A PSYCHOANALYSIS : FREUDS ID, EGO AND

SUPEREGO IN YANN MARTELS LIFE OF PI

ABSTRACT

The researcher tries to analyse a film entitled Life of Pi from a psychological

approach. The objectives of this research are to describe the character and
characterization of Piscine Molitor Patel in Life of Pi film by Yann Martel and to
describe the characterization of the protagonist character Piscine Molitor Patel in the
light of Sigmund Freuds psychoanalytic theory. The film Life of Pi written by Yann
Martel there are five main characters and nine minor characters. Piscine Molitor Patel
as the protagonist character, Richard Parker as the antagonist character and Santos
Patel, Gita Patel, Ravi as the companions. Based on the characterization, the
protagonist character Piscine Molitor Patel is round character because he undergoes
change in his characterization in the beginning to the end of the story.
The subject of this research is Life of Pi novel written by Yann Martel and the object
of this research is the characteristic development of Piscine Molitor patel in Life of Pi
novel by Yann Martel. The method used to take the data is qualitative method. The
sample and population of this research are all the data in the novel. The data
collecting techniques used in this research are reading carefully and repeatedly in
detail,taking note,and then analysing the data by using psychoanalytic theory.
From this research, it can be concluded that there are six characterizations of the
protagonist character Piscine Molitor Patel: intelligent, optimistic, stubborn, gentle,
pessimistic, and cruel. The characterizations of Piscine Molitor Patel based on Freuds
psychoanalytic theory; in his organization of personality, in the Id (the biological
aspect) he has a good and bad temper; in the Ego (the psychological aspect), he has an
ambition to follows three religions because he just loves God, in the Superego (the
sociological aspect), he knows that his ambition makes quarrel the other people. In his
dynamic of personality, he has those eros and thanatos instincts and three anxiety,
such as reality anxiety, neurotic anxiety and moral anxiety. In his development of

personality, the writer analyse the defence mechanism of the ego: projection, reaction
formation, fixation, and regression.
Keywords : psychoanalysis, id, ego, superego.

Introduction
Literature is a full creation of form, emotion and expression which designates
imaginative ideas through language as the media (Welleck and Warren: 1993). As we know,
literature is one of the most creative and universal means to communicate the emotion,
spiritual and intellectual concern of mankind. Sometimes most of the students feel that
literature is the terrible subject and makes them nervous to study it. However, literature will
be an interesting thing or not depends on their feeling of sensitivity and their imagination to
enjoy the beauty of literature.
the reader may find the psychology of the characters. In addition, the reader may
acquire amusement that will lead them to a keen perception of beauty and make them
sensitive to artistic work in general.
Moreover, Anjarwati (2006:2) states that novel may have characters, some of whom
may even come in contacts with others. It was very worth depends largely on the ability of
the novelist to get the reader to accept what he says. Here, the researcher knows that it will
take some understanding of human psychology to create believable characters.
Literature and psychology have a strong bond either from both objects and functions.
According to Jatman (1985), literature and psychology have the same object; human, and do
the same function as the study of humans states of psyche. What differs between them is
only in the space. Jatman states that the object in the literary works is human, behavior, and
mentality appear in the text as the imaginative world. But, for psychology, the object is
human, behavior and mentality in the real world. In literature, psychology looks at the
themes, conflicts, and characterizations of a work primarily as a reflection of the needs,
emotions, states of mind and subconscious desires (Stanford: 2002).
In psychological theory, Freud (1886-1939) was the first psychoanalyst and a true
pioneer in the recognition of the importance of unconscious mental activity. His theories on
the inner workings of the human mind, which seemed so revolutionary at the turn of the
century, are now widely accepted by most schools of psychological thought. In 1896, Freud
coined the term psychoanalysis and for the next forty years of his life, he worked on
thoroughly developing its main principles, objectives, techniques, and methodology ( Suroso:
2009: 41).Personality psychology studies enduring patterns of behavior, thought, and
emotion.
Personality is based on the dynamic interactions of the ego, superego, and id. Trait
theorists, in contrast, attempt to analyze personality in terms of a discrete number of key

traits by the statistical method of factor analysis. The number of proposed traits has varied
widely (Suroso, 2009 : 54).
In addition, the researcher takes several previous studies that have relevance point as a
comparative study in order to get some important matters to help this study. Those are many
students that analyzed personalitys main character from the film

and also using

psychological approach. Such as research was conducted by Yann martel with the title Life
of pi it can be concluded that there are six characterizations of the protagonist character
Piscine Molitor Patel: intelligent, optimistic, stubborn, gentle, pessimistic, and cruel.
The researcher would like to analyze this novel by using psychological approach by
focusing attention to the character in story, so we can get analyze internal conflict that
maybe appears in the story. Without conflict, a film will lose its sense.
Moreover the writer uses an approach with single basic theory Freudianism is to
make easy to interpret the text that illustrate the characters personality based on basic
principle of Freuds psychoanalytic. It caused the Freudianism become a comprehensive
theory than others. Theory of Freud has large implication based on how to operate it.
Moreover, psychology of Freud using fantasy, dream and myth, all of them are main
problem of literature. The researcher focusing of internal conflict (dilemma) may be appears
in the story. As I know that emphasize and motivation of conscious or unconscious which
can influence every human that is reflected by their action, behavior and thought.