Essay on Feminist Theory Analysis of ‘The Glass Castle’

Need help with assignments?

Our qualified writers can create original, plagiarism-free papers in any format you choose (APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, etc.)

Order from us for quality, customized work in due time of your choice.

Click Here To Order Now

How the Mother is Psychoanalytically important in the story In The Glass Castle including her hierarchy of needs. Her Id and superego are used in many situations throughout the story. She abuses her lifestyle making there will always be a happy ending to her interactions and if there isn’t there is always a fight or an argument about what happened. Her arguments are usually with family and always end with a happy conclusion.

The first reason I believe the mother acts upon her id and not her superego is when she is in the candy bar when the children had no food. The Quote being ‘My teeth hurt,’ Mom said, but she was getting all shifty-eyed, glancing around the room and avoiding our stares. ‘It’s my bad gums. I’m working my jaw to increase the circulation.’ Brian yanked the covers back. Lying on the mattress next to Mom was one of those huge family-sized Hershey chocolate bars, the shiny silver wrapper pulled back and torn away. She’d already eaten half of it. Mom started crying. ‘I can’t help it,’ she sobbed. ‘I’m a sugar addict, just like your father is an alcoholic.’

At the beginning of Rose Marys life, she ran away from Her mom and told herself that she would be nothing like her. This leads the reader to believe this to be an act of her id and not a self-conscious move because of the way she tried to hide it and how she blamed it on her emotions and how everything is messed up and it leads the reader into her interpolation and how she acts as the dominant one as she gets to boss everyone around. Also, this brings the topic to how her id is more dominant than her superego because instead of being rational and just sharing she instead acted on her emotions and primitive instinct which was to eat it by herself. If she didnt share the candy bar at the end who knows how many times she would have done this to protect her dominance.

The mom’s ability to always stay positive and right also kept the family going. An instance of this is ‘We may not have insulation,’ Mom said as we all gathered around the stove. ‘but we have each other.’ The way the mom does this is inhuman and she does this off of her emotions and her primitive way to be nice and always stick to the bright side. She also uses this to her advantage to gain dominance to help her remain a thought in the children. While the father is out drinking and the mom is painting another picture the kids are on their own throughout most of the story which brings in the importance of the parents. Well, the mom gains her importance through her ability to keep the vibes happy and not miserable. Another example is ‘All seasons have something to offer,’ she said. ‘Cold weather is good for you. It kills the germs.’ This example demonstrates that when the family is going through the worst which was during the winter season she uses her primitive instinct to stay afloat. This also ties into her hierarchy of needs. This shows how she uses her social level as a buffer to keep the family. Which leads to eventually the kids leaving her to move on and ironically be different than their mother.

The mom’s Psychoanalytical approach to all things is based on the unconscious part of the mind or the id can lead to consequences when talking to others or just living everyday life. This also ties into her behavioral thinking when she is constantly thinking about art and literature because she is constantly influenced by them in everyday society. A quote supporting this is about her art supplies. When Dad heard that, he acted outraged, as though he’d learned for the first time that his children were going hungry. ‘Dammit, that Rose Mary keeps spending money on art supplies!’ he muttered, pretending to be talking to himself. Then he declared more loudly. ‘No child of mine has to go hungry!’ After he dropped us off, he called after us. ‘Don’t you kids worry about a thing.’ In this quote, the mom spent all of her money on art supplies instead of using her consciousness and buying food. This is a prime example of this because it shows how she spends all her money. Supporting quotes from the story include In the meantime, Mom devoted herself to her art. She spent all day working on oil paintings, watercolors, charcoal drawings, pen ­and­ ink sketches, clay and wire sculptures, silk screens, and wood blocks. She didn’t have any particular style; some of her paintings were what she called primitive, some were impressionistic and abstract, some were realistic

Need help with assignments?

Our qualified writers can create original, plagiarism-free papers in any format you choose (APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, etc.)

Order from us for quality, customized work in due time of your choice.

Click Here To Order Now