Nicolas Casadiego

Literary Criticism Template

School of Criticism (Feminist, etc.) : Psychoanalytic

Description of Theory:
This theory relates to the psychological ideas of Sigmund Freud. These ideas focus on how our psychological state
of mind is growing up and how we interpret and express our ideas, whether we decide to have them hindered or to
express them loudly. He believed that many of our experiences growing up, especially if they were traumatic, are not
forgotten but stored away in the unconscious part of our mind where it continues to influence our adult influence.
Freud also uses the concept of ID which is how we identify as an individual and how we represent ourselves towards
other people, what we hide and what we do stop ourselves from exposing what were hiding using the mechanisms.
The Oedipus complex is used in psychoanalytic theory as a critical way to explain the growth of a human, it
contemplates the need kids have for their parents and what happens as they grow up and realize that theyre not the
centre of attention of their parents. Freud combines these ideas to come up with questions to analyze literature like:
What might a given interpretation of a literary work suggest about the psychological motives of the reader? and
Are there any oedipal dynamics - or any other family dynamics - are work here?
Key Terms or Ideas:
According to Freud, the human psyche may be divided into three components:
ID, Superego, Ego- Your personality, the location where all the information is stored which is sub-divided
into 3 categories [Ego (what you want to show everyone), Alter-ego/ID (who you truly are/the unconscious
mind you suppress) and Super-ego (what stops your alter-ego from becoming the ego)].
The Unconscious, the Desires, and the Defenses Idea human beings are motivated by desires, fears, needs,
and conflicts of which they are unaware, but with time to keep all these desires withheld we develop
mechanisms such as selective memory, denial, and displacement.
Oedipus complex Involves children's need for their parents and the conflict that arises as children mature
and realize they are not the absolute centre of focus of their mother's attention. They desire their mothers
attention, they wish to possess their mother.
Important Critics (List three from this school):
Sigmund Freud
Carl Jung - The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Vol. 9, Part 1 of Collected Works. 2nd ed. Trans.
R.F.C. Hull, 1968
Jacque Lacan - The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis, 1988; "The Agency of
the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason Since Freud" (from crits: A Selection, 1957)
How I think this theory would interpret The Grinch Who Stole Christmas:
To first interpret The Grinch Who Stole Christmas I have to ask questions like Is the Grinchs hatred rooted
from a childhood event? and Why is the Grinch so determined and persistent on ruining Christmas? Hes
physically and socially isolated from the population of Whoville which he feels no connection to. This could
have rooted from past experience as a child from being bullied and constantly mocked because he looked
different. Hes depressed and people dont want to be around him which results in him not wanting to be around
people and is faced with a lack of love from the citizens of Whoville. These feelings result in him turning his
hatred into mistreating his dog and hating everything happy and joyful due to the fact that he didnt have such a
wonderful and loving childhood while growing up. From the beginning the Grinch is solely driven by the
ID/Alter-ego, showing his unconscious part of his mind, leaving the superego and ego not doing their jobs,
therefore resulting in no balance in being able to act in a socially acceptable manner. We see this as he wreaks
havoc upon the village and feels no remorse or conscious as to what he is doing showing how the ID/Alter-ego is
in complete control. The thoughts and feelings deep inside his unconscious leave him in a dark and miserable
state of mind while everyone else seems to be the joy. We see the Grinchs ego take over by the end of the story,
leaving his ID left in the unconscious where the super-ego watches over when seeing happiness even when their
Christmas is ruined, leaving the Grinch to infer that dark and traumatizing moments in our life are meant to
define us in a positive way and strengthen our ego and superego along the way. People with a sensitive sense of
social isolation, who are not satisfied from within, appear to have a reduced response to things that make most
people happy, and a heightened urge towards human conflict, and manipulation.

Works Cited
"Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism. Web. 06
Apr. 2016.