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 ofSarjana 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 ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SHERLY WELLIKA Student Number: 004214130
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
2008
ASarjana SastraUndergraduate 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
ASarjana SastraUndergraduate 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
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
A time to mourn and a time to dance
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.
Sherly Wellika
TABLE OF CONTENTS A. Background of the Study ... 1
B. Problem Formulation ... 6
C. Objectives of the Study ... 6
D. Definition of Terms ... 6
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies ... 8
B. Review of Related Theories ... 11
1. Theory of Character and characterization ... 11
2. Relation between literature and Psychology ... 13
3. Theory of Personality... 15
4. Theory of Anxiety ... 20
C. Theoretical framework ... 25
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study ... 27
B. Approach of the Study ... 28
C. Method of the Study ... 28
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS A. The Main Character’s Character and His Anxiety Problem ... 31
B. The Main Character Overcomes His Anxiety ... 42
CHAPTER VP: CONCLUSION ... 47
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 50
APPENDIX Summary ofRise of The The Silas Lapham... 52
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 theid, ego,andsuperegoof 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 superegodevelop. 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 hissuperegowere not capable to prevent theid to force theegoto 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 thesuperegocould control it, and theegocould 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 bagaimanaid, ego, dan superegodari 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 permintaanid.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, sehinggasuperegodapat mengontrolnya, danegodapat 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
characters is intended to enrich our experience of life, because we know that
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’spsychoanalysis.
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 areid, ego,andsuperego.The three, however, do not stand in isolation. In other words, they are closely interrelated. Individual’s personality is
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-egopresses theegonot 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
In the novelThe 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 whyThe 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
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’sThe 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
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 Laphamis 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
somewhat diminished and when the newly rich were often actually wealthier, if
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’sSaturday Reviewimmediately 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)
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.
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
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 bookUnderstanding 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
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
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, theid, ego, andsuperego. 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 thesuper-ego as the social component.
Idis 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 theid
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 ofidis to channel the instinct so that there is no strained situation as the result of a pressure
uncomfortable state of tension. Consequently, when the tension level of the
individual raised, theidfunctions 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 idfails 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.
Egofunctions as a mean of reaching the reality of what is demanded byid.
This is the reason why ego is called the principle of reality. When id imagines some food because the individual is hungry,egotries 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,egoacts 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, theegoformulates 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,egohas a control over all the cognitive and intellectual functions.
Becauseego is dominated by the principle of reality, ego develops itself in accordance with what the individual undergoes in the real world. It isegothat has to solve any problems when the individual tries to satisfy his need. Therefore, it is
alsoegothat 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 issuperego.It consists of some values and evaluative norms.Superegois 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, superegorepresents 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.
Supregobears 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 egoand 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 thategois influenced by the experience about reality while superego influenced by the experience of the definition of bad and good. Therefore,
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 whilesuperego, 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, idandsuperego, makes the influence onego.
In other words, eitherid or superego tries to influence ego so that ego will satisfy what is demanded. The influence of bothid andsuperegothen results in a tense or a strain that in turn bothers the psychic. If such condition remains in a
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
Meanwhile, neurotic anxiety occurs because ego cannot control the instinct coming from id. Those who are fear of them actually are fear of id system of his personality. They worry that id will drive ego to do something that harms themselves. “The same phenomena also happen to those who worry that
something bad will happen to them. They always feel disquiet such anxiety
happens to those who fear of their own shadow”. (Hall, 1954:67)
Another example of neurotic anxiety is phobia. Phobia is a feeling that is so
tense and irrational. In a phobia, the intensity of the fear is getting more than the
An individual may fear of a mouse, for example. Actually, the fear is
irrational since the source of the anxiety exist in the id rather than in the outer world-in this case, the mouse. What is interesting is that, sometimes an individual
wants thing that makes him scared. Again, this instinct comes from theid.
Finally, moral anxiety is a result of super-ego’s pressure toego, because the individual breaks the values or norms of the society. This is closely related to the
conscience of the individual.
The occurrence of moral anxiety is actually because the individual really has
a moral consciousness. In other words, moral anxiety takes place when the
individual who breaks the values of the norms actually understands that what he
has done is prohibited by the society. According to Hall (1954: 69), moral
consciousness includes two main elements: the demands of the super ego and the
value consciousness ofego.
