G. Orwell - 1984 - Psychoanalytic approach The theory of psychoanalysis, primarily identified with Freud can be applied to the literature in the same way as Freud studied dreams and tried to understand human behavior. Psychoanalytic views the subject not as a unique essence, but as the result of a combination of psychic, sexual and linguistic mechanism. Feud made that the literary work can be seen like the unconscious, does not speak directly, but indirectly through metaphor, image and symbol. This type of criticism deals with literary characters as if they were living human beings and tries to find their unconscious motivation by analyzing the language they use and specific Freudian imagery. The psychoanalytic approach understands us from the point of view of our unconscious and early childhood experiences. Freud’s psychoanalysis suggests that our behavior is influenced by ID, EGO, and SUPEREGO. Psychoanalytic approach adopts the method of “reading” employed by Freud. It is important to find a “key” to decode the text. We can think about a novel in terms of dreams. Like dreams, novels are fictions, inventions of somebody’s mind, although based on reality. Like novel, a dream can have a truth inside, but also like a novel, must be interpreted. The metaphors in a text are like dreams condensations. Freud’s style of psychoanalysis involves talk therapy. Freud also describes anxiety as an emotional condition where human feels uncomfortable and always feels so scared. Freud states that anxiety is the function of ego which alerts the person to sources of impeding danger. Anxiety is the effect of the conflicts of the elements of personality changes, when a person does unusual things. Anxiety changes the personality and may also influence someone to be courageous. The courage appears even is pressed by something or someone he/she dislikes. Psychoanalytic approach can be applied to” 1984” on specific aspects of ego psychology. “1984” is a network of patterns, images, and numbers. In the book the main character, fictional character, Winston is the object of the study. At the beginning of the novel, Winston is seen as having limited ego autonomy. He achieves having a greater degree autonomy and then looses it almost entirely by becoming a re-fused with primitive parental image in a process of brainwashing conceptualized as a reverse of separation individual. The failure of superego and ego ideal formation in Winston Smith is seen as the psychological turning point. In the book are some images from Winston’s childhood connected with his mother. In dream he has a last glimpse of his mother. It was a memory that he must have deliberately pushed out of his conscious over many years, and also he suffered from his mother disappearance. Winston’s mother appears in his dreams in different ways. At the beginning his mother appears with his sister in arms. He was out in the light and air while his mother and sister were sucked down to death. When he joins to Brotherhood, in dream his mother tried to shelter the boy (Winston). The dream can be interpreted by Winston’s blame by his mother disappearance at the hands of Brotherhood. Since he does not how to deal with guilt he has repressed his memories. When Winston continues to rebel against Big Brother, as an effect of his anxiety, his dreams access his memories while conscious and he realizes the death of his mother was not his fault. Winston’s dreams influence his action in reality. Also in the book, the Minister of Love, is aware by dreams, because the dreams can influence people actions. For example, Parson was incarcerated because of what he did in sleep. Big Brother uses nightmare to its advantage. We can see how Winston’s nightmare about rats was used by Big Brother and this caused his break. Dystopia is a place of nightmare, where everything is bad and utopia is a place of good dreams, where everything is good. “1984”written by G. Orwell is a dystopia, so a psychoanalytic approach fits perfectly.
