Abstract:
Psychoanalysis Study: How Trauma Leads to Repression in Two Different Characters
as Revealed in „Hide and Seek‟ Film
-Trauma Causes Pain -
Catherine (Hide and Seek)
Anisa Hutami Haryono
Trauma is a root of repression that may lead someone to have a psychological disorder. Every
human has his or her own way to release his or her repression in any form, such as dreams,
phantasy, homicide, and/or split personality, whether he or she aware and/or unaware of it. Hide and Seek film is an interesting example of the trauma phenomena in psychoanalysis
study. Hide and Seek film portrays how trauma can lead a father‟s character (David) to
repress his trauma in forms of dreams, homicide, and split personality. In addition, the daughter‟s character (Emily) represses her trauma in forms of phantasy and split personality. This study is aimed to examine how the film portrays that trauma has a big influence to the characters‟ psychology in their live. Psychoanalysis is used to conduct this research and the characters in this film are analyzed using the Psychoanalysis theory. The finding is that
trauma still holds a strong role in making the characters David (father) and Emily (daughter)
to repress their trauma in different way, and they have different way in releasing their trauma.
Through those characters, readers can see how trauma could be dangerous weapon for humans‟ mind and later for humans‟ future adaption.
Key words: Trauma, Repression, Three Elements of Mind, Dream Work, and The Use of
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
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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
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
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
trauma. I choose psychoanalysis theory because those sub-theories fit to analyze the
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
„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
those characters have different trauma caused by their own past experiences that lead to
different repression.
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
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
them. Surprisingly, the people who died always ended up in a bathtub where Emily‟s mother
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
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
that has more specific sub – theory definitions and explanations, for instances repression,
three elements of mind, trauma, and dream work, etc. Thus, this paper will discuss
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
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
personality.
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
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
psychological distress and the imbalance in his or her personality.
In addition, trauma and children trauma that have been explained will lead to the
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
Then, the repression is important to be an aid to examine the characters since the
repression that happens to the characters makes them to have psychological disorders. In
addition, the unconsciousness (a part that the characters repress down) will take over the
consciousness and eventually the characters cannot control the unconsciousness.
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
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
of the mind.
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
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
wake up. The dreams also show how the character‟s dream is related to his or her past
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
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
David remembered the tragedy that happened at the New Year‟s Eve party, he always avoid
his wife who was trying to be good for him, and his facial expression seemed not to want
remember what his wife did to him. David might be afraid that if he remembered the tragedy
he would feel angry and sad again. Indirectly, what David did to himself caused him to have
a past traumatic event that he buried or repressed down in himself, but he could not repress
his pain forever.
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
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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
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
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
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
personality).
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
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.
The readers could see how the imbalance of the three elements of mind (id, ego,
and superego) could be very dangerous for humans. If humans could not control their mind,
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
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
that killed the cat was wrong or bad was failed. David could not control his id because it was
stronger than his superego that the id or what David‟s desire was wanted to kill the cat, and
his ego failed to be the mediator between the id and superego.
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
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
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,
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
3
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
said that “David could not stop Charlie”. The scene showed that David was crying and
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
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
Elizabeth. Then, David or Charlie‟s s superego that tell Charlie not to kill Elizabeth was lose
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
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
because he saw those by himself. However, David denied that occasion by repressing them in
his unconsciousness and this showed that the repression is being pushed back from the
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/orunconscious, 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,
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
to know the truth or want Emily to draw Elizabeth‟s murder more, but he was not aware of it.
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
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
big imbalance between his conscious and unconscious. David unconsciousness was where
David had gone and was fully taken over by Charlie. It seemed that Charlie‟s id is happy after
doing the serial killings, but his superego seemed sad knowing about it, because deep down
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
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
memories can awaken the unconscious mind, like what happened to David.
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
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.
As readers knew so far, what happened to David was actually part of his
traumatic events that was seeing his wife death at 2: 06 a.m. in the bathub. As Bessel A. and
Mc. Farlene, quoted in Rivkin and Ryan, said that trauma also leads humans in pushing back
consciousness into his unconsciousness, but sadly the trauma that David pushing back was
always appeared in his 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
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,
„Charlie‟ that I know as a hidden personality that he kept in his unconsciousness, but this
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
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.
From that example, the readers could see the film‟s depiction that David‟s
unconsciousness did not wake up until Davidremembered that he was the one who did the
serial killings, and he remembered that he was Charlie, and one of them was because he
dreamt about the night when his wife was having an affair with another man. Meanwhile,
what David did to him made him more depressed. David might be aware of what he dreamt,
but he always denied it. It is believed that David‟s unconsciousnesswas a part of what he
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,
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
killed her mother using pillow and put her mother dead body in the bathtub. This fits as Freud
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
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.
However, what Emily drew could be her desire to release her pains, and to share all her
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,
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.
In addition, for a child like Emily, the stage where she should be loved and
played with her friends was not fulfilled. It was true that she was loved, but it was by a
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
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.
Then, when Emily did the repression in forms of drawing and creating an
imaginary friend, she also repressed tragedies or serial killings‟ events surround her that
make her had more undeniable traumatic events. In the story depicted that Emily drew a
said to the father “Charlie told me to do so”. Moreover, as a child, 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
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
mind will find away to release it.” From Catherine‟s statement, I saw that a traumatized
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
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
Throughout the film was that trauma still holds the strongest influence in creating
repressions and how those repressions are released through several ways, like having dreams,
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
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.
Moreover, if this trauma happened to children and might be bigger than the adults
had, that will endanger the children themselves. As I know, children are still pure and if they
experienced a great trauma, they will live in a great fear. Even they do not want to share or do
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
