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In her novel The Fifth Child, published in 1988, Doris Lessing examines how one couple’s search for happiness has tragic implications. In this case, the couple, David and Harriet, and the family are slowly destroyed by the presence of the fifth child, Ben, who is unattractive, shows no emotions or attachments to other people, and is destructive. The other children in the family seem to be able to cope on a normal, socially acceptable level, but Ben never seems to be able to grasp acceptable behavior. Significantly, the novel never explains the cause of Ben’s abnormalities. While Lessing does not supply the reader with a cause, one explanation I found is in psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, is explicit in his belief that neuroses, some of which are displayed by Ben, are generally developed in childhood and that they are the result of problems in the relationship between the child and the parents. This is clearly seen when he writes, “’The complicated emotional relation of children to their parents – what is known as the Oedipus complex…was the nucleus of every case of neurosis’ (25 Nicholi).” In what follows, I will show that the cause of Ben’s lack of development and social psychoses is caused by the way he is treated by his parents.
Early in the novel we are told that Harriet and David meet at a business party and they quickly realize they are ideally suited for each other. They soon marry and settle into a beautiful suburban home. They are also quick to begin their family, having first a son, then two daughters, and another son. Their large country home becomes the center of family gatherings and parties, which Harriet particularly enjoys. She is worn out from her four young chi...
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...normal and pathological.
While it is clear from a psychoanalytic standpoint that Ben’s condition is a result of his parent’s lack of love and nurturing, it is also important to look at what caused Harriet and David to treat Ben this way. In trying to form a perfectly happy life, they failed to account for things that were out of their control. They initially blamed the close ages of their children and Ben’s disposition, but it seems that their resentment of Ben came from a deeper resentment of their own unfulfilled dreams of perfection. As their lives became less perfect, indeed, increasingly chaotic and tragic, they treated Ben with less love. Harried and David, and their four other children, may have had a better chance for happiness if Harriet and David had not made such an attempt to achieve, and even force, a happiness that was absolutely perfect.
It was times throughout the book the reader would be unsure if the children would even make it. For example, “Lori was lurching around the living room, her eyebrows and bangs all singed off…she had blisters the length of her thighs”(178).Both Lori and Jeannette caught fire trying to do what a parent is supposed to do for their child. Jeannette caught fire at the age of three trying to make hotdogs because her mother did not cook for her leaving Jeannette to spend weeks hospitalized. She was burnt so bad she had to get a skin graft, the doctors even said she was lucky to be alive. The children never had a stable home. They were very nomadic and a child should be brought up to have one stable home. No child should remember their childhood constantly moving. This even led to Maureen not knowing where she come from because all she can remember is her moving. The children had to explain to her why she looked so different is because where she was born. They told Maureen “she was blond because she’d been born in a state where so much gold have been mined, and she had blue eyes the color of the
Two people with two completely different characteristics have something alike. Both Dally and Johnny are mentally tough because of their parents. Johnny and Dally’s parents both do not care for them and could care less about them. For example, during Dally’s childhood he went to jail, been in a gang, and has been in many fights and his dad still would not care for him even if he won the lottery. Dally also talks about his dad's disgrace towards him in the car with Johnny and Ponyboy, “‘ Shoot, my dad don’t give a hang whether I’m in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in a gutter...’”(88). Dally could easily live without his dad and he does for the most part. Dally just hangs around with his friends and stays at their place. Similarly, Johnny's parents use him like a rag doll to blow off steam, “his father always beating him up”(14). The gang knows what happenes in Johnny’s house. Once Ponyboy was witnessing, “Johnny take a whipping with a two-by-four from his old man”(33). Ponyboy talks about how loud and mean Johnny's mom is and,“you can...
...d few such as Anna, Stella, and Alice who broke free of the poison, lived their lives as Sam Toms’ did who rooted the family. They as he did lied, cheated, manipuled, and kept secrets to try to live a happy life which in actuality their lives were anything but.
1. In the book, the father tries to help the son in the beginning but then throughout the book he stops trying to help and listens to the mother. If I had been in this same situation, I would have helped get the child away from his mother because nobody should have to live like that. The father was tired of having to watch his son get abused so eventually he just left and didn’t do anything. David thought that his father would help him but he did not.
Barbara believes that in using “psychopathology (Woods 14)” it helps links us to a deeper knowledge of our self-psychology. “Psychopathology is known as the scientific study of mental disorder (Mental Kowalczyk).”More often than not, this is caused by the neglect and abuse shown by parents or guardians of this child. Stated by Woods the “Psychological dysfunction(Woods 14)” of any child, gives everyone an understanding of the problems of COAs, and this severely distressed children who grow up in alcoholic homes. In Woods book she looks into the philosophy of a man named Freud. Freud deems to think that all of these problems are a part of this psychic concept of your id, ego, and superego. When it all comes down to Barbara, finding this all to be a something she calls an “inherent and pernicious flaw (Woods 24) in the COA. What she believes is their sense of familiarity or their security blanket. This gives the
Wilson, Sarah. "Sigmund Freud and the oedipal complex." The Observer”. Guardian News and Media, 8 Mar. 2009. Web. 1 May 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/08/sigmund-freud-oedipal-complex>.
