INTRODUCTION
Come out … come out … where ever you are. What do most people know about hide and seek before they watch the „Hide and Seek‟ film? Most of them may think it is only
a harmless and fun children‟s game. However, this film is using a tactic of
“defamiliarization” or making the familiar new or unfamiliar1 (Shklovsky as quoted in
Torabi). This film changed an extraordinary game to beyond our imagination, where the concept or the idea of a game is transformed into something evil. The game is not trying to seek the one who hides, but the game is to seek or to reveal what is being hidden in the characters‟ story.
The first time I watched this film, I knew who was ill, but I did not know how it could happen. A year ago, I took Literary Theory and Application class, and I remembered clearly that we discussed about psychoanalysis or characters‟ psychology. Suddenly, I
remembered about „Hide and Seek‟, and I knew I would analyze that film as my paper. The
reason is not only to pass the class but I also wanted to do it. I was curious about what happened to both of the characters and I always am interested with something unique.
Here, unique means different from the other film‟s concept and makes the
audiences not only accept the film just the way it is, but think further about it, too. When the audiences watch this film, they have to think critically because the “defamiliarizing” concept
is used in this film. Moreover, this film uses many flashbacks where the audiences have to understand and/or remember every scene because it will go back and/or go forward from one scene to another, and some scenes could be the important scenes in this film. Second, this film challenges the audiences to choose who the main character is, the father or the daughter, or it could be both of them. This thing is not as easy as the audiences think because
1
throughout the story, this film gives the audiences an example of how the characters (father and daughter) can suffer different trauma and then have different psychological disorders. Thus, what I like the most is the blurred area in this film that makes the viewer confused of which one is ill (having psychological disorder) and which one is traumatized. Third, the unfinished ending makes me come up with many thoughts, many questions, and many things that I want to understand more. Those are the three reasons why I choose this film to be analyzed in this paper.
Moreover, the aspects inside this film make me wants to share my knowledge and build understandings for the readers about psychological (repression and trauma) issues. „Hide and Seek‟ film shows that one who has great fears or great pains may have a great or
strong trauma. In some cases, those who can handle their trauma might not have difficulties in communicating with others and/or socializing with surroundings. However, those who cannot handle their trauma might lead them to repress their trauma too much, for instance creating „someone else‟ or having an imaginary friend. When people repress their trauma,
they might be unaware that they bury their consciousness into unconsciousness.
Furthermore, those issues (repression and trauma) will be examined more deeply with psychoanalysis theory. This study will be focused on how trauma leads to repression in two different characters as a big part of my psychoanalysis discussion, and those two areas will be related to three other areas (the three elements of mind, dream work, and the use of phantasy – children trauma) as all are related to the characters‟ psychological disturbance. Thus, I will use Sigmund Freud‟s ideas like repression, the three elements of mind, dream work, and phantasy that will be supported by Bessel Kolk and Alexander Farlane‟s idea about
characters‟ (Emily and David‟s) psychology, since both characters experience different
trauma that leads to different repression.
Moreover, I am also very excited to bring this film into my thesis paper since there is a sentence that makes me curious and I believe it will make the readers have the same feeling: “Trauma causes pain”, Catherine (Hide and Seek). From that sentence, the readers
will know people who have sad memories that cannot accept and forget their sad memories will make them to have traumatic event. Thus, if those people do not try to accept the trauma or sad memories, of course it will make them hurt more, and become their undeniable pain. In addition, that sentence will also lead the readers to look more deeply at every issue in the „Hide and Seek‟ film that they would never touch before. This paper will also be very helpful
to understand how people have different trauma on certain things, certain occasions, and certain past experiences, and how it will influence their psychology.
Furthermore, the objective of this study is to scrutinize how the trauma leads to repression in two different characters of Hide and Seek; that are „David‟, the father, and „Emily, the daughter.
Literary study, based on psychoanalysis criticism, is used in this research. Reliable sources will be needed as an aid to analyze the characters‟ psychological disorder. Moreover, the data will be taken from the description of scenes‟ depiction between Emily and David; the description of scenes‟ depiction between Emily and David and other characters, like
Catherine; and the scenes that show the relevant scenes in the story. Thus, the literary data that has been gathered is used to examine the characters‟ psychological distress and how
Significantly, the findings of this study are to help the readers, especially English Department students, who take literature as their focus, to gain a better understanding of how trauma and repression can interconnect in two different characters. Thus, by understanding this concept, the readers are expected to be aware that a little trauma can make someone become distressed and repressed their pains deep down. Through this awareness, the readers will get a new knowledge that everyone has trauma and he or she has different ways to release the pains.
At last, though there are two studies about „Hide and Seek‟ film that are about
„Characters‟ conflict‟ and „Monarch Program‟, but those studies are not related in literature field, especially an issue about psychoanalysis (characters‟ psychology). Therefore, this study
cannot be a copy of any previous research.
HIDE AND SEEK
“Hide and Seek” was a film that tells about the life of a daughter named Emily
and a father named David after the death of Emily‟s mother. This story began when David brought her to move to their new house in Woodland, North America. Mysterious and dangerous things started to happen when Emily had a new friend name Charlie (her imaginary friend) and drew a picture about the night when her mother died. David was scared about Emily‟s habits because she was not only drawing a picture about her mother‟s death,
but she also started drawing pictures about other people who were being murdered around them after the death of her mother. However, Emily said it was Charlie who asked her to draw it and it was Charlie who asked her to play hide and seek, since it was also Charlie‟s
also died. Strangely, David always awoke at 2:06 a.m. and found the people that had been murdered in the bathroom. Emily started to dread the fact that Charlie was awaken now. She also knew that Charlie would never let her go anymore, and then she called Catherine (David‟s friend in his previous hometown) to pick her up as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, David was very horrified about the murder that occurred in his home but when he came in the basement something happened. David realized that there was something wrong with him and his daughter (Emily) knew about it the entire time. Finally, after David realized his true identity (his duality), he asked Emily to play “Hide and Seek” again, but this time the one who hide was Emily and the one who seek was David. Emily was saved by Catherine who was also previously beaten by David and locked by David in the basement. Fortunately, Catherine was able to get out and follow David up to the cave. In the end, Catherine shoot David to death and Emily lives happily ever after with Catherine.