In short, moral consciousness means that individual behaves according to
the demands of superego, together with the openness of ego to the reality of the environment with its norms and values. When the stimulus and motivation ofidis so great that it can dominate ego, the individual tends to eventually do what is prohibited by the norms. Ifsuperegothen influencesegothat the stimulus fromid
has caused bad deeds, the individual recovers his moral consciousness. Because
of this moral consciousness, then he gets a moral anxiety.
laws, or values. That is why when it tries to meet it demands, it does not consider
the reality. Its actions are frequently unwise and break the norms.
According to Freud, the dominant instinct in an individual is the sexual or
libido. Also the libido does not consider the existing values and norms when it
demands its satisfaction.
For example, there are values and norms when it demands its satisfaction.
For example, there is a woman who has a special contact with another woman’s
husband. Her love instinct the leads her ego to have a love bound with him, ignoring that she already has a husband and the man she loves already has his
own wife. When this love instinct is satisfied, the sexual instinct will demand its
satisfaction. This then leads both to live in sin, making adultery. In such situation,
then moral anxiety occurs.
From the elaboration above, it can be inferred that neurotic anxiety has a
close relationship with moral anxiety. The relation is that although moral anxiety
occurs as the result of the feeling of guilty.
Basically this is caused by the conflict of the systems of the personality. An
individual will be disquiet and thinks that something great from the society will
hit him
C. Theoretical Framework
The focus of this Study is on the analysis of the as revealed through the
main character of the story. Theories related to the study must be used to
The theory of character and characterization are used to explore the
character of the main characters in the story. In finding main character’s anxiety it
is important to understand their characters.
The theory of personality and anxiety is applied to the undergraduate
thesis to analyze the personality of the main character to support the
understanding of the anxiety problem toward the main character in the formulated
problems. All the theories above are applied to this undergraduate thesis in order
to find what cause of anxiety is in the main character and the way the main
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study is The Rise of Silas Lapham. The Rise of Silas Lapham is a novel written by William Dean Howells, an American novelist.The Rise of Silas Lapham, published in 1885, is the best-known novel of William Dean Howells and was one of the first novels to focus on the American
businessman.
Howells is remembered for his long, close friendship with Mark Twain and
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 book of William Dean Howells’sThe Rise of Silas Laphamused in this study is The Rise of Silas Lapham, the one published by New York: Harper and Row, Publisher, Incorporated; in 1965. This book has 333 pages and has 27
chapters.
The Rise of Silas Laphamis 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 well aware of their differences. It is set in a period by which time
many old fortunes had become somewhat diminished and when the newly rich
were often actually wealthier, if far less cultured, than the old rich whose manners
and custom they tried so hard to emulate. The Rise of Silas Lapham was considered to be a “realistic” novel at the time of its publication, and in
comparison to much of American fiction that came before it
B. Approach of the Study
To answer the problem formulated in this study, the writer applies
psychoanalysis approach. Psychoanalysis approach is used in order to see the
main character’s personality and his anxiety. In this study there are two theories
of psychology such as theory of personality and theory anxiety.
Atkinsons and Hilgard in their book entitledIntroduction to Psychologysay that psychoanalytic theory approaches personality from point of view that
explores the private personality-the unconscious motives that direct behavior.
Psychoanalytic theory is also concerned with the way in which personality
develops (1981:395).
The psychoanalysis approach is considered as the best approach in this study
since it analyzes the presentation of anxiety as a kind of psychological symptom
in the stories. Therefore, the writer employs this method in order to answer the
two questions in the formulated problem.
C. Method of the Study
This thesis applied a library research as the method of the study so that the
materials were taken from the library. The sources were used for evidence to
The primary sources of the study were the story itself, which isThe Rise of Silas Lapham written by William Dean Howells. While the secondary sources were including books, essays, and selected criticism on the primary sources, and
also several references on literature as additional information. In other words,
those secondary sources were used to help strengthen this thesis.
The secondary data were theories on the literary works and some
psychoanalysis theories for the analysis. Theories on the literary works used here
are such as from M.H. Abrams’s A Glossary to Literary Term, Guerin’s A Handbook of critical Approach to Literature, M.J. Murphy’s Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry& English Novel for Overseas Students. Laurence Perrine’sStructure, Sounds, and Sense.
To know more about the personality and anxiety, the writer uses some
theories such as Sigmund Freud’s An Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, Calvin Hall’s Primer of Freudian Psychology, and Kasschau’s Understanding Psychology.
There are several steps that are taken in the research. First of all, it is
reading the novel carefully in order to understand the idea of anxiety throughout
the story. From this step, the writer found the way anxiety of main character
presented itself in the story.
