of his mistake and went back to this previous life as a villager. In the novel The Rise of Silas Lapham, Howells clearly describes the anxiety of Silas Lapham. His anxiety appears in his personality and behavior. As a villager, Silas Lapham thinks that business and money are everything. Even, he thinks that his paint business and all his successes give more concrete profit than God does. When he becomes a new rich person and enters a new upper class, he becomes anxious of himself. He is afraid of making any mistakes that can loose his wealth. His anxiety is clearly covered with his arrogance and bragging.
Anxiety is indeed a psychological problem, for many people. In the daily life, we often find people who are anxious. Although anxiety is a problem in the real life, it is also possible to analyze anxiety of a fictive character. The fictive character therefore is treated as a person who experiences the same problems as the real people in the real life.
There are some considerations why The Rise of Silas Lapham is taken into account. The first one is the novel is an expression of human internal battle in overcoming the frustration and anxiety. The figure of Silas Lapham in the work is a reflection of human being that is undergoing an emotional disturbance. The disturbance is indicated by the emergence of the anxiety. The second consideration is that Howells is a famous novelist who is able to interestingly present many characters that experience any internal conflicts.
B. Problem Formulation
Considering the phenomenon clarified above, the writer proposes two problem formulations:
1. How are the main character and his anxiety described in William Dean Howell’s The Rise of Silas Lapham?
2. How does the main character overcome his anxiety problems?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study is to answer the problem formulation. This study analyzes the main character of story and his anxiety problem. Then, this study analyzes how the main character overcome s his anxiety problem.
D. Definition of the Terms
To avoid different understanding during reading the paper, the analysis will provide some definitions of important words used in the analysis. It will help to make same perception. They are:
1. Anxiety Hornby defines anxiety as an emotional in which there is fear and uncertainty about the future (1974:34).
Kasschau in his book Understanding Psychology says Anxiety also refers to people who are deeply anxious and doubt all the time. They often find difficulties in freeing themselves from worries and fears as well as they express their emotion
2. Personality Atkinson and Hilgard in their book Introduction to Psychology define the word personality as the characteristic patterns of behavior and the modes of thinking that determine a person’s adjustment to the environment (1981:383)
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies This chapter covers three parts. The first is the review of related studies on William Dean Howell’s The Rise of Silas Lapham taken from internet sites, and
books. The second part is the review of related theories consisting of four subtitles of theories on character and characterization, theories on literary and psychology, theories on personality, and theories on anxiety which are taken from books. The third part is the theoretical framework that explains the contribution of the theories and reviews in solving the problem formulation.
Sam Houston considers that The Rise of Silas Lapham is the best known novel of William Dean Howells and it was one of the first novel that focuses on the American businessman. Howells is remembered for his long, close friendship with Mark Twain and for being one of the first seven people chosen for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, of which he was elected its first president. Despite the fact that Howells wrote over 100 books in various genres that included poems, novels, travel books, memoirs, plays and literary criticism he is largely out of print today. The Rise of Silas Lapham is an American novel of manners that delves into what was then the relatively new societal clash between the old rich and the newly rich, each group is well aware of their differences. It is set in a period when many old fortunes had become far less cultured, than the old rich whose manners and customs they tried so hard to emulate.(http://search.barnesandnoble.com/2008) Michael Anesko of Pennsylvania State University stated from a career spanning half a century and a tally of works including thirty-five full length novels, The Rise of Silas Lapham remains conspicuous in the oeuvre of William Dean Howells (1837-1920) for its readerly longevity. Since its appearance in 1885, the novel has never been out of print, even while the author’s reputation has suffered the vicissitudes of changing tastes and shifting canonical preferences.
Like one of its title character’s favorite fleet-footed horses, the novel came out of the gate at full gallop. (//oak.cats.ohiou.edu/2008) London’s Saturday Review immediately declared “The Rise of Silas Lapham is a novel which no one can neglect who cares to understand American character.
Anyone who wishes to gain an insight into the conditions of life in America, and to peer into its social complexities, cannot do better than to give his days and nights to the study of Mr. Howells’s stories in general and of The Rise of Silas
Lapham in particular.” Decades later, Henry James could hardly improve upon
that judgment when in 1912 the publicly commended Howells by saying, “Stroke by stroke and book by book your work was to become for this exquisite notation of our whole democratic light and shade and give and take in the highest degree
documentary , so that none other, through all your fine long season, could
approach it in value and amplitude.” (http://www.associatedcontent.com/2008) As a human and social document, The Rise of Silas Lapham stands apart
American success story – classically limned by Benjamin Franklin in his
Autobiography and then made safe for children by Horatio Alger. Howells
inverts the rags-to-riches formula by introducing his protagonist at the height of his economic prowess, only to reveal how vulnerable the Lapham family remains when confronted by codes of social etiquette that seem impervious to the brusque claims of money. Lapham has made his millions in the paint business, moved his wife and daughters from the New England hinterland (where his product’s secret ingredient was first unearthed), to Boston and now wants to claim his due among that city’s social establishment. By building an imposing new house “on the water side of Beacon” (in Boston’s newly fashionable Back Bay), Lapham seeks to give material form to a social ambition that, to him, seems perfectly justified by America’s democratic ethic of individual achievement.