THEORETICAL DISCUSSION
Psychoanalysis is a theory that comes from psychiatry but later this theory was developed for use in the literature field. However, psychoanalysis in literary theory is different with a theory in the psychological study. In the literary theory, psychoanalysis theory is used to examine a character‟s psychology, whether it is from inside the (character‟s
mind) or outside, like the situation that influences the character‟s psychology, behavior, and/or attitude. Moreover, psychoanalysis in literature was not trying to attempt to “treat” or
“help” the characters like in psychiatry. In addition, the psychoanalysis theory is a wide area
psychoanalysis theory from the general into the specific that are trauma, the use of phantasy – children trauma, repression, the three elements of mind, and dream work.
Trauma and/or Traumatic Experiences. According to Bessel A. and Mc. Farlene ,trauma is a part of humans past experiences or memories that they do not want to remember; they want to avoid, and they want to repress, because it will hurt them if they remember those experiences and/or memories (Bessel A. and Mc. Farlene, (qtd. in Rivkin and Ryan 487 – 488). Then, if humans cannot avoid the pains that happened in the past, it will be a traumatic event for them. Trauma also leads to repression in humans because they are pushing back the consciousness into unconsciousness (Bessel A. and Mc. Farlene, qtd. in Rivkin and Ryan 487 – 502). Actually, the consciousness that they are pushing back is also the part of their past
experiences or part of their traumatic events that hurts them, so they want to repress the pains down in their unconsciousness.
Trauma also plays a big part in building repression, and causes the imbalance in id, ego, and superego ((Bessel A. and Mc. Farlene, qtd. in Rivkin and Ryan 487 – 502). Additionally, if pains are only being repressed in the unconscious mind, the pains can still be controlled, and may only appear in dreams, meaning that the mind is still balanced. However, if the pains are repressed and cannot be controlled, then the pains come out in strange ways like becoming a murderer, having a split personality, and/or having phantasies that means the mind is imbalanced. Furthermore, this idea of trauma will be shown to the readers of how someone‟s past experiences has a very big influence in leading to his or her repression, and
the trauma that leads to someone‟s repression also causes the imbalance in his or her
In addition, trauma also happened in children which is called children trauma. In the following section, this kind of children trauma will be explained more because this trauma is experienced by the character.
The Use of Phantasy – Children Trauma. Freud states that, “Phantasy, then, was understood
at first as a fantasy of an event such as killing … which … caused mental, or apparently physical, illness” (As quoted in Segal 18 – 19). From that statement, the readers will know
that phantasy can appear because of some traumatic moments or events like homicide. Then, those traumatic events will lead to mental disturbance and/or psychological illness to make ideal phantasy.
In this case, a phantasy also relates to someone‟s trauma (traumatic event) caused
by past experiences that lead to his or her ideal phantasies, like creating someone else as his or her friend (Green 139). In addition, if the phantasies are kept in the mind, this can make the trauma grow stronger (Green 139). In this case, the character has already told about his or her phantasy to others, but he or she does not tell everything. Meaning that he or she still keeps the phantasy in his or her unconscious mind, and that makes his or her phantasy still remain.
Furthermore, this kind of trauma that uses phantasy as the media to release the pain usually happens to the children, especially if he or she has undeniable past experiences that cause undeniable pains (Green 139). Green also states that, “Traumatized children
experience great psychological distress and dysfunction that impacts severely on their
development and future adaption” (150). From that statement, the readers will see that the character‟s trauma leads to his or her psychological development in forms of both the
In addition, trauma and children trauma that have been explained will lead to the characters‟ repression.
Repression. Repression is the basic idea of a defense mechanism in psychoanalysis study. In the mechanism of defence will be found how human will defend their mind (like avoid the pain) by some mechanism and one of them is repression. According to Bateman and Holmes (77), repression is one of the “Classical primary mechanisms of defence” where the idea of repression is pushing the consciousness back into the unconsciousness. Thus, by burying undeniable memories into his or her unconsciousness, it will help someone to avoid the pains that he or she does not want to remember.
Moreover, humans do not really care about this mechanism stage because usually they are unaware of it. Mostly, humans do not know that they have a conscious and unconscious part. They only know that they can satisfy themselves, get the pleasure, and/or avoid the things that they do not like. Humans also do not know when they are repressing sad memories in the past. Thus, the characters in this story also experience the repression stage but, sadly, they are unaware of it.
Thus, if humans always repress their pains they will get fatal consequences for their psychology, especially in their unconsciousness. That is because they are unaware in repressing the pain in their unconsciousness; but when they are aware, it will cause an imbalance in their mind.
Furthermore, the unconscious and conscious are also divided into three parts that known as the three elements of mind. These three parts (id, ego, and superego) have their own function in building humans‟ mind like the conscious and unconscious, but specifically those parts are used to maintain the balance in the humans‟ minds. This sub-theory (the three
elements of mind) will be explained more in the following section and show how those can be interconnected with the repression (unconscious and conscious‟ humans‟ mind).
Three Elements of Mind. The three elements of mind or known as the id, ego, and superego are also parts of the humans‟ mind (conscious and unconscious). This idea is originally from
Freud, who called it as structural theory, which explains how the id, ego, and superego are interconnected one to another (Bateman and Holmes 35 – 36).
Freud explains that the id is the basic part of the mind where humans still are aggressive about something or humans‟ basic desires in their mind (Bateman and Holmes
35). The ego is our rational part or “Reality – oriented” part between our conscious and unconscious, and the ego also has a job to control or balance our id and superego (Bateman and Holmes 36). The superego as the most important part in the humans‟ mind that takes place in the unconscious, where humans are sometimes unaware or unconscious in receiving something (like morals in their childhood life) (Bateman and Holmes 35). The superego also has a big role in forming depression that leads humans to repress the depression into their unconscious mind (Bateman and Holmes 35).
In addition, the following section, dreams will be explained and how dreams are interconnected with humans‟ trauma that also leads to their repression and the three elements
Dream Work. This idea is originally from Sigmund Freud. Freud states that “A dream is the fulfillment of a wish”. It means that a dream is associated with the hidden messages that
humans keep in their unconscious and the dreams unconsciously only appear in humans‟ dreams (Bateman and Holmes 119). Thus, the trauma in this context is also revealed in the character‟s dreams.