The second step was finding out some references related to the theory of
literature that was needed to help the writer to analyze the elements in the novel
The next was analyzing the characterization of main characters, and anxiety
of main character the story. Finally, after writing the analysis, the last step was
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter concerns on the discussion on the analysis of Silas Lapham
personality and his anxiety. Based on the problems formulated in the previous
chapter, the discussion on this chapter will be made into two subchapters. The
first subchapter attempts to present the description of Silas Lapham’s character
and his anxiety problem. Lapham’s anxiety is supported by theory of character
and characterization. This theory is used to see Lapham character and his mind
presentation. To make the analysis of Lapham anxiety clearer, the theory of
anxiety and personality are used to know the influence and some factors that
caused the main character anxiety. The second subchapter is the analysis on the
way the main character overcomes his anxiety problem. This part presents the
way Silas Lapham overcomes his anxiety.
A. The main character’s character and his anxiety problem
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
writer employs to explore the anxiety of Lapham. This theory is very helpful
when the analysis is directed to the personality of Lapham. It is hard to analyze
anxiety without the understanding of his personality and talking about anxiety, it
is hard to avoid the discussion on the elements of personality. The following is a
review of the elements of Lapham’s personality.
Lapham comes from a poor family. His parents are only farmers. His
childhood was full of poverty and hardships. He was born on a farm, and then he
cultivated the fields with his father and mother. Fortunately, his father found a
paint-mine, but he could not make it profitable. His brother did not have any
interest either. It was why Lapham who then cultivated the mineral paint. And he
succeeded
The hard childhood of Lapham really influenced the rest of his life. Being
successful with his business on paint, he was afraid of being poor again. He never
let anyone else get involved in his business because, according to him, he would
have to share the profit with him. This is clearly indicated with Lapham’s story
when interviewed by Bartley” To have anybody else concerned in it was
like…Well I don’t know what. I saw it was the thing to do but I tried to fight it
off…” This is also indicted with his quarrels with Persis. They were Quarrelling
about Rogers.
Besides, the hard poor childhood also bore a big influence on Lapham’s
personality. His behavior of working hard continued until his adulthood, until he
got a wife and two daughters, even until he became a successful businessman.
children to read bible. The following citation can hopefully give a description
about the family after interviewing Lapham.
“…They were quiet, unpretentious people, religious, after the fashion of that time, and sterling morality, and they taught their children the simple virtues of the Old Testament and poor Richard’s Almanac. (p.5)
Looking at what influenced Lapham much during his childhood; it is worth
concluding that the dominant superegoin his personality is the norms or values of Puritanism.
One of the characteristics of Puritanism is that the people have to work hard.
Puritanism said that o work hard is a compulsory. The wealth earned by the
people by working hard was an indicator that the God blessed the owner. The
owner, therefore, was not supposed to waste his wealth. Instead, he had to live in
simple, unpretentious way.
Besides, a puritan had also to keep himself away from getting drunk and
having sexual intercourse without marriage or doing adultery. These were very
bad and taboo (Foerster, et.al., 1969:509).Another value of Puritanism was that
the man had a compulsory to behave well to any people, to be unpretentious,
diligent, and to learn and develop his knowledge. Meanwhile, woman was free
from such compulsory. The most important for woman was that he could manage
and carry out the housework well.
All these Puritanism values existed in Lapham’s personality. Lapham’s
parent taught Puritanism well. Their life was very religious. Besides, Lapham’s
parent taught him to work hard, and Lapham really did it well. This can be seen
job he could get. Finally, he got a job at a sawmill, and he also worked as an
ostler at a hotel. He worked very hard, like what he said, “I always did it like good
horse…” (p. 9)
Then Puritanism value also existed in Lapham’s personality in the extent
how Lapham treated his wife and daughters, the women in his family. According
to him, the most important responsibility of woman was to carry out the
housework. Therefore, he was reluctant to leave his wife do the paint mine when
he had to go for war.
However, after his wife convinced him that she cold replaces his position
well, he finally went to the war. In line with his success in cultivating the mineral
pain, Lapham made his lie better. The business grew rapidly and he became rich
soon.
Getting bored with hard poor life, Lapham then tried to make his days full of
happiness. He spent his money to buy what he could not afford before. Beside, he
never stopped earning his money. It is worth noting that the dominant id in lapham’s personality is that how he could make his life better and happier and try
to produce more money. Again, Lapham just wanted to make his life happier than
before. In this case, it is also clear that Lapham’s childhood gave him a so big
influence that he always tried to work hard in order to make his life better.
