Freud on the Creative Mind: A Summary and Application

     In Freud's The Uncanny: The Creative Writer and Daydreaming, he explores the minds of creative writers and how they come to have such imaginative, free-flowing ideas. He intends to find the source of their inspiration so that others can potentially learn to develop that ability, as well.

     First, he asserts that as children, all men act like writers when they play. He states that "...every child at play behave like a writer, by crreating a world of his or own or, to put it more correctly, by imposing a new and more pleasing order on the things that make up his world." He notes that a child takes his play seriously and invests much emotion into it. Freud dispels the myth that the opposite of play is seriousness--it is actually reality. He believes that it is in this way that writers are adults that still play, creating worlds and grand ideas in which they are deeply emotionally involved.

     Next, Freud explains that as a man turns into an adolescent, he ceases to "play" and begins to "fantasize" instead. Because society prevents him from vocalizing or acting out his imaginative ideas externally, he keeps his ideas inside and escapes reality in his mind. Some typical features and aspects of fantasizing are: unsatisfied desires are the motive forces behind fantasies, every fantasy involves wish fulfillment and resolving an issue with reality, every fantasy is either ambitious (expands on the person's abilities and personality) or erotic and these fantasies are future fulfillments and resolutions of past problems and impressions.

     Freud then discusses the nature of dreams at night, which he believes are daytime fantasies that have been stuffed inside and repressed into the unconscious. But once asleep, a man's dreams are of the same nature of his conscious fantasies and revolve around the same desires he has when awake.

     Freud turns back to the creative writer, and draws a distinction between epic and historic poets versus writers who create their own world and ideas. He also explains that the reason others enjoy reading the writers work is that they are able to take them past their initial, society-drive impulse to be ashamed and embarrassed to fantasize and towards a state of mind where they can freely escape reality and be caught up in a fantasy world the author has created. It is in this way that Freud asserts "all the aesthetic pleasure that the creative writer gives us is in the nature of a fore-pleasure, and the real enjoyment of a literary work derives from the relaxation of the tension in our minds" and that "the writer enables us, from now on, to enjoy our own fantasies without shamne or self-reproach".

     The Uncanny: The Creative Writer and Daydreaming delves into a writer's mind and is therefore useful in literary analysis. Now, when reading, we can ask ourselves questions such as "what unsatisfied desires might the author have from childhood that has caused him to create this type of story and world?" We can also assess the same things when we read our own work, or we may be inspired to write by paying attention to our own fantasies and noting which aspects of reality we find unfulfilling. Freud's analysis is also helpful to writers who can now be aware that the reason others read his work is to escape their own realities and to be lost safely in a world of wish-fulfillment and fantasy. With this in mind, he can tailor his writing to meet the needs of both himself and his readers to provide for a more satisfying experience.

Huckleberry Finn and Something Called a Bildungsroman

     There are few things more American than apple pie, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and a good, old-fashioned Bildungsroman (the latter being a German word, but I'm willing to look past it if you are). A Bildungsroman is a coming-of-age story, a narrative in which the main character matures and finds himself as the tale progresses. We, as readers, are able to actually be present for the episodes of conflict that shapes the character into who he eventually becomes. We are literally there with the character the whole journey, meaning there's no I-wonder-what-made-him-turn-out-this-way questions in our minds.

 (If only we could have that closure about Lady Gaga.)

     Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn follows this structure as Huck experiences a paradigm shift by coming to terms with his own beliefs and exercising autonomy from his society. In the beginning of the novel, we pick up with Huck where we left him in Tom Sawyer. His life with the Widow is comfortable, secure, and "sivilized". In fact, Huck reports, "At first I hated the school, but by and by I got so I could stand it...I was getting used to the widow's ways, too, they warn't so raspy on me...I like the old ways best, but I was getting so I liked the new ones, too, a little bit. The widow said I was coming along slow but sure, and doing very satisfactory (p. 27)".

(Looks comfortable to me.)

     Huck is still a young boy, however, and loves to have fun with the other kids and to lie and spin stories for his own amusement. He rarely thinks about the consequences of his actions and fails to see the impact it has on others. The first signal of change in Huck, however, is after he plays a prank on Jim by making him believe he was dreaming, "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger--but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither. I didn't do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn't done that one if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way (p. 95)". This shows a remarkable sense of empathy and responsibility, especially considering the fact that Jim is a common slave that may have been considered mere property at this time in history.

