Id, Ego and Superego in Literature Essay

Within Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Marlow asserts that â€Å"the mind of man is capable of anything–because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future† (HOD 109.) As Marlow journeys deeper into the Congo he is forced to adapt to the jungle environment and in the process he begins to lose his understanding of societal rules and ideals. His â€Å"psychological self† is coerced into adapting to the rustic environment of the Congo hence disturbing the balance between his id, ego and superego. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies similarly deals with this deteriorating awareness of societal standards in foreign environments, but does so with a group of young boys on an uninhabited island. Throughout Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies Marlow, Kurtz and the boys clearly demonstrate the capacity of the human mind in reflection to the principles of Sigmund Freud according to his defi nition of the id, ego and superego. Read more: Jack quotes lord of the flies essay In Heart of Darkness, Marlow demonstrates the capability of the human mind as he makes his journey up the Congo River and adapts to the savage environment that surrounds him. While adapting to his environment, Marlow begins to disregard societal standards and hence his â€Å"psychological sense† is altered in that Marlow’s ego and super ego subside in his overall nature, resorting to the â€Å"pleasure principle† that we now call the id. Marlow’s id begins to cease control of his personality and his innate instinctive nature is released. It is this imbalance of his â€Å"psychological self† which acts as an instigator for the evil found in him and all men. When Marlow states that â€Å"Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world,† (HOD 105) he is trying to depict his journey up the river as a representation of his discovery of the innate wickedness present in all mankind. The disappearance of Marlowâ₠¬â„¢s super ego is imminent throughout his journey up the Congo. The presence of authority, society, and civilized people begin to fade just as his concepts of right and wrong are lost as he journeys further on and thus the innate wickedness of man emerges. Marlow’s savagery is the result of adaptation and the growing disproportion of his id to his ego and super ego. His disregarding of his ego and super ego can be seen when he says, â€Å"but if you try to shout I’ll smash your head with’†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢I will throttle you for good† (HOD 148.) This statement confirms that Marlow  is straying further from the ideals of society and shows that Marlow’s perceived self is making a transition from being civilized (superego) to becoming a savage (id.) When Marlow meets Kurtz, he finds a man that has totally thrown off the restraints of his own ego/superego and has deteriorated into the primitive state of the id. Therefore Kurtz serves as an excellent example of Marlow’s assertion in that he has forgotten society to such an extent that he does not even remember his life in Europe. Kurtz’s isolation in Africa as well as his unbelievable power over the natives corrupted him and drove him to condone unspeakable acts such as cannibalism and human sacrifice (destruction/Thanatos=pleasure for Kurtz.) In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz’s last words depict his terror and his realization of his final fate, â€Å"The horror! The horror!† (HOD 154) Kurtz realizes how far he has strayed from society, and finally admits to his evil acts in Africa. Hence, it was the imbalance of the characters â€Å"psychological selves† due to displacement from society (society gave them the sense of right and wrong) that caused the innate evil to reveal itself in the characters Marlow and Kurtz. The augmented id created a disproportion between the other counterparts of the â€Å"psychological self† and thus facilitated the intrinsically evil nature of all men including Marlow and Kurtz. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the boys are reduced to an instinctive and almost animalistic state due to the lack of authority and society, as well as the need to adapt to a new primordial surrounding. The boys are stranded on an island by themselves and must adapt in order to assure their survival. When they first arrive the boys act in an orderly fashion, and begin the construction of a governmental system to parallel a functional society. This system is representative of the boy’s super egos. This system soon fails however, when the boys learn that they must revert to their animal instincts (id) in order to survive. This transition from being civilized to becoming savage is revealed in the book when the narrator states, â€Å"They bumped Piggy, who was burnt and yelled and danced. Immediately, Ralph and the crowd of boys were united and relieved by a storm of laughter† (LOTF 149.) This example simply depicts the great change that has occurred among t he boys in that they further hurt Piggy’s burn wound on the account of carelessness while playing a savage like game. The fact that  none of the children apologize for their acts further prove the transition of the boys from being civilized to becoming savage-like. The simple fact that a group of choirboys, who were exemplary individuals, could change into savages that kill one another further proves Marlow’s assertion that the mind is capable of anything. At the end of Lord of the Flies, the boys come to realize the transformation of their initial choirboy natures when they are confronted with authority in the form of a naval officer. The narrator states that â€Å"One of them came close to the officer and looked up. I’m†¦I’m; but there was no more to come† (LOTF 201.) Percival has changed so much throughout his time on the island that he cannot even recall his own name. On the whole, three characters can be linked with each of the three psychodynamic principles: Jack represents the id with his constant desire to hunt and kill (death drive,) Ralph represents the ego with his attempts to satisfy both sides of his own mind and others on a greater level while keeping in touch with reality, and Piggy represents the superego by acting as the conscience for the group, maintaining the very principles that the boys have lost. If one were to look at this novel as an analysis of the individuals one would perhaps miss out on the greater picture. By combining the characteristics and actions of all the characters you can really see the greater picture of what Freud describes in his theories. Both Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies contain characters that are changed from civilized beings, that are able to balance the urges of the id and constraints of the ego/superego, into savages. Within the novels the lack of authority and society as well as the presence of a primeval surrounding causes the innate evil within man to awaken. By removing societal pressures and surroundings, the instinctive id nature overpowers mans ego and super ego. This disturbance in equilibrium causes the innate evil found in all people to manifest itself. Freud’s conception of the human psyche illustrated that the majority of what we experience in our lives, the underlying emotions, beliefs, feelings, and impulses are not available to us at a conscious level. He believed that most of what drives us is buried in our unconscious. Like mentioned above, these choirboys and sophisticated Europeans never imagined that they would be  acting as they did when they reached their respective destinations. The immense unconscious id took over in many of the characters but when brought back into society returned to their previous balances. Books used William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, published in 1959 by Perigee Trade Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, published in 1997 by Mass Market Paperback