As stated above, Lapham is a self-made entrepreneur. That is to say that
after his hard poor childhood, Lapham continued his father discovery of mineral
pint and Lapham did it himself, with his life of course. He did it so well. The paint
This success influenced his personality so much. Lapham would not let
anyone else get involved with his business. He had a big individualism. This
individualism did not mean that he did not need anyone else in his life. As a social
human being, he had to live in a society. But he had his own conception of the
nature of society. According to him, society means high society, a realm to be
conquered and won.
In other words, Lapham always tried to behave as rich man, a high-class
person who acquainted with the have only. Besides, Lapham also always tried in
order that the high-class people would accept him as the member of the society.
This is also what hisiddemanded again and again.
In short, Lapham childhood was full of poverty. He had to work hard.
Besides, his parents applied the norms of Puritanism so strictly. This made
Lapham always try to express his id (the demand of happy life) and let his
superego develop. However, after he gained the success, and he knew how to have his demand fulfilled, he enjoyed the freedom of his id. Since then, he never
wanted to loose it again.
Lapham ran his paint business quite well. The profit came just like the rain
coming from the sky. In short time, Lapham became a new rich man. However,
this condition brought him into a great anxiety. He was not willing to share his
profit with others. In his mind, the profit came because of his hard working. If
there was someone getting involved in his business, he was afraid that he would
This is shown with his refusal to his wife when she suggested him to get a
partner to run the paint business. “That paint was like my own blood to me. To
have anybody concerned in it was like…Well, I don’t know what. I saw it was the
think to do, but I tried to fight it off…” (p.9) he said in his interview with Bartley.
In this case, it can be seen that Lapham’sidinsisted that Lapham should not let anyone else get involved in his business because he did not want anyone to
take the profit away and he became poor again. However thesuperegostated that as a good puritan, he was not supposed to be greedy. The wealth that he had was
given by the God so that he should share with other. He should be generous.
A conflict between the id and superego took place now. When he finally took a partner, because his wife forced him, he could not keep the partnership.
“He didn’t know anything about paint. We hung together for a year or two. And
then, we quit”. Again,Lapham blamed his partner for making some troubles to his
paint business. He was not so anxious that other people would take some of his
money, or at least they would bring some of his profit. This is clearly indicated by
the quarrel between Lapham and his wife.
“If he hadn’t put is money in when he did. You’d a broken down”. “Well, he got his money out again, and more, too,”
“He didn’t want to take it out”
“I gave him his choice, buy out or go out” (p.42)
With his money, Lapham wanted to make the status of his family better. He
thought that he was no poor any longer, so that he had to acquaint with the upper
class people. He had much money, but he had no idea to spend, but to make their
With his prosperity, however, he could not manage the family to get involved
in the society. Actually, Lapham was not so selfish. Only did he not know how to
acquaint with other people. They gave with both hands to their church and to all
charities it brought acquaint with. However, they did not know how to spend on
society. This is clearly indicated when Persis said that their daughters needed to
get themselves into the society. Replying to his wife, Lapham simply said that
they had everything they wanted, and he asked her to get into the society with the
money.
And it seems that id demanded to be accepted in the high-class society. In order that the high-class people would accept him, Lapham then decided to build a
luxurious house on the Beacon Street where the wealthy people lived. Actually.
Puritanism as the superego insisted that Lapham should be unpretentious, not waste his wealth in such a way.
Actually, his wife had reminded him about this. However, the strong
demand for the id said that by living on the Beacon street, the family would be
accepted by the society. Finally, Lapham did build the house there.
“Guess we could live there pretty much as we live here. There’s all kinds of people on Beacon street you mustn’t think they’re all big bugs. I know one party that lives in a house he built to sell, and his wife don’t keep any girl. You can have just as much style there as you want, or just a little. I guess we live as well as most of ‘em now and set a good table. And if you come to style, I don’t know as anybody has got more of right to put it on than what we have” (p.30).
By building the house, preparing and buying the luxurious furniture,
Lapham regarded himself as a rich man. By doing so, he thought that other people
and the fall of his social values. That is to say, after a hard work, Lapham reached
his success in running his business and earned much money.
Again, this represents the dominant idin Lapham’s personality, namely the eagerness to live happily. This demand was so strong because in the past, Lapham
had always suppressed his id during his childhood. Moreover, now he knew that letting his fulfilled was something precocious for him.
Later, this made him always fall in conflict between fulfilling his id and letting his superego control it. He became wealthy, but he could not manage himself to share the prosperity with the society.
