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Example research essay topic: Dickens Marx And Freud - 1,454 words

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... ub sequent guilt and remorse we feel from our super ego. Tom is the son of Thomas Gradgrind, Sr. , a factual man only interested with pure facts. Therefore, Tom is brought up in a utilitarian environment: taught never to wonder, doubt facts or entertain any kind of fancy. In the novel Hard Times he is part of the middle class and only has love for one person, his sister, Louisa. His sisters husband employs him in the bank but Tom interests himself more with rebellion since he is finally away from the factual upbringing of his youth.

Thus Tom enters into gambling and drink. Unfortunately for him, his bets never earn him any money and he finds himself often asking his sister for help. Her devotion toward her brother compels her to give him what he asks until he has simply taken too much. In need of money, he stages a bank robbery and places the blame on the honest Blackpool.

Eventually found out, he is forced into exile where he repents and asks his sister for forgiveness. Sigmund Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents addresses this need for rebellion and the eventual remorse Tom Gradgrind feels after the destruction he caused. The school of fact Tom was associated with at an early age restricted most of the natural instincts common to children and adolescents. Once he has the opportunity to enter the real world, he rebels due to his dissatisfaction with his education: ... when I go to live with old Bounderby Ill have my revenge...

I mean Ill enjoy myself a little and go about and hear something. Ill recompense myself for the way in which I have been brought up. (Hard Times, pg. 49). Freud explains this need for rebellion: What we call happiness in the strictest sense comes from the (preferably sudden) satisfaction of needs which have been dammed up to a high degree. (Civilization and Its Discontents, pg. 25). He has never been given the opportunity to express himself in more than fact, so for him, happiness means the fulfillment of those opportunities; he sees happiness in everything that did not involve his bringing up; Freud understands this: We are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment from a contrast. (Civilization and Its Discontents, pg. 25). Harthouse, an admirer of Louisa in the novel Hard Times, recognizes this need Tom experiences and expresses it to Louisa... he [Tom] has not been fortunate in his training.

Bred at a disadvantage towards the society in which he has a part to play, he rushes these extremes for himself from opposite extremes that have long been forced upon him. (Hard Times, pg. 161). Freud adds to this idea by writing, Any choice that is pushed to an extreme will be penalized by exposing the individual to the dangers which arise if a technique of living that has been chosen as exclusive should prove inadequate. (Civilization and Its Discontents, pg. 35). Toms education is inadequate and its inadequacy causes him to completely diverge from his school of thought. He does it suddenly and forcefully with every intention of straying as far as possible from it.

His education of fact was inadequate for the real world and unfortunately he did not have the skills to cope with reality. The man who sees his pursuit of happiness come to nothing in later years, writes Freud, still finds consultation in the yield of pleasure of chronic intoxication; or he can embark on the desperate attempt at rebellion. (Civilization and Its Discontents, pg. 36). For Tom, his pursuit of happiness was forced upon him by his father. He, however understands the disease in his method of education and thus embraces both these ways Freud mentions. While under the employment of Bounderby he moves toward gambling and drink. Once in conversation with Louisa, she mentions she has not seen him in awhile.

He replies, Why I have been otherwise engaged Loo, in the evenings. (Hard Times, pg. 88), implying he spends a good deal of his time with alcohol and gambling. Harthouse also notices this and tells Louisa he believes Tom to be falling into trouble (Hard Times, pg. 160). Freud recognizes the influence and attraction of alcohol; he states, There are foreign substances which, when present in the blood or tissues, directly cause us pleasurable sensation; and they also so alter the conditions governing our sensibility that we become incapable of receiving unpleasurable impulses. (Civilization and Its Discontents, pg. 27). Alcohol was Toms way out of the misery of reality. As is the trend in society, one falls until it is impossible to fall any longer. After robbing the bank he worked for and placing the blame on Blackpool, Toms super-ego, or conscience steps forward.

Freud believes The tension between the harsh super-ego and the ego that is subjected to it, is called by us the sense of guilt. (Civilization and Its Discontents, pg. 48). After his rebellion, he experiences guilt for the destruction he caused. Tom commits his crime but is not even able to confess it to the one he loves most, Louisa. Thus his guilt is left to his super-ego which tortures him. He also feels guilty because he knows it would hurt Louisa and possible cause her to lose the love she had for him if she found out. Freud also identifies this as a basis for guilt, ... [we are] never so helplessly unhappy as when we have lost our loved object or its love. (Civilization and Its Discontents, pg. 33).

After the crime is committed and he lies to his sister, ... the wretched boy [Tom]... threw himself upon his pillow again tearing his hair, morosely crying, grudgingly loving her [Louisa], hatefully but impenitently spurring himself, and no less hatefully and unprofitably spurring all the good in the world. (Hard Times, pg. 179) Tom is eventually found out and he feels the remorse Freud defines as... a general term for the egos reaction in a case of sense of guilt... itself a punishment and can include the need for punishment. (Civilization and Its Discontents, pg. 101). Tom finally realizes his mistakes which come from a selfish view of society and how he could exploit it to make himself happy.

Freud recognizes this danger. An unrestricted satisfaction of every need, Freud writes, presents itself as the most enticing method of conducting ones life, but it means putting enjoyment before caution and soon brings its own punishment. (Civilization and Its Discontents, pg. 26). However, much less to the credit of young Tom, he falls into the pattern of civilization. He is only able to realize his mistakes once he has lost everything. His conscience only displays itself once his end is eminent. As Freud writes, As long as things go well for a man, his conscience is lenient and lets the ego do all sorts of things; but when misfortune befalls him, he searches his soul, acknowledges his sinfulness, heightens the demands of his conscience, imposes abstinence's on himself and punishes himself with penances. (Civilization and Its Discontents, pg. 87).

Freud relates this phenomenon to the ancient Hebrews and other peoples. It is a trait in all of us, just as no one wants to lose the love of the one they care for most. In his dissolved state, Tom does plead to Louisa for her forgiveness. On the last page where Dickens recounts the fates of all the characters, he portrays Tom as A lonely brother, many thousands of miles away, writing, on paper blotted with tears, that her [Louisa's] words had too soon come true, and that all the treasures in the world would be cheaply bartered for a sight of her dear face? (Hard Times, pg. 277). She receives a letter later saying, he died in hospital, of fever, such a day, and died in penitence and love of you, his last word being your name. Dickens uses Hard Times to express his discontent with society.

Freud and Marx are not satisfied either with the present conditions facing them and their culture. Dickens embraces similar ideas of Marx and Freud and personifies them through his two characters, Blackpool and Tom Gradgrind. Blackpool's personality, struggles and relationships with others represent Marx's concept of the oppressed worker while Toms symbolize our need to rebel and our battles with guilt. Each individual is a product of his time. Freud, Marx and Dickens are products of their times as well in that they have a distrust of the current traditions; this pessimism is depicted in their lives works. And in the end, we realize, art and literature express the chaos of their era.

Bibliography: Civilisation and its Discontent: Freud Hard Times: Dickens


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Research essay sample on Dickens Marx And Freud

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