Moreover, dreams have their own interpretation in the humans‟ mind (Rivkin and
Ryan 397), meaning they only appears in the unconscious mind because humans usually cannot control their dreams like they cannot control their unconscious mind. For instance, when someone wakes up and remembers about his or her dream, sometimes he or she denies it and said “it is only a dream”. The question is: “Does he or she ever realize at that time
exactly that what he or she dreams is what he or she wants the most?” The answer, according
to Freud is: “Never”. However, that is how the dream works. Dreams are a part of humans‟
unconsciousness, and the unconsciousness is a part of humans mind. This unconscious is also a part of humans‟ interpretation about what they want the most, and often they deny it even
when they are aware of it.
Thus, the above explanations match with Freud‟s idea that says dreams are “…generally in the unconscious … repressed or driven from unconsciousness by a mental censor that judges what is fit for expression” (Freud, as quoted in Rivkin and Ryan 397).
From that statement, dreams can be an outlet or a way to repress humans‟ unconsciousness and/or repress their pains that only are shown in their dreams.
Furthermore, dreams are important in examining character‟s psychological
disturbance because they show how the dreams can make the character‟s unconscious slowly
experiences that cause the repression in his or her mind, and makes the imbalance in the character‟s id, ego, and superego.
DISCUSSION
In this chapter, first, I will discuss David who shows traumas leading to repression as all are related to dream work and the three elements of mind. Second, Emily shows how trauma leads to repression which is related to children‟s phantasy. The discussion
will begin from the father then the daughter, because based on the story the father‟s psychological disorder influences the daughter‟s psychological disorder in her future
adaption. In addition, flashback type will be used to analyze this story to make the readers understand what the main points are. The main point in this discussion chapter is how trauma leads to repression in two different (David and Emily) that will be divided into four sub-chapters: how David‟s past traumatic event leads to his repression that causes the imbalance
of his mind, which makes David have a split personality; how David‟s constant dreams can be one of a way in revealing his trauma; how Emily‟s trauma can lead her to create an
imaginary friend; and how Emily can have another personality which is the cause of her trauma that might endanger her future adaption.
David‟s Split Personality as a Result of His Imbalanced Mind caused by
Repression of His Past Traumatic Events
As depicted in the story, David‟s psychological disorder that was having split
personality was not really shown, but throughout the story his duality was slowly revealed. On the scene showed that David was shown as a man who loves his family, but when his wife died, something strange happened. There was something wrong with David‟s psychological
past traumatic experiences that he saw his wife had an affair with another man on the night of the New Year‟s Eve party. Seeing his wife had an affair with another man made him had a
trauma. As depicted on the scene, when David caught up his wife had an affair with another man, his facial expression seemed not to believe it, because before his wife had an affair, his wife kissed him, and David believe that his wife love him so much.
However, when David saw what his wife did, his facial expression became totally sad, angry, and he felt being betrayed by his wife. After this tragedy, David‟s attitude toward
his wife was changed, he seemed avoid his wife. For instance, in the story depicted when they had conversation about Emily, their work; David answered them in a short action, such as “I do not know”, “What do you think about that?” and etc”. David‟s facial expressions
seemed to not care about what his wife talked about. This is very different with David‟s attitude toward his wife before the tragedy. As depicted in the story, they still talked a lot and laughed together before the tragedy of the New Year‟s Eve Party happened. Thus, after the
tragedy, every time his wife was trying to be good for David, he could not accept it because he always remembered what his wife had done on the New Year‟s Eve party.
As Bessel and Mc Farlene, quoted in Rivkin and Ryan, said that trauma is past experiences that humans do not want to remember, they want to avoid, and they want to repress, because if they remember that experience it will hurt them (487 – 488). Indeed, when David remembered the tragedy that happened at the New Year‟s Eve party, he always avoid
The scene showed when David cannot control his pain and anger; those are appeared in a terrible way that becomes a murderer. In the film depicted, on a one night David killed his wife using pillow and putting her dead body in a bathtub, but in this case, David actually avoided and repressed his pains (part of his traumatic experiences) by creating another personality. This showed that someone who experiences a trauma that he or she cannot bear the pain will make him or her create an alternate personality by separating the first identity of him or herself to release the pain in another way2. Indeed, David created “Charlie” as an outlet or an alternate personality for David‟s anger to kill his wife. For David,
creating „Charlie‟ was something worthy to do because David had something to release his
pain and anger. Then, by creating „Charlie‟, David could fulfill his desire, which was the
desire to kill his wife who had hurt him and the desire to make his wife felt the pain like what David got from his wife.
Furthermore, the story depicted when David killed his wife, he might unaware of it, but when he aware of it, he seemed to avoid the reality. David seemed to deny the reality and did not want to remember part of his trauma, because if he remembered about his trauma, it will hurt him and might cause confusion in his mind. From this, the readers will know that David unconsciously represses his trauma or part of his consciousness (the reality that he killed his wife) into his unconsciousness. This fit what Bessel A. and Mc. Farlene explains that trauma also leads to repression in humans because they are pushing back the consciousness into the unconsciousness (as quoted in Rivkin and Ryan 487 – 502).
After the death of his wife, David and his daughter moved to Woodland City. However, the scene showed when David moved to this new city, his trauma was not healed
2
but got worse. David‟s trauma played a big part in building his repression and as stated by
Bateman and Holmes, repression means pushing the consciousness back into the unconsciousness (77). Thus, David was burying or repressing his traumatic memories (part of his consciousness) that were seeing his wife had an affair with another man into his unconsciousness. David did this because he wanted to avoid the pains that he did not want to remember or he wanted to repress.
As a result, David‟s repression caused the imbalance in his id, ego, and superego;
where his trauma causes repression that could not be controlled by him, and came in strange way where David known as having a split personality and becoming a murderer.
Furthermore, as Batemen and Holmes said, Id was a human basic desire (35), Ego was a rational part that also had a job to balance the id and superego (36), and Superego was a part where a human was unaware in receiving something because it took place in the unconscious mind, and this also has an important role in forming depression to lead a human to repress a reality in the unconscious mind (35). In this case, David‟s id, ego, and superego surely had different ways in working inside his mind; what happened was David‟s three
elements of mind were imbalanced with one another, but as Bateman and Holmes had stated, they (the id, ego, and superego) are still interconnected one another (35 – 36). When David killed his wife, these three elements of mind were working, but here David‟s id was having a
pleasure or desire to release his anger through killing his wife. His superego did not have strong power to control the id. David‟s superego had tried to tell him that he should not kill
his wife, but his id was stronger and screamed to kill his wife; so he created Charlie as his other personality to avoid pain by killing his wife and to avoid his superego that told David not to kill his wife. David‟s id was stronger than his superego and it made an imbalance in his
mediator between his id and superego, because the reality showed that David felt hurt since his wife was having an affair with another man, and it caused him undeniable pain.