“They dressed for one another, they equipped their house for their own satisfaction, they lived richly to themselves, not because they were selfish, but because they did not know how to do otherwise” (p.25)
Lapham was less educated since his parents did not so care about his
childhood education. This is because Lapham childhood was full of poverty and
hardship. The family had to work so that they can earn their life. Although his
parents did not give him enough education, they taught him much about religion.
It means that Lapham did not have any chance to develop his ego, because he never learns about that. The only one thing that he knew was that he has to
suppress his id. This also supports they assumption that the one of the factor
superegoin Lapham’s personality is the norms of Puritanism.
This is clearly shown in the following narration cited from the result of the
interview of Bartley and lapham.
unpretentious people, religious, after the fashion of that time, and of sterling morality, and they taught their children the simple virtues of the Old Testament and poor Richard’s Almanac” (p.5)
The citation above implies that Lapham was a good puritan. As an
individual coming from religious family, he obeyed all the puritan values even
until he has grown up, got married and owned his children. He always tried not to
break the rule, including the one about wine. He never has even a glass of wine on
his dining table at home. For a puritan, getting drunk is a sin that is forbidden by
the God. This is what the superego said. This implies that during his childhood, Lapham only knew that life was separated into two parts: the does and don’ts,
something good and something bad.
That is when coming to the party in the Coreys, Lapham did not feel
good about the wine. He did not know what to do with the glasses. He
absolutely understood that he is prohibited to drink the wine; the people
around him would not accept his existence. This is what the id demanded. Therefore, when the maid pours the wine into his glass, he did nothing.
Finally, he broke the rule he had kept since his childhood; he drank the wine.
This means that Lapham let his id win the conflict and he did not want to loose the joyful of life. Again, he did it just because he wanted his new
society to accept his existence.
“He never had wine in his table at home, on principle he was prohibitionist; but now he did not know what to o with the glasses at right of his plate” (p.174)
In this case, Lapham got the stimulus to drink the wine from his id. Id
underestimate him, or even would not greet any more since he was a poor
man who hated wine. In other words, if he did not drink the wine, the society
would exclude him from his new society. The society in question was new
because Lapham actually had been not so rich before, and now he became a
rich man and made friendship with the rich.
However, thesuperegoas the principle of values actually prevented him from doing what the id demanded. The superego insisted that the puritan values asked him not to get drunk. A conflict between id and superego took place when Lapham got hesitated what he would do about wine.” He never
had wine in his table at home, on principle he was prohibitionist; but now he
did not know what to o with the glasses at right of his plate” (p.174). At last, id won the conflict and demandedego to accomplish what it demanded. And finally, Lapham drank the wine.
”…but, after twiddling with one of them a moment, he let them be…He let the servant fill them all, and he drank each, not to appear odd” (p. 174-175).
During that meal, Lapham could not involve himself to the chat of the other
guests. For him, they talk so quickly that he could not catch what they were
talking about. He could hardly understand the topic. He preferred keeping silent.
In this case Lapham’sid said that he wanted to join he chat, because if he did not do so, other people would know him, meaning that no one would give him
respect. However, he did not know what was being discussed there and how the y
talked to each other. Lapham got anxious that other people would exclude him
demanded that Lapham wanted to make a chat with other people but theegocould not afford it. Finally he just kept himself silent.
His anxiety came again when he thought of this plan. It did not seem to him
that he could part of the house. His hope and also his children’s hope had gone
into it that the thought of selling it made him tremulous and sick. That is why
Lapham refused to go when a boy came with a note from the broker saying that a
party who had been over the house had come to know whether it could be bought,
and was willing to pay the cost of the house up to the time he had seem it. Instead,
he wrote that, he would give his answer in the morning.
Here, again Lapham’sidsaid that he should not sell his house to pay his debt. The house is the symbol of his status. If He sold it, it meant that he did
not have anything to be proud of. This also meant that other people could not
regard him as rich man anymore. The house had been a part of his pride and
glory, his success, his triumph life’s work. However, the superego insisted that he had to pay the debts to protect and survive the family. Lapham got
anxious again.
B. The Main Character Overcomes his Anxiety
Since then, Lapham could not keep about this work steadily and with his
nerves shaken by want of sleep, and the shock of his sudden and unexpected
problems, he went to look at the house and try to bring himself to get way out
there. Indeed, he thought over his plan to sell the house.
Finally, he decided not to sell it and would buy out West Virginia with the