A parent’s dilemma

Parenting is never an easy task. How the children are being raised is always the parents’ prerogative. Parental child rearing styles are key components to assessing emotional attachments, respect, and other domains of parent-child interaction. The belief system, societal norms, and culture are basic ingredients in understanding parental personality and psychopathology.The drama of leaving the young ones behind while daddy and mommy go to work has always been quite difficult for the parents. Therefore relationship between parents and children breakdown to a state more often channeled through professional agencies such as babysitters and other childcare to look after them while at work. Moreover it is still parent’s responsibility to ensure that children behave in a way acceptable to societal norms and community.Considering that disruptive behaviors of children are always followed by criticisms concerning parental irresponsibility, it has always been a headache when some values of the babysitter were being incorporated and taught to the children.Parents tried to compensate absence making calls every now and then to check the kids. But the relationship and the values that children gather is more on witnessing the adult that they are spending a majority of their time in a day.My mother used to call me three times a day. If she is busy she forgot and I got no calls to expect. It is lonely when parents are not at home. This is true especially when I get sick and is left under the care of a babysitter. When I have a slight fever and I want a hug and have someone beside me, the babysitter depending on their race, can be cold at times. I may have my medicines but I still can sense I don’t know what is lacking. Affection and love is really not there, just not there.The need to support high cost maintenance of rearing children and coping up basic needs like education and food has given rise to mothers definitely working to help sustain finances. The c ommon practice of family work balance still refers to women as continually responsible for most of the work associated with child rearing. The behavior of children continues to project experience from other changes made within family context.From my experience, some babysitters tend to be warm and nice in front of my parents and start to change course of mood the moment the car is already off the driveway.They become distant and grouchy in my every request. Food sometimes is a problem. I don’t like how they prepare my meals. I noticed that I was becoming uncaring and disrespectful too even with my parents. The attitude puzzled them. The idea seems to go around like this: what you see is what you portray.Pay off for both parents working are the quantity and nature of family social capital. This is evidenced by home environments. This relatively means that the number of hours parents spend working impacts family strength and relationships.Mothers spending more time with childre n create stronger home environments. The consequence of changing context of parental employment affects the kind of parenting the children benefits and receives. It also shows significant effect on the quality of care giving experience they are receiving.When dad was promoted and he got a nicer pay than the previous month, mom decided to shit from full time work to part time work. I was very happy then and I really value her presence and was really thankful she is the one caring for me most of the time.When Dad had another promotion, the house was already filled with luxury items and my things and my bed are really nice. I have my allowance and I can buy items whenever mother decides for a short trip to the supermarket on mornings for groceries.