(http://www.litencyc.com/2008)
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Characters and Characterization
Character according to Abrams in his book, A Glossary to Literary Terms, (1985:21) is the person, in dramatic or narrative work, endowed with moral disposition and emotional qualities. The qualities are expressed in what they say- dialogue-and what they do-the action. Characters based on their importance in a story (Abrams: 1985:20) can be divided into two categories.
The first category is main or major character. A main or major character refers to a character in which his or her position is the most important among the other characters from the beginning to the end of the story.
Main or major character is still divided again into two kinds, protagonist and antagonist. Protagonist is the chief character of work, on which our interest center, whereas antagonist is the opponent character to beginning or the end of the story.
The second category is minor character. Minor character is the supporter of the action of the main character. He or she appears in a certain setting and event.
The role of minor character is not important as the major character.
Perrine in his book, Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, (1974:69) states “there are three related principles in characterization”. First, the character must be consistent in their behavior that they must not behave one way on one occasion and a different way on another unless there is a sufficient reason for the change.
Second, the character must be motivated in whatever they do, especially when there is a change in their behavior. We must be able to understand the reason for what they do. It can be found in the beginning or the end of the story. Third, the character must be plausible or life like. It means that they are not paragons or virtue or monster of evil or impossible combinations of contradictory traits (1974:69).
M.J. Murphy in his book Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English
Poetry and English novel for overseas Student (1972: 161) exemplifies some
ways in representing the characters. The author attempts to make his characters under stable and lifelike for the readers by: a. Personal description
The author explains the physical appearance of the character. Sometimes the physical appearance can also reflect the character’s psychological condition.
b. Character as seen by another Instead of describing of character directly, the author can describe him or her through the eyes and opinion of another. Other characters will give explanation about what the character is like. Other’s thought about a certain character can be significant factor to build an understanding of that character. c. Speech The author can give us insight into the characteristic of one of the character in the book through what the character says. Whenever a character is speaking, he or she is giving the readers some clue to his or her characteristic
d. Past life By learning about a character life, the author can give the reader a clue that has helped to shape a character’s characteristic as he or she is now at present.
Usually it can be done by direct comment by the author, through the thought of the character, through the person‘s conversation or through the medium of another character.
e. Conversation of others Conversation of other character and the things they say about the character.
f. Reactions The character shows his character from his or her reactions to various situations and events.
g. Direct comment The author gives the reader a straightforward description about comment on the character.
h. Thought The author can give us direct knowledge of what a character is thinking about. We then can follow the inner life of the mind of the character, which reveals the thought inside the character’s mind. i. Mannerism The author may describe a character’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies that may also represent the person’s character.
2. Relation between literature and Psychology
This research is intended to explore an anxiety of a character in a work of literature. Anxiety deals with human psyche. Therefore, this can only be perfectly analyzed by employing psychology. Since the character in question exists in a work of literature, it is worth referring to the relation between literary work and psychology.
Literary work and psychology are actually two different sciences. The first refers to the revelation of what the people witness, experience, and feel during their life. In short, literature is a representation of life in the form of language. Meanwhile, psychology is a science that studies human behavior and psychical life. Its analysis is focused on an individual with all his activities and behavior.
The behavior in question includes not only the motoric actions but also the psychical actions such as thinking, loving each other, and the like.
As stated before, literature is a revelation of all aspects of life, political, social, or cultural one. A creator of a literary work is a part of a society where he lives. That is why when he describes the characters in his work; he cannot release himself from the influence of the society.
Therefore, the attitudes and characteristics of the characters in a literary
Literary work can be analyzed from many different points of view. The literary work that is much related to history can be analyzed using historical approach. Likewise, the one dealing with psychological matter can be analyzed by means of psychological theory.
Psychology can be utilized as the means of analyzing a literary work in three points. The first one is the study of Psychology on the creation of literary work.
This approach focuses the analysis on the step of creating the work.
The second is the psychological study on the creator (author). This approach emphasizes the analysis on the author as an individual. The last one is the discussion about the value and psychological norms that can be obtained from a literary work.