Then, the readers also could see that after the death of his wife, David represses down that reality by not remembering that he killed his wife, so his id would avoid the pain of knowing that he killed his wife. The ego that should be the mediator between the id and superego was also repressed down in his unconscious because he did not want it to appear. From that explanation, now the readers know that David‟s id, ego, and superego do not work
properly that show how his trauma causes repression due to the imbalance of his three elements of the mind.
Furthermore, there are several occasions that made David‟s trauma, a part where he hid or repress „Charlie‟ slowly revealed, how those occasions are interconnected with his
three elements of the mind, that later made David remembered his past traumatic event that he repressed down:
The „Bathtub‟ Tragedy. This „Bathtub‟ tragedy happened when David slept in the first night at his new house. The scenes showed that David dreamt about the night of the New Year‟s
Eve party, but when he woke he saw the clock struck at 2:06 a.m. (which was the time when his wife died). David went to the bathroom afterward, but when he opened the plastic curtain that covered the bathtub, he found the writing „You let her die‟ on the wallpaper next to the bathtub. At the same time, he also found Emily standing in front of the bathroom door looking at David. David accused Emily of writing it with her crayon, but Emily denied it and said it was Charlie (in the film known as Emily‟s imaginary friend or David‟s other
Shortly after it happened, David went to the basement, he found the things that should be unpacked were never unpacked before, and he realized what happened to him. David realized that he was the one who told Emily to write those words in the bathroom with Emily‟s crayon. David remembered that his wife did not do suicide or commit but he killed
her. As I explained previously, David killed his wife because he saw her having sex with another man on the night of the New Year‟s Eve party and how this can be happened at the
time.
From that first example, the readers could see how David‟s trauma leads to his imbalance of the mind, where his id, ego, and superego made his consciousness and/or unconsciousness overlap to one another. The readers could see that David‟s consciousness
showed by the hand writing „You let her die‟. Part of his unconsciousness may be aware of what he had written in a bathroom before; because he saw the handwriting which might indicate that his unconsciousness slowly awake and finally appeared in his consciousness.
However, there was an overlap between his conscious and unconscious after he knew the truth that he was a killer. At the time, David might be conscious when he killed his wife but since he repressed the fact, then the thing that should be part of his conscious mind became his unconscious. Meanwhile, David‟s unconscious could be the part when he created Charlie, but this unconscious part could not be repressed down by David forever. David remembered that he was Charlie and that memory became a part of his conscious. This part of his consciousness is where he also remembered that he was the one who killed his wife but he did not want to remember about it.
or perhaps their ego could not be the mediator between the id and superego, which may cause conflicts between their conscious and/or unconscious that would make someone totally different, especially when people are unaware of that occasion.
„The Cat‟ Tragedy. As the story showed, this tragedy happened when the cat was staring at
David in the kitchen and he saw a knife that had not been put into its place, and then he put it into its place. After that David went to sleep but again he awoke at 2: 06 a.m. Again, David went to the bathroom and found a hand writing „Now look what you have done‟ on the wallpaper next to the bathtub but now it was written with blood. David found the bathtub was full of blood and the cat had died. David also found Emily standing in front of the bathroom door and again she said it was Charlie who did it. One night, concurrently at the same time he went to the basement, he remembered that he was also the one who killed the cat by skinned it, and he became more depressed after „the cat‟ tragedy.
From that second example, the readers could see that David killed the cat because he might have hated how the cat looked at him. It seemed that the cat knew everything and looked at David like he was a very dangerous man who should be avoided. Here, the readers would know how the motive of David‟s id arises to avoid being near to the cat because he
does not like the way the cat looked at him. However, when David saw the knife his id arises or the motive of his id changed into a wrong side that David wanted to kill the cat because he hated the way the cat looked at him. Once again, his superego that tried to tell David‟s mind
The scene also showed that he did not like the way the cat looked at him, which may cause a conflict in David‟s mind. In this part, David was aware that the cat was annoying and he might not want to dislike the cat, but he still disliked the cat. It made David‟s
unconscious thinks that if David did not like the cat, he can kill the cat by skinning it with a knife; but he might not have been aware of it.
The readers also could see that David might be aware that he was the one who killed the cat. However, David repressed the reality that he was the one who killed the cat, and then it became a part of his unconscious. Meanwhile, he could not repress his unconscious forever, because a memory that he repressed in his unconscious mind reappeared in his conscious mind, and it made an imbalance in his mind.
In addition, David also realized that he was the one who write those words (“Now look what you have done”) in the bathroom with the cat‟s blood, and he also remembered that
he was the one who killed the cat. Once again, David‟s consciousness was shown by the hand
writing „Now look what you have done‟. Part of his unconsciousness might be aware that he was the one who wrote it in a bathroom; because he saw the handwriting by himself. However, David denied it by repressed it in his unconsciousness; and at the end, it was shown that his unconsciousness finally appeared in his consciousness, which made him remembered what he had done previously.
Here, the readers could see that a thing like a cat and/or a knife could be something that raised someone‟s mental disorder. This indicates that a stimulus produce
emotional reaction that leads to the increases of following occurrence3. Indeed, a stimulus could raise someone‟s split personality when he or she could not control his or her id, ego,
3
and superego. If someone could not control his or her conscious and/or unconscious part (the id, ego, and superego), that could make those parts overlap to one another, that will also cause confusion in someone‟s mind, and as the readers know that the character‟s id is the
winner.
The „Elizabeth‟ Tragedy. This tragedy happened when Elizabeth came to visit to apologize.
As the story showed, Elizabeth apologized to Emily about what happened at their last dinner when they talked about her mother. Emily asked her if she loved to play games. Unfortunately, Elizabeth said yes and the horrible thing happened when she became involved in that game. The game was “Hide and Seek”, where Emily and Charlie played this game.
The one who should seek Charlie was Emily, but Elizabeth did it for Emily, then Elizabeth jumped through a window before she could tell who Charlie was.
