How Defense Mechanism works in Speak Novel
According to Freud, psychoanalysis is study that assume that there are two levels of human’s mental elements, namely the conscious and unconscious. In his theory of psychoanalysis, Freud stated that every person has the id, the ego, and the superego. Freud indicates that a person’s ego deals with the reality, the id, and the superego. However, when it is too overwhelming, the ego has a technique to unconsciously block the reality, the id, and the superego. That technique can be defined as defense mechanism. Defense mechanism is the state when the ego unconsciously blocks the unwanted memories and turns it into more acceptable form.
Defense mechanism, according to Freud, is divided into several kind. There are compensation, denial, displacement, identification, introjection, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, repression, undoing, and sublimation.
1. Denial, believing the problem doesn’t exist by blocking external event from awareness. Refuse to accept external reality because it can be too threatening.
2. Displacement, shifting the threatening emotion and “taking it out” on someone or something less threatening.
3. Isolation, stripping the emotion from a difficult memory or threatening impulse. Creates a mental gap as barrier between situation and condition that make it threatened.
4. Identification, used by a person when that person applied the qualification or attitude of another person whom they admire. The person will actually apply the attitude or qualification they wishes to achieve from another person they admire to themselves.
5. Introjection, applied by someone because they perhaps facing some difficulties and tried to solve it with this defense mechanism. Introjection is not only focuses on adopting positive traits but also negative traits from another person.
6. Projection, used by someone when they have an unacceptable desires. The person with this defense mechanism tends to project their unacceptable desires in themselves to other people.
7. Rationalization, is a way for someone to justify their behavior by making clear excuses to cover up the mistakes they have made.
8. Reaction Formation, when a person have the negative behavior and unacceptable in their surroundings, then trying to changes it into more acceptable.
9. Regression, when they experience an ego long-term or temporary reversion to the development’s earlier stage when they cannot handle an event or unacceptable impulse in adult manner. It can cause an unpleasure feeling to them. Therefore, they return to their childhood stage by acting as if they still were a child.
10. Repression, is process which is made evident to us through the resistance. Repression as the part of defense mechanism that resistance or forgetting about the events or incidents that have been experienced.
11. Ritual and undoing, to undo negative mind or negative behavior and covered with some rituals or habit.
12. Sublimation is the process that diverting the negative feelings into positive and acceptable activities.
Speak is a novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson. The story told about Melinda, a main lead who also a narrator in this novel with first person perspective. Melinda was suffering during her freshman year in school because she was being outcaste by everyone. Her only friend was Heather but she also mean to her. She got bullied because she messed up last year party by calling the police. But actually, this novel tried to tell the true incident that happened to Melinda. She was being raped by her school mate during the party. In this novel contain a daily life of Melinda who is suffering after being rapped and how Melinda speak up.
Why this novel related with Psychoanalysis?
Because it have hidden meaning that even the reader could not tell until last chapter left. There are lot of psychological aspect in this novel that can be analyzed and since psychoanalysis tells about human mental state which is related with Melinda’s behavior in this novel.
Repression as defense mechanism used by Melinda as a way for her to find identity
“ Her eyes meet mine for a second. “I hate you,” she mouths silently. She turns her back to me and laughs with her friends. I bite my lip. I am not going to think about it. It was ugly, but it’s over, and I’m not going to think about it. My lip bleeds a little. It tastes like metal. I need to sit down.”
(page 10, Chapter Welcome to Merrywheather High)
In speak novel we know that Melinda Sordino are young girl that have been get sexual harassment from her senior and also she is experienced bullying in her school. After being harassed Melinda have abandoned by her friends because her friends was assuming that Melinda ruined the party because she was call the police. in this passage Melinda is using repression as her defense mechanism to not think about bullying.
Identification as defense mechanism used by Melinda as a way for her to find identity
“I have a lab partner, David Petrakis. Belongs to the Cybergenius clan. He has the potential to be cute when the braces come off. He is so brilliant he makes the teachers nervous. You’d think a kid like that would get beat up a lot, but the bad guys leave him alone. I have to find out his secret.”
(Page 24, Chapter Blue Roses)
Melinda admires her lab partner, David Petrakis and she wanted to adopt David’s behavior in herself.
Isolation as the defense mechanism used by Melinda to creates a mental gap as barrier
“The noise of the gym pulls me in. I stand by the door for the last minute of the game. The crowd chants down the last sec. Nope I don’t do parties. No thanks. I trot out excuses: homework, strict parents, tuba practice, late-night dentist appointment, have to feed the warthogs. I don’t have a good track record with parties. “
(Page 95)
In this passage, David was inviting Melinda to a party. As we know Party is a condition and situation where Melinda avoided since it would definitely bring back the unpleasant memory of her being raped by Andy. So in the end Melinda said that she didn’t do party and making such excuses. Also we should mark the “I don’t have a good track record with parties” means that Melinda still conscious of her memory and it gives anxiety to Melinda if she goes back into the situation. Isolation used to protect Melinda by separating herself into those condition.
In conclusion, defense mechanism happened when the ego unconsciously blocks the unwanted memories by shifting anxiety with more acceptable behavior. the function itself is to protect individuals from threatening impulse.
Eventhough defense mechanism can be used positively to decrease anxiety, it can make a person unaware towards their unconsciousness. Melinda used many defense mechanisms to protect herself, but in the end, it wasn’t the reason for her to speak up about her issue. It is her braveness to overcome the anxiety and fear that makes her speak up.
63718020 —Dinan Fuzianti
Universitas Komputer Indonesia
References
Freud, S. (1920). A general introduction to psychoanalysis. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
Zulfaisya, R., & Hasra, H. (2020). DEFENSE MECHANISM OF THE MAIN CHARACTER IN LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON’S SPEAK NOVEL. BAHTERA: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra, 19(2), 313–335.
Tyson, L. (2014). Critical theory today: A user-friendly guide. Routledge
Freud, S. (1933). Psychoanalytic Theory. SU ICIDE FROM A PSYCHOLOGICAL, 7