Progress is seen on the front of Claudia and Carolyn’s relationship. David attempts to reorganizes his relationship with Claudia in an effort to remove the pressure placed on her. However, the battle between Carolyn and Claudia continues to ebb and rise as the family narrows in on the dynamics of David and Carolyn’s relationship. Napier states to Claudia that, “...the family unconsciously agreed to go back to your and Carolyn’s war to rescue your mom and dad from the hot seat” (p. 137). When the family finally breaks free from this structure the exploration of David and Carolyn’s own relationship becomes the most critical aspect in therapy.
The story leads the reader on an exploratory journey to witness the neglect by Emily's extremely guilty mother. This is described by the children's cry when they are left with strangers, lacking attention and love due to the fact she is a single parent at a time where this was not commonly accepted in the community, causing a lot of emotional distress.
According to psychologist Sigmund Freud, who is known for his theory of psychoanalysis, the human mind contains “a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories” (Meyers 597). These unconscious desires then resurface and develop into the impulses for one’s actions and thoughts. Moreover, one of the most prominent and often times controversial ideas of this theory is the Oedipus complex. In Meyer’s textbook of psychology, the Oedipus complex is described as affecting young males by causing the development of sexual desires for their mothers and also jealousy towards their fathers
Sigmund Freud was the first of six children to be born into his middle class, Jewish family. His father was a wool merchant, and was the provider for the family. From the time Freud was a child, he pondered theories in math, science, and philosophy, but in his teens, he took a deep interest in what he later called psychoanalysis. He wanted to discover how a person's mind works, so he began to explore the conscious and unconscious parts of one's psyche. Freud's parents and siblings were directly involved in allowing him to pursue this unexplored area of psychology. He was given his own room so that he could study his books in silence, and was only disturbed when it was time to eat. Freud eventually married Martha Bernays. She was cooperative and completely subservient to her husband. She was simply filling a role that the society during that time insisted was proper for all women. Freud himself derived his attitudes toward women and his beliefs about the roles of individual sexes from personal experiences in the strict culture of the time. In the middle to late eighteen hundreds, Central European society distinguished clearly between the roles of men and women. Cultural norms dictated that men be responsible for work outside of the home, and the financial well being of the family, while the women's responsibilities were in the home and with the children. With these specific gender roles came the assumption of male dominance and female submission. Females were pictured as serene, calm, creatures that were lucky to have the love and protection of their superior husbands. It is in this form of the family where most children first learn the meaning and practice of hierarchical, authoritarian rule. Here is where they l...
In this essay I am going to show my understanding of a child's early emotional development based on the psychoanalytical view of child development. I will show how emotional skills gained in the early years can be of a significant relevance to later life. I will show my understanding by illustrating it with the clinical material. Although I am focusing on the psychoanalytical approach to child development I believe that it is beneficial to present also some general background knowledge of child development.
We allowed our environment to shape and mode our behavior, attitudes and thought patterns. What happens when an individual’s environment has a child does not have balance in his or her life? Karen Horney explains the effect of not having balance. My perception of Karen Horney’s Neurosis and Human Growth: The Struggle Toward Self-Realization is that when children are not giving the proper care for and encourage to grow or are to achieve an aim in life. The individual builds an imaged perception of them self. The attribute or personality of the individual leads to him or her to operate accordingly to what they think they should be. Thus the neurosis affects the personality but then again the individual acts less than a psychosis. He or she can make rational decision and has a grab on reality. These are the qualifications of a Neurosis. Horney’s concept of this is displayed thought out her book. The meaning behind this paper is to demonstrate how well I comprehend Horney’s theory of
Wilson, Sarah. "Sigmund Freud and the oedipal complex." The Guardian. N.p., 8 Mar. 2009. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. .
In examining the Freudian view of human development, the main characteristic of human development is one of a primitive and sexual nature. Freud defines the id as a unconscious part of the mind focused on the primitive self and is the source of the demands of basic needs. Freud explains that the mind of an infant consists only of the id, driving the basic needs for comfort, food, warmth, and love. In later stages of early development, as a child’s mind begins to grow, the ego is formed. The ego is defined as the connection between consciousness and reality that controls one’s thought and behavior. In late pre-school years a child begins to develop what is called a superego. At this stage values are internalized, and the complex connection between the id, ego, and supere...
The term Electra complex which according to Freud is ‘feminine Oedipus attitude’ is for the first time coined by C. G. Jung as ‘Electra complex’. This term refers to “a type of arrested development in an older female child or woman, in which the daughter adulates the father and scorns the mother” (Swiontkowski 31) for she lacks a penis which is a phallus, a symbol of power and authority. While Freud sees the complex from anatomical and sexual point of view, Jung sees it from symbolic point of view where biological father is often absent. If we read the poems identified with the Electra complex written by Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, we will notice that both the poets represent an imaginary image of the fathers to symbolize patriarchal power what they want to gain not to see their position as victim in the patriarchal social structure any more. Gale Swiontkowski clearly points out why a daughter shows her excessive psychological attachment towards her father and denying her mother. She