Meanwhile, as depicted on the scenes when David awake from his sleep, he went to Emily‟s bedroom, afterward. David found Emily was drawing a picture about the murder
of Elizabeth. David did not have any idea why Emily drew a picture of a woman that jumped from the window. At that time, things got worse; the sheriff came to their house and asked about Elizabeth because he found her car was crushed. The sheriff asked Emily why she came here. Emily just nodded but did not say anything. After the sheriff left their house, David asked Emily where Elizabeth was, but Emily was only crying while showing to David that the clock was 2: 06 a.m. David went to the bathroom and surprisingly he saw the bathtub‟s curtain was full of blood stains.
On that curtain there was writing said “Can u see now” and when David opened it, he was very scared because there was Elizabeth‟s dead body lying in the bathtub. Emily
confused, then he put Elizabeth‟s dead body in a big plastic back and throw it away in a river. Then, when David went down to the basement and found the things that should be unpacked were never unpacked. He found his books that he usually used for writing journals were still inside the box. Now, he realized that he was Charlie and Charlie was him. He also remembered that he killed Elizabeth by pushing her through the window; he remembered that Elizabeth left scars on his hands, and the scars were right on his hand. Emily said to David that now he could see Charlie but Emily did not want to see Charlie anymore. David completely lost his mind and he became Charlie forever, and said to Emily, "Daddy‟s gone
now".
From that third example, the readers could see that David and Charlie‟s id became overlap one to another. Freud already explained that id was a human‟s basic desire;
the superego was a part where human was unaware in receiving something like moral; and the ego was a part to balance the id and superego (Batemen and Holmes 35 – 36). This fit with David occasion that he would not kill Elizabeth to release his pleasure or anger, because he finally found a woman‟s friend. David did not have any desire to kill Elizabeth. However,
Elizabeth might make David unconsciously remembered about his wife and that made Charlie as his other personality take control of his id. David‟s id that has not any desire to kill Elizabeth is not strong enough to win from Charlie‟s motive and make David‟s id arise into a
wrong side that turned into Charlie‟s id, that Charlie wanted to kill Elizabeth.
In addition, the story depicted that Charlie peephole from the wardrobe‟s which
might indicate that he will kill Elizabeth by pushing her through the window when she opened the wardrobe for Emily. This can be happened because the wardrobe was near with the window, so here the readers can see the beginning of Charlie‟s motive who killed
because Charlie‟s id was stronger than David‟s id and superego, that made Charlie able to
take over David and his mind, and at this rate his ego failed to be the mediator between the id and superego.
Moreover, it seemed that David might be aware that Elizabeth reminded him about his wife and he might hate Elizabeth as he hated his wife, because he was afraid and/or traumatized to feel hurt again. This made David‟s unconscious (a part where he hid Charlie) slowly appeared and sadly Charlie‟s will to kill Elizabeth was stronger than David‟s will to
make Elizabeth not to be hurt. David also might be aware that he killed Elizabeth through the window, but he repressed it into his unconsciousness. Again, David could not repress his unconscious forever, because a memory that he repressed in his unconscious mind reappeared in his conscious mind. David realized that he was Charlie, and he might aware that he let Charlie‟s id to become stronger. David might aware that he had to release his anger or pain
by killing Elizabeth through Charlie, since his superego might be afraid to get hurt again, and at the end David finally became aware of whom he really was.
Meanwhile, when David went to the basement, he found the things that should be unpacked were never unpacked before, and he also realized that he was the one who killed Elizabeth. David realized that he was the one who pushed Elizabeth through the window, he put her dead body in the bathtub, and he remembered that he was the one who wrote those words with blood. The readers could see that, again, David‟s consciousness was shown by the hand writing, „Can you see now‟. Part of his unconsciousness might be aware that he was the one who put Elizabeth‟s dead body in the bathtub and wrote those words in a bathroom
that his unconsciousness finally appeared in his consciousness, which made him remember what he had done to Elizabeth.
Charlie is David and David is Charlie. In this sub-chapter, four things that can trigger David‟s unconsciousness to appear in his consciousness will be discussed. A stimulus is
things or events in the environment that influence behavior; and a stimulus produce emotional reaction that leads to the increases of following occurrence. Here, the readers will see how those things or stimuli created a big imbalance in David‟s mind that not only made an overlapping in David‟s conscious and/or unconscious, but also made Charlie‟s personality
take over all of David‟s personality.
First stimulus was shown by Emily who drew Charlie‟s pictures instead of
David‟s pictures. Previously, in the film depicted that Emily and David had conversation
about Charlie, where Emily said that Charlie did not want David to be happy and Charlie would satisfy David‟s wife more rather than David did. When David knew about those
things, they made David‟s superego confused whether he was better than Charlie or not. This also made confusion in David‟s mind that make his other personality slowly appeared in his
conscious mind.
The second stimulus was Emily‟s picture about Elizabeth‟s murder. In this part, David‟s ego was not strong enough to be the mediator anymore. His id and superego
overlapped because David repressed this traumatic event. David might not want to remember that he was the one who killed Elizabeth. Unfortunately, when David saw the picture of Elizabeth‟s murder, his unconscious slowly awoke. Part of David‟s unconscious might want
When David was aware about this tragedy, his unconsciousness a place where he hid Charlie and the reality of killing Elizabeth was slowly awoken and appeared in his consciousness.
The third stimulus was how David remembered that he was Charlie and when he found the things that should be unpacked were never unpacked. In the film, it was depicted when David saw the things that should be unpacked were never unpacked; his expression was confused and afraid. David was confused because he seemed to believe that he had already unpacked things. David was afraid because he never did that, and he realized what actually happened in his life, and what was wrong with him. This tragedy and all past tragedies that happened to David might trigger his unconsciousness to slowly awake into his consciousness, which made him remember that he was Charlie. This stimulus also made David‟s unconsciousness take over his consciousness because he finally was aware of who he was. As the readers have to know, after David‟s consciousness was taken over by his
unconsciousness, David‟s true personality was gone, and he changed into Charlie, his other
personality.
The fourth stimulus was where David was writing in journals, but when he realized who he was and opened the box David realized that he never wrote anything. From that example, readers could see that David was trying to communicate with himself, where he imagined his other personality in a form of a book trying to reveal himself and fulfill his desire in another way through writing in journals. Here, the readers also could see that David‟s unconscious wanted to reappear in his conscious through writing journals.