Among the three possible points, the last one is the most frequently used in the research of a literary work. Beside, as stated by Wellek (1956:126), this is the closest relationship between psychology and a literary work.
3. Personality
In the first section above, it is clear that a literary work has a close relationship with psychology, Psychology helps the critics much to analyze the characters in a literary work. One of the theories in Psychology is psychoanalysis proposed by Sigmund Freud.
It is theory that the researcher employs to explore the anxiety of Lapham. This theory is very helpful when the analysis is directed to the personality of
Hall in his book, A Primer of Freudian Psychology (1954:22) says that theory of psychoanalysis is mainly based on the concept that the personality made up of three major systems, the id, ego, and superego. Despite their own function, properties, components, operating principles, dynamism, and mechanism, they interact so closely with one another. In other words,” it is the product of the interaction among these three systems that results in individual behavior.
Besides, one system rarely operates to the exclusion of the other two. The personality normally functions as a whole rather than as three separate segments.
In very general view, the id can be thought as the biological component of personality, the ego as psychological component, and the super-ego as the social component.
Id is the most basic system of personality where the innate instinct exists. It
consists of everything psychological that is inherited and present at birth, including the instinct. It is subjective world of a man. It represents the inner world of a subjective experience and has no knowledge of objective reality.
Before and individual gets an experience and has no knowledge of objective reality. Before and individual gets an experience about the outer world, it is the id that stimulates the individual to do so. That is why Freud calls the id as the true psychic reality.
This is stated by Hall in his book (1954:22-27). The only function of id is to channel the instinct so that there is no strained situation as the result of a pressure or failure. In other words, id brings the individual from a strained situation to a uncomfortable state of tension. Consequently, when the tension level of the individual raised, the id functions to discharge the tension immediately and return the individual to a comfortably constant and low energy level. Therefore, Freud calls id as the principle of pleasure. When id fails releasing an individual from a strain, it tries to at least reduce the strain so that the psychic goes back to the constant condition. Since id tries to keep the constant condition, id is also called as the principle of constancy.
Id has two ways to reach pleasure. These are reflex action and primary
process. Reflex action is inborn and automatic reaction. This is realized only by doing reflex action, such as inhaling, Coughing, or sneezing. At least, reflex actions can reduce the tension immediately. An individual is equipped with a number of such reflexes for dealing with relatively simple forms of excitation.
Meanwhile, the primary process involves a complicated psychological reaction. Different from reflex action that runs as soon as there is a stimulus, primary process needs longer time. It tries to discharge tension by forming an image of an object that will remove the tension. For example, when the individual is hungry, the primary process will provide him with a mental picture of food, some other examples of primary process are dream, hallucination, and vision of psychotic patients. Obviously, the primary process cannot reduce the tension by itself. The hungry individual cannot eat mental pictures of food.
Ego then is the result of the creation of spiritual or inner systems as the
result of reciprocal relationship between an individual and his outer world. It transactions with the objective world of reality. Therefore, ego always considers the reality before it tries to reduce the strain. The hungry individual has to seek, find, and eat food before the tension of hunger can be eliminated. In other words, the individual has to be able to differentiate a memory image of food from the actual perception of food exists in the outer world. Then, the individual has to convert the image of food into a perception that is realized by finding and eating the food. In short, he has to be able to match the memory image of food with the sight or smell of food because they come to the person through his senses. This is what makes ego different from id. Ego can distinguish between things in mind and things in the external world, while id knows only the subjective reality of mind.
Ego functions as a mean of reaching the reality of what is demanded by id.
This is the reason why ego is called the principle of reality. When id imagines some food because the individual is hungry, ego tries to motivate the individual to get some food to eat, so that there is n strain anymore. That is to say that in accomplishing its function, ego acts as the mediator of the instinctive demands on the one hand and the reality in the other. The aim of ego is to prevent the discharge of tension until an object that is appropriate for the satisfaction of the need is discovered.
To accomplish its function, ego operates by means of secondary process. It is realistic thinking. By means of secondary process, the ego formulates a plan for the satisfaction of the need then tests the plan, usually by some kinds of action, to he will think of where he can find the food and the proceed to look in that place. In order to perform its role efficiently, ego has a control over all the cognitive and intellectual functions.