Oral History Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Oral History Project - Essay Example So Tucker grabbed this big tall girl with a dark complexion while the shorter blonde-haired girl grabbed Chic by the arm and they started walking. Unbelievably, what was in Chic's mind at the time was economics. "Gee, the price had gone upwe used to pay only 20 bucksmust be all those Army officers and staff who paid a higher price" As these thoughts went around Chic's head, the girl's voice hit him in the gut: "You sure you got the moneyyou got any money" As his stomach turned, he thought of a way to stay clean and get out of this situation. "Just a minute, I'll go get a cab!" Asking the girl to wait, Chic rounded the corner and just kept on walking all the way to the Red Cross office where he knew Tucker would go to get what they called "prophylactic things" they had to use to avoid getting sick with VD. Sure enough, a few minutes after Chic sat at the Red Cross lounge, Tucker came running upstairs. Chic really razzed him, "I pulled one on you, Tucker. I stayed clean!" Their stay in England was not all rest as they continued training and practicing their jumps. Twice, they were about to fly out but, twice, their mission was cancelled. The reason, Chic found out, was General Patton whose tanks were overrunning German positions so fast that there was no need for the paratroopers to be dropped behind enemy lines. Chic and the troops were not complaining because they enjoyed eating oranges and turkey and good food, "being fattened for the kill" so they said. And then Patton hit a dead end as the Germans found a way to stop his tanks close to the border of Belgium and Holland. Paratroopers were needed to drop behind the enemy lines and open a 75-mile highway for Patton's tanks to pass through (The War). Chic still remembers the day they flew out of England. It was a bright and cloudy Sunday, September 17, 1994, when their plane took off as part of what they called the First Allied Airborne Army. Their mission was to land inside enemy territory, attacking the Germans from behind. Aside from the 506th, the 502nd where George was, and the 501st, there were also brigades of British and Polish paratroopers. There were three different landing points, so to decide who gets which, the commanders just flipped coins after a long argument. Chic and the 506th got Eindhoven in Holland, which was closest to the Germans and which they thought was the worst place to be while the British got the farthest point up north in the upper part of Holland (Ambrose). There was a German police dog with Chic and the troops in the plane. The dog was their mascot and had its own parachute, and all throughout the flight, the dog kept on going towards the plane's door until it heard the flack from German anti-aircraft guns exploding around the plane. The dog backed up because the sound of exploding flack is like a dog's bark, "Woof!" Just before he jumped, Chic looked out of the plane and could clearly see everything below: the huge bomb craters along the forest floor, rows of P-38 Lighting fighter planes flying all over to give them air cover during the jump, and even some Germans coming out of the church with their girlfriends. When the Germans saw the planes, they started firing their rifles. That was the time Chic was told to jump, so he threw the dog whose chute popped open automatically ahead of him. Chic wanted to take a picture of the dog landing on the

Feasibility Study (ABC fast food restaurant in Cambrige) Research Paper

Feasibility Study (ABC fast food restaurant in Cambrige) - Research Paper Example The paper dwells upon ABC Fast Food. It is a small domestic fast food outlet in Cambridge which is intended to transform itself into a fast food restaurant by means of innovative and resourceful strategies. The food point is registered with Department of Food and Live Stock. ABC Fast Food is furnishing a mixture of wonderful foodstuff and it has a future plan to offer unparallel food at rational rates with entertaining environment. ABC will address the general public for local recipes, Italian dishes, as well as Chinese and Indian food. The major aim is to offer the customers with highest quality services and products to keep them staying again and again. ABC believes that by getting crucial financial support through its sale within two years, it will be able to capture 10-20% of the fast food market in Cambridge. The restaurant has estimated that it will enjoy a 37.3% profit for its investment by the end of April, 2013. Cambridge Demography The UK whole population consists of 19% of age less than 16 years, 65% between 17 to 65 years and 16% of over 65%. Cambridge total population 105,162 is currently ranked as 64th in UK. The 16.4% of its population consists of under 18, 69.7% belong to age group between 19 to 60 years, while rest of 13.9% are over 60 (Statistical Profile, 2011). The population consists of 73.8% of White British, 1.3% of White Irish, 9.8% of White Other, 2.2% of Mixed Race, 5.5% of British Asian, 5.1% of Chinese and others and 2.3% of Black British. The strength of college and graduate students is 22,580. The per capita income in Cambridge is $67,297 (Statistical Profile, 2011). The University of Cambridge established in 1209, is the 2nd oldest university in UK and 4th oldest in the Europe. The university consists of 18396 students (undergraduate 12,018 and postgraduate 6,378) and 8614 employees. The student strength of Cambridge University is about 14.75% of the total population of the city. By 2016, the population of the