In addition, David‟s unconscious that wanted to reappear in his conscious made a
in his mind he might still not be able to accept the fact that he was a killer or his superego might still see him as a father figure. The story depicted when David saw the things that should be unpacked were never unpacked, and remembered all the things that happened to him; Emily (his daughter) was very afraid, and said “Can you see now Dad”. When David‟s
personality changed into Charlie‟s personality, he said as a Charlie, “Daddy‟s gone now”. Charlie also asked Emily to play “Hide and Seek” game for one more time, but now the one
who hides was Emily, and the one who seeks was Charlie. Now, David as a Charlie, wanted to kill Emily, but when he chased up Emily to a cave and found her, suddenly he said, “Do not afraid Emily, it‟s only Daddy”. David looked to Emily was very frightening, and his
look was like a man who wanted to skin and kill somebody. As I knew, that looked was not David but Charlie. At this time, David‟s superego was not strong enough to control his id
since his ego (the mediator) did not have any function anymore. That was what happened to David and/or Charlie‟s personality when one of them (the ego) was not working anymore.
From those stimuli, it can be seen how David‟s id or part of his conscious could
not repress or avoid the pains anymore because the past memories of killing her wife, Elizabeth, and the cat continuously came. David‟s ego could not be the mediator to control his id and his superego. David‟s unconscious mind that repressed Charlie came out into his
pre-conscious, and then it totally became his conscious. David‟s id completely took over his ego and superego, where the id wanted to kill Emily (the last woman in his life). David‟s consciousness was aware that he was Charlie and he had to kill all women to release his pains, and here his ego could not control them (the id and the superego) anymore or it lost.
Thus, those concepts of repression and the three elements of the mind caused David‟s trauma that lead to his split personality. The readers could see that many past
Furthermore, as stated in Freudian psychoanalytic criticism, those who cannot control the three elements of the mind will get an imbalance in their mind if one of the three elements of the mind (id, ego, and superego) always win or one of them always lose. If humans‟ unconsciousness took over their consciousness, they could not fight with the three
elements of mind that takes place in their conscious and unconscious part, and then it would be very dangerous for them.
From the above explanations, it seemed that a human who has multiple personality like the character (David) will affect him or her to has a difficulty in surroundings; for instance he or she could has difficulty in socializing.
David‟s Trauma as a Result of His Constant Dreams
When seeing this film and looking deeper at what issues are inside this film, it might only be found that David‟s repression is influenced by the imbalance of the three
elements of his mind, and how those can be related to his past traumatic event.
However, when scrutinizing this film more, it was found that David always woke up at 2: 06 am, where it was the same time with the time of his wife‟s death. The film has
been depicted that before David woke up at the time, he always dreamt about the night when his wife died, but his dreams were constant or continual dreams.
Moreover, David‟s dream then became one of his ways to repress his unconsciousness and/or repress his pains. This matches what Freud states that dreams can be a way to repress humans‟ unconsciousness and/or repress their pains that later will appear in
their dreams (as quoted in Rivkin and Ryan 397). In the film, David‟s trauma that he repressed in his unconsciousness always appeared in his dreams and based on the story the dreams occured three times. First, it was depicted that David saw the hand writing „You let
her die‟ but before he saw it, he dreamt about the night of the New Year‟s Eve party where
he kissed his wife and then he woke up at 2:06 am.Second, David saw the hand writing „Now
look what you have done‟ and, again before it happened, he dreamt about the night of the
New Year‟s Eve party. It was depicted that David‟s dream continued into where he saw his wife going to the lift and out somewhere, and again he woke up at 2:06 am.Third, David‟s dream continued again; that was before he saw the hand writing „Can you see now‟ and again before David saw the hand writing, he still dreamt about the night of the New Year‟s Eve
Party. Here, he dreamt of his past trauma, which was the event when he followed his wife and he saw her having sex with another man upstairs. David only could see them from below; and when David woke up again it was 2:06 am.
Indeed, those continual dreams made David remembered that he was the one who killed his wife using a pillow at 2: 06 am and put his wife‟s dead body in the bathtub. When
David remembered all of these things, he also remembered that he created another personality „Charlie‟ as an outlet to release his pain.
Furthermore, as Batemen and Holmes also explain that dreams are connected with hidden messages that humans keep in their unconscious and unconsciously only appear in humans dreams (119).Then, David‟s dream can be associated with his other personality,
hidden personality slowly appeared because of David‟s continual dreams. Thus, David‟s dreams, one of his outlets to repress his pains also made his unconsciousness slowly awoken and made „Charlie‟ slowly appeared into his consciousness through his constant dreams.
Moreover, dreams have their own interpretation in the humans‟ mind (Rivkin and Ryan397). Meaning that dreams only appear in the uncoscious mind because humans usually cannot control their dreams like they cannot control their unconscious mind.Here, it has been proven that David‟s unconsciousness only appeared through his constant dreams because his dreams were like his way to see whatactually happened, but, again, he was unaware and cannot control of what he dreamt was his unconsciousness.
Thus, somebody who wakes up and remembers about his or her dream sometimes deny it, and believe that is only a dream. However, Freud states that the one who dreams is never realize at the time exactly that what he or she dreams is what he or she wants the most.This showed that David might realize what he dreamt about, but he denied his dreams. When David woke up of his dream about the Night of the New Year‟s Eve party, his facial expression seemed not to believe what he had just dreamt about, he believed it was only a dream, andthatdream was not real. Then, as the readers have to know that David‟s dreams were part of his unconscious mind and David was unaware that what he actually dreamt was what he wanted the most or whatactually happened in his life.
wanted the most which may made him want to kill his wife, and also kill all women around him, but David always denied it, until he realized who he was, or was aware of what he had done.As a result, when he remembered what actually happened, he could not control himself, and that made his other personlaity take over his body and mind.
Finally, David‟s constant dreams showed how theywere related to his past experiences or his traumatic events, where David saw his wife having an affair with another man at the New Year‟s Eve Party. This traumatic event caused undeniable pains that made
him created another way to endure his pains that was his dreams. However, David‟s dreams cannot always be the media or the way to endure his pain and/or to avoid the truth that he was hurt by seeing his wife have an affair. In addition, David‟s dreams made his other personality, „Charlie‟, slowly awaken through his continuous dreams. At the end, what David had
repressed so far, made the imbalance in his mind, and made his other hidden personality, „Charlie‟, wake up and takeover David‟s mind forever.