     In chapter XXIV, Huck witnesses the Duke and King commit egregious fraud by lying about their identities to a family mourning the loss of a loved one. He says, "If they warn't the beatenest lot, them two frauds, that ever I struck. Well, the men gathered around, and sympathized with them, and said all sorts of kind thins to tem, and carried their carpet bags up a hill for them, and let them lean on them and cry, and told the king all about his brother's last moments, and the king he told it all over again on his hands to the duke, and both of them took on about that dead tanner like they'd lost the twelve disciples. Well, if I ever struck anything like it, I'm a nigger. It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race (p.175-76)". Pretending to be someone else is a tactic Huck has used frequently up until this point (and even after). How profound, then, that Huck considers their actions enough to make him "ashamed of the human race" considering the fact that they are white men. Clearly, we are able to see that Huck is beginning to form moral ideals that transcend rank and color.

 (Maybe I read the wrong version.)

     The most touching moment of Huckleberry Finn is in chapter XXXI. Huck debates whether to rescue Jim or to turn him back over to Miss Watson. In Huck's society, Jim is technically an object of monetary value, and so it would be shameful and an act of robbery to set him free. However, on page 223, he reaches a decision, "I was trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: 'All right, then, I'll go to hell'". This proves to be absolutely pivotal. From here onwards, Huck is not restrained by societal expectations, but rather acts selflessly and bravely in the name of what he believes is right.

     While many people categorize Huckleberry Finn with Tom Sawyer as apart of the "boy-book tradition", those people are missing the gravity that transforms Huck's stories from light-hearted episodes into character-defining events. As T.S. Eliot writes in his introduction to the novel, "...what I find still more disturbing, and still more unusual in literature, is the pathos and dignity of the boy, when reminded so humbly and humiliatingly, that his position in the world is not that of other boys, entitled from time to time to a practical joke; but that he must bear, and bear alone, the responsibility of a man." Huck's journey is a Bildungsroman at its finest. In it, we are able to see a young boy grapple with interal and societal issues that both mold and free him. His struggles, while sometimes too heavy for even an adult to bear, eventually allow him to grow into the Huck that he was meant to be; the Huck that stands triumphantly over the others who remain sightless in their ignorance.

Approaches to Literature: Movie Review

As one of many girlfriends dragged to the theater to see Moneyball, I was obviously a little skeptical. Baseball? Don't think so. A lack of any sort of romantic story line whatsoever? You should have just left me at the concession stand (I can do some mean romancing on a large popcorn). I was gearing up my "aren't-you-embarrassed-you-picked-this-movie" jokes to tell my boyfriend, only to be silenced once the movie actually started. I was shocked. This thing is good. I mean, really good. I'll tell you why. 

Directed by Bennett Miller, this film is a masterpiece in every sense. Following the story of baseball's infamous Billy Beane, the cinematography alone sets the stage for actors Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill to provide some of their best work yet.
Hill, who is frequently the protagonist in teenage-boy farces, takes this drama head-on and is as effortlessly Peter Brand as the man himself. Hill takes his comedic experience and shapes a character that is both likeable and memorable and is a subtle character foil to Billy's brazen impulsiveness.

Pitt, though definitely not reaching outside of his comfort zone, anchors the film and provides the depth and gravity needed for his role as Billy Beane. His scenes with Kerris Dorsey, who plays his daughter, Casey, are really what makes the film great. Dorsey's acoustic rendition of Lenka's "The Show" creates the most bittersweet, painfully realistic scene in the movie.

While half of the theater was lit up with people Googling the ending to the movie on their iPhones (this is one of the few movies 100% based on a true story, after all), the film is suspenseful and engaging even to viewers who might already know the facts behind the story. Screenwriters Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zallian orchestrated a perfect balance between taught, electrified zingers and angst-ridden speeches while Billy wonders what's-it-all-about.

Penitent and remorseful for my first impression of Moneyball, I sat down recently and watched the DVD with all the special features and deleted scenes, and... you guessed it. They're good, too.