RA #6 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

RA #6 - Assignment Example Several possible solutions, including technical issues, computer failure, sick relatives, and acceptance of the mistake were presented. We agreed on accepting our mistake and seek for additional time. The other creative problem solving technique in a group set-up is the excursion technique. It is very useful for triggering group members to develop innovative thought patterns for formulate strategies. This method takes place in four five basic stages. In the first step, the consultant asks members to go for an imaginary excursion and take note of what they see. The second step involves creating analogies to what they saw with the problem at hand. Thirdly, each of these group members has to try and develop a solution from the analogy they created with what was seen in step one. In the fourth step, the participants share their experiences of the excursion: what they saw, analogies created, and solution. The final stage is more or less like brainstorming where the most suitable solution is

How Far do they Critically Place the Issue of Marginalization and the Essay

How Far do they Critically Place the Issue of Marginalization and the Concept of Habitus and do the Examples Try to Universalize these Concepts - Essay Example In Uma Kothari's Power, Knowledge and Social Control in Participatory Development, she delves into the Foucaultian world of participatory power-play and limits of social-power and how the pattern of judgment and punishment becomes a strategic weapon that is supported by a said and unsaid network of sign systems everywhere. She begins by quoting Foucault and argues how the processes of canonization affect those individuals and who are often marginalized by their separation and isolation from the production of knowledge and the formulation of policies and practices, to be included in decisions that affect their lives. She focuses on participatory techniques as methods of knowledge accumulation and attempts to unravel the sorts of power that are reproduced at the micro-level through the use of these approaches, and how participants and participatory development practitioners are themselves conduits of power. The arguments she presents presented are how participatory development can enco urage a reassertion of control and power by dominant individuals and groups, that it can lead to the reification of social norms through self-surveillance and consensus-building, and that it 'purifies' knowledge and the spaces of participation through the codification, classification, and control of information, and its analysis and (re)presentation. The chapter also explores the limitations of participation in terms of how it demands certain kinds of performances to be enacted. It is suggested here that individuals and groups can and do subvert the methodology and, in doing so, gain control by shaping the form of their participation through their 'performances' on the PRA stage and in their selection of the information they conceal or choose to disclose. Kothari shows that an individual's behavior, actions, and perceptions are all shaped by the power embedded and embodied within society, something which Friedmann will call habitus. But, whereas, Friedmann offers a more detailed analysis of transnational migration and the corresponding effects on the loci of the migrants and the lands they are migrating to, Kothari tries to chart out the power structure of individuals and groups that are often selected for participation because of their disadvantaged position vis--vis, for example, their access to resources and services, or their control over decision-making. She upholds Foucault's idea that all individuals are most certainly affected by macro-structures of inequality (such as gender, ethnicity, class), and that even when individuals think that they are most free, they are in fact in the grip of more insidious forms of power, which operate not solely through direct forms of repression but often through less visible strategies of norm alization (Foucault 1977, 1980). Power is cappilary and difficult to locate as it runs through notions and practices, can be enacted by individuals who may even be opposed to it, and localized through its expression in everyday practices - through, for example, self-surveillance.

Case study for Strategic Management Research Paper

Case study for Strategic Management - Research Paper Example The business that HP has generated in the highly competitive market of information technology is remarkable. There are many competitors globally but HP has performed better in 2006. HP is known for its innovative products. As a global company, HP evolved with their innovative product development. HP has its own organizational structure based upon the business segment. There has been a continuous growth of sales, EPS (earning per share) and net revenue. The channel of distribution emphasizes upon the collaboration of various business partners. The objective of sales and marketing policies are through programs that perk up profit margins. In the segment of technology, there is a huge competition as there are many competitors. Dell Inc, Mac, IBM, Canon, and many other players are present to compete in the global market. HP and many other corporations were competing in the market; and among all DELL was the strong competitor. China has shown the largest consumption pattern in the computer segment. The focus should be towards the Chinese market. Toshiba has been able to create a market in China. HP should also compete with Toshiba in the computer section. The technology merchandise PLC (product life cycle) are of shorter span of time. Consumers expect more out of technology and unique products with different features. There are brands that provide the new concept of technical merchandises. But HP has been successful in providing unique products that have been developed through their efforts in R&D and innovative thinking. The market for the technical devices is not restricted to single or several segment of market. This enters at all the segments and with better policy, the higher market share can be obtained. In technological market, there are many choices of products in different segment operating nationally or internationally. The product features and the brand create the difference and there lies the