Emily‟s Trauma Leads Her to Create a „Charlie‟
In this new sub-chapter, another interpretation will be served was whether Emily also the one who created „Charlie‟ or not. In the film, it was depicted that Emily said to
David, that she had a friend, but the fact was it was an imaginary friend. As the film continued on, Emily always drew pictures of Charlie, and slowly revealed that her father‟s
other personality was actually a Charlie. This phenomenon, about whether Emily was the one who created „Charlie‟ or not, was confusing for the readers and the writer.
Throughout the story, it is depicted that Emily has an imaginary friend named “Charlie”. Emily created an imaginary friend because of her trauma that was seeing her father
states, quoted in Segal, that phantasy could be firstly happened because an event like „killing‟ that caused a mental disorder to a human (18 – 19). Thus, Emily showed his mental disorder through silence. In the story it was depicted that after her mother died, Emily was brought to a psychiatrist, but it useless. Catherine, as her psychiatrist, always asked Emily to play a doll, but Emily always kept in silence. Moreover, Emily‟s mental disorder also showed in her
facial expression that looked gloomy, shocked, confused, and she looked very pale.
Then, just thinks, if a child experienced a traumatic event such as a homicide, like what happened to Emily that could not be denied if she would keep herself in silence. As a child, Emily‟s mentality was not ready to accept the truth that someone she loved so much
(her mother) was killed by her own father. This tragedy might make Emily created an imaginary friend because she might think the safest place to have a friend was in his or her mind. This fit what Green stated that a phantasy also relates to someone‟s traumatic event
caused by past experiences that lead his or her ideal phantasies, like creating someone else as his or her friend (139). Thus, the readers knew that Emily first traumatic event was seeing her mother was killed by her father, she kept in silence after the tragedy, and then she created a friend in her mind. From this explanation, the readers could see that Emily might create „Charlie‟ because she did not have any friend to share her pains and might be afraid if Charlie
was found by her father. David might not allow Emily to have an imaginary friend which might make her felt hurt again because the story showed that Emily only act like a kind when she played with „Charlie‟.
Unfortunately, her imaginary friend was not a good one. It seemed that Charlie takes control of Emily‟s mind to draw Charlie‟s pictures that killed people surround him.
problems through drawing. Emily might also use Charlie as a shield to prevent herself from pains and problems that she could not handle by herself.
Thus, it seemed that having and creating „Charlie‟, Emily‟s imaginary friend, could be Emily‟s unconsciousness to draw the serial killings because she did not know how
to release her pains or fears, and it made her always burry them in herself. As a result, it seemed that Emily released her pains through drawings and creating an imaginary friend, Charlie, as her way to communicate within herself.
Emily‟s Trauma Leads to Other Personality
A trauma that happened to Emily, was beyond the readers imagination. As a child, Emily repressed and could not control her pains, and her pains came in strange ways, that are having phantasies (imaginary friend) and having another personality.
As Bessel A. and Mc. Farlene, quoted in Rivkin and Ryan point out that trauma is humans past memories that they want to avoid, repress, and do not want to remember, if they remember those memories, that will hurt them (487 – 488).In this story, Emily‟s trauma began when she saw her mother dead. Emily knew that her father killed her mother the entire time. She knew that her father killed her cat and Elizabeth (David‟s friend), and she knew that her father had two personalities. However, Emily did not share these tragedies, she kept by herself, she tried to not remember what had actually happened, and she showed her rejection to remember about her traumatic event trhough her drawing. Emily might think that by drawing she could repress her trauma and avoid the pains that she could not handle.
murderer. For children like her, it could be scary but here, Emily did not show her feeling. She represses that feeling because if she denied the murderer‟s love, she would die, which
scared her. Based on the scene, Emily showed that she was scared deny the murderer love was by accepting the murderer‟s favorite game, which was „Hide and Seek‟, she always
accept to play the game with the murderer. Then, based on the story it was also true that she was playing a game but she was playing the game where she should hide all the mystery of the killing series that the murderer had done. For a child, like Emily, hiding all the mystery of the killing series could make her frustrated, and this kind of frustration could lead her to repress those things by not sharing that story to adults even to her father. Thus, what happened to Emily that are loved by a murderer and hid all the serial killing made Emily‟s
trauma stronger, and the way Emily released her pains is through drawing and creating an imaginary friend.
In this case, Emily also uses her drawing to release what her phantasy might want, as Green said, a trauma uses phantasy (an imaginary friend) as the media to release pains that usually happens to children, especially if he or she has undeniable past experiences that cause undeniable pains (139). It has been proven that Emily had a strong trauma which caused strong pains. These strong pains that happened to a child like Emily because she saw her mother died in her father‟s hand but she should hide it from the truth; she knew that her father killed people around her; she knew that her father had two personalities; she knew that she should not tell it or she would end up dead. Those things would be very painful for a child and the way her mind released those pains was by drawing and creating an imaginary friend.
make her had more undeniable traumatic events. In the story depicted that Emily drew a picture about her mother‟s death, the death of her cat, the death of Elizabeth, and she always
said to the father “Charlie told me to do so”. Moreover, as achild, Emily‟s mentality was not
strong enough to accept the truth that her father killed her mother, and this caused a very deep trauma to her. In the story, Emily also showed her trauma in silence or a great mourning. She did not want to talk and to share what she felt because she did not want to show her pains, and/or she did not know how to process her trauma (pains). Based on the story, the readers can see that someone who rarely or never shares his or her pains would be depressed and cause repression in his or her mind that would affect his or her future adaption toward his or her surroundings.
Furthermore, after David died, Emily was brought back to New York by Catherine, but there was something wrong with Emily, which was shown by her drawing again. The interesting part in the scene was before Emily went to school, she was drawing a picture. Emily seemed to love drawing and her drawing habits could be a way of representation of her unconscious mind. Interestingly, what Emily drew was a picture of Catherine and herself, but in this picture she drew herself with two heads that could mean a representation of two personalities.