Because ego is dominated by the principle of reality, ego develops itself in accordance with what the individual undergoes in the real world. It is ego that has to solve any problems when the individual tries to satisfy his need. Therefore, it is also ego that acts because of spontaneous stimulus on the one hand and adapts its action to what the reality demands. (Hall, 1954:27-31)
Finally, the last system of personality is superego. It consists of some values and evaluative norms. Superego is the internal representative for traditional values and ideals of society as interpreted and dictated by the parents to the child. Because it deals much with the values and evaluative norms, superego represents the ideal world rather than the pleasure or the real world. It tries to reach perfection rather than pleasure. Its main function is to decide whether something is right or wrong so that it can act accordance with the moral standards authorized by the society. That is why superego cannot release itself from the rules, norms, and beliefs of the society
Superego has two sub-systems: Conscience and ego ideal. Super-ego
develops itself in response to the reward and punishments given by the society. To obtain the rewards and to avoid the punishment, the individual always tries to behave in accordance with the guideline of the society. Whatever is forbidden, or said to be improper becomes incorporated into the conscience, and whatever is incorporation takes lace is called introjections. The individual always tries to take in the moral standard of the society. The conscience will punish the individual by making him feel guilty, and the ego ideal rewards by making then feel proud. With the formation of supe-ego, self-control can be substituted for the social control.
Suprego bears three functions. Firstly, it functions to inhibit the impulses of
the id, especially the impulses of a sexual or aggressive nature. This is because these re impulses whose expression is most highly condemned by the society.
Secondly, superego functions to substitute moralistic goals into realistic ones. Finally, superego functions reach perfection. It always tries to challenge the id and ego and to make the world over into its own image. In short, the function of
superego is to control the conscience when it endangers either one self or the
society. Superego, with its values and evaluative norms, enables individual to be good member of society. When he wants to have sexual intercourse, for example, superego will motivates him to do it in a family.
Like what happens to ego, superego develops itself in accordance with the individual’s experience. Superego also tries to control the instinct. The only difference is that ego is influenced by the experience about reality while superego influenced by the experience of the definition of bad and good. Therefore,
superego starts its development when the individual understands what is bad and
what is good. (Hall, 1954:31-35)
4. Anxiety
Theory of psychoanalysis discusses the personality of human being comprehensively. This theory also covers the discussion about anxiety. This theory is very useful to dig the anxiety undergone either by a real human being or by a character in a literary work.
It is with the assistance of this theory, the researcher tries to explore why and how the anxiety occurs. Besides, this theory also assists the researcher when he is determining the kind of the anxiety.
The system of personality always tries to meet their own needs. Of course, they are influenced by the environment (society). It is required that the instinct coming from personality has to be adjusted to the reality. Such a situation may make id depressed that then results are uneasy feeling that in turn threatens the individuals.
Anxiety is one of the most important concepts in the theory of psychoanalysis. Anxiety plays the important role, either in the development of the personality or in the dynamism of the personality. Besides, anxiety is the central of Freudian theories about nervous system. (Hall, 1954:61)
This is a feeling experience that makes the individual hurt. This hurt is presented by the tense of the internal part of the body. The tense itself is caused by the internal or external drives. For example, when an individual get a danger, his heart will beat faster, his mouth gets dry, and hi hands get sweetened.
According to the theory of psychoanalysis, anxiety has an important role in the personality about the threatening danger so that the individual can anticipate it.
In this case, what is warned is the personality, and the danger occurs because there is instability among the systems: id, ego, and super-ego. Anxiety may come from either the inner personality or the reality in the environment. The cause of anxiety that derives from the inner personality is mainly about the system of id and superego. If the conflict between the two cannot be solved soon, then the anxiety occurs. The anxiety functions as the warning for the ego so that it will make an action to solve the anxiety. Meanwhile, the reality in environment can also cause the anxiety. This is because the environment is not always satisfying.
On the contrary, it can also endanger and threaten the physic, especially the nervous systems of an individual.
Id , as the principle of pleasure, makes the individual act without any
consideration. This because id demands id demands the individual to look for only a pleasure.
Mean while superego, as another part of the system of personality is full of values and norms that lead the individual to always behave well. The existence of this contradictory system, id and superego, makes the influence on ego.
In other words, either id or superego tries to influence ego so that ego will satisfy what is demanded. The influence of both id and superego then results in a tense or a strain that in turn bothers the psychic. If such condition remains in a long time, it is potential for anxiety to occur.
Freud classifies anxiety into three kinds: reality or objective anxiety, neurotic anxiety, and moral anxiety. The difference of the three is about the factor causing their occurrence.
Reality or objective anxiety is caused by the dangers coming from environment. That is to say that this type of anxiety occurs because the individual is fear of the reality around him. The example of this anxiety is the fear of darkness, fire, wild animal, naughty people or any others frightening.
As stated above, objective anxiety is a feeling experience as the result of the detection of the danger coming from the outer world. The term danger refers to the situation when an individual feels that there is something will harm or threaten him. This detection of danger can be an innate. That is to say that an in individual may inherit from his ancestor the tendency to feel scared if he is close to certain things. For example, the fear of darkness can be inherited from the ancestor that they encountered the danger when they did not have any lamps