As Green explains that, a great psychological distress that happens to traumatized children will give impacts on their future development and adoption (150). From that statement, I see that Emily‟s trauma leads to her psychological development in forms of both
psychological distress and the imbalance in her personality. This also showed from a previous conversation between Catherine and David through a telephone, “It is not unusual for a
traumatized child to create an imaginary friend... Trauma causes pain. Eventually the
child, like Emily, had so many pains that a drawing was her way to help her in releasing her pains.
In addition, David‟s trauma (knowing her wife having sex with another man) that
influenced him to be Charlie and kill his wife as well as other people around him, which were known by Emily (his daughter). Thus, Emily‟s past moments about where she knew that her father killed her mother as well as other people around her, and she also knew that her father had two personalities that are as a father and as a killers; made Emily had a great trauma and she might create another personality within her to escape from those traumatic events.
It seemed that Emily‟s trauma cause a conflict in her head. Emily might confuse
what she should do; she might confuse about her identity; and she might not know how to escape from the pains that she suffers. Thus, those all were shown by her drawings and how she created her imaginary friend. From this occurrence, the readers could see how a character‟s trauma, pains, and split personality could involve another character to have a
different trauma, pains, and split personality that might stronger than the previous character had before. However, it is still questionable, “Is that true Emily has a split personality like
her father or that Emily would one day grow to develop one?”
From the above question, the readers could see another possibility that Emily‟s
trauma could lead her to have another personality like her father (David) had; or Emily could be able to handle her pains and become develop one.
CONCLUSION
creating an imaginary friend, drawing, writing, and creating an alternate personality. In fact, every human has trauma and he or she releases the pains in many different ways. Although humans have already released pains through many ways but still there are some pains that are kept in humans‟ unconscious, because they do not want to remember their pains and/or
traumatic events anymore.
The traumatic events that happen to humans sometimes make humans‟ minds
become imbalanced. This imbalanced mind might only appear in humans‟ dreams, but if
humans cannot control their mind, the worst case is they would create other personalities, like the characters in this story had done.
In addition, the readers also can see that many stimuli outside dreams, which are related to humans‟ traumatic events or horrible tragedies like homicide, can trigger their
unconsciousness to appear into his or her consciousness. If a human cannot control what has happened to him or her, that can cause a mental disorder like creating another personality to escape from pains or problems that he or she face.
From the analysis done in the discussion, trauma was still the biggest part that leads to humans‟ repressions as shown by David through the imbalance of his three elements
of the mind and his constant dreams. David, as the figure of a father in this story, was slowly revealed as the murderer too. Thus, what happened to David also influenced his daughter, Emily, to have trauma and it might be bigger than what David had.
not know how to share their pains to the closest people in their life, like what happen to the character (Emily) in this story.
Furthermore, if this trauma is not treated as soon as possible, the most frightening thing is the children will have other personalities and/or create imaginary friends, like the character (Emily) has done in this story. As the readers should know, a trauma that is not treated earlier will influence the children‟s future adaption. For examples, the way the
children communicate with other people; the way they solve their problems; the way they will face their problems and face the reality; the way they will adapt with new people; the way they will adapt in a new environment; and their steps in growing up might be different with other children.
From this journal article, the writer expects that the readers can be critical toward her ideas that she offers in this journal article. It has been stated that trauma is experienced by all people and even the writer itself. As humans, it cannot be denied that every human has trauma, even if the trauma is only afraid of a snail, it still can be called as trauma. If humans meet with what they fear, they will avoid that thing, and do anything to make it not so close with them. The readers also should be critical that if humans repress too many problems; that will make them more frustrated and/or depressed. The readers also can see that dreams are faced by all people, and what they face might be the thing that they want the most, or it could be what they fear the most.
symbols like feminist symbols, which can be found in this film where all David‟s victims are women.
This new finding, might give other readers inspiration for another future research, mostly because it involves a whole theory in the discussion. This new finding will also be useful for the other readers to think more critical toward other stimuli which might trigger the characters‟ unconsciousness to appear in their consciousness, and how that will impact their
live and people surround them.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I give my biggest honor to Allah SWT because without Allah SWT guidance I will not be able to finish this thesis on time. I thank to my beloved supervisor, ibu Danielle Donelson Sims and my examiner, ibu Lany Kristono for your support, guidance, and help to finish this thesis. I thank to my family who always prays for me. I thank to my friends, Dadang, Lana, Cana, Layyina, mba Lintang, and others who always support me in finishing this journal article when „Lazy‟ come in my soul. Thank abundantly for all of you. I am very
REFERENCES
Bateman, Anthony, and Jeremy Holmes. “Dreams, Symbols, Imagination.” Introduction to
Psychoanalysis – Contemporary Theory and Practice. London and New York: Routledge, 1995. 118 – 135. Enbookfi.org. Web. 23 September 2013.
Bateman, Anthony, and Jeremy Holmes. “Mechanism of Defence.” Introduction to
Psychoanalysis – Contemporary Theory and Practice. London and New York: Routledge, 1995. 76 – 94. Enbookfi.org. Web. 23 September 2013.
Bateman, Anthony, and Jeremy Holmes. “Models of the Mind.” Introduction to Psychoanalysis – Contemporary Theory and Practice. London and New York: Routledge, 1995. 27 – 48. Enbookfi.org. Web. 23 September 2013.
Freud, Sigmund. “Psychoanalysis and Psychology: The Interpretation of Dreams.” In
Literary Theory: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Julie Rivkin, and Michael Ryan. Eds. Blackwell Publishing: Malden, UK, 2004: 397 – 414. Print.
Green, Viviane. “The Use of Fantasy as a Psychic Organizer for Traumatic Experience.”
Emotional Development in Psychoanalysis, Attachment Theory and Neuroscience. New York: Brunner – Routledge, 2003. 139 – 154. Enbookfi.org. Web. 9 October 2013.
Kolk, Bessel A. van der, and Alexander C. Mc. Farlene. “Psychoanalysis and Psychology:
The Black Hole of Trauma.” In Literary Theory: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Julie
Polson, John, dir. Hide and Seek. Twentieth Century Fox, 2005. Film.
Segal, Julia. “The Freudian Background.” Ideas in Psychoanalysis: Phantasy. USA: Totem
Books, 2001. 15 – 20. Enbookfi.org. Web. 25 November 2013.
Torabi, Kathy. The Art of Defamiliarization. Critical Approaches to Literature, 15 February 2010. n.p. Web. 27 October 2013.
