Psychological Criticism In Sigmund Freud's Alice Through The Looking Glass

Wilhelm Reich once said, “Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings can master their sadistic destructiveness.” Love or desire is a harmful thing that can make people go against their morality, their ethics and lead them to self-destruction. The psychological lens in literary criticism has shown how love can be alienated by society, which leads people to have their secret wishes and unconscious desires. Through this lens, desires will be unveiled in literary classics like Heart of Darkness, Alice: Through the Looking Glass, Brave New World and …

Psychoanalysis in literary criticism is based on Sigmund Freud’s (1886-1939) theories of psychology, of how literary texts and dreams express unconscious desires. Freud’s

This seems to be because of growing up alone. In the book, the very first thing that stood out was that she was talking to cats, “she was talking all the time, sometimes to the kitten, sometimes to herself” page 65. She gave them personalities, “you mischievous darling” page 65, as if cats were her substitution for family. However, she realizes that cats are not genuine, and she then stops the conversation and talks to herself. This is when Lewis Carroll led us into the world of Looking

In this book, the children were born from test tubes. As a child grows up, it is normal for them to have urges and desires as a part of their id. In a normal world, the ego, or society, will twist the unconscious thoughts so it would be acceptable in the reality, and by themselves. However, in Brave New World, the children were taught to engage in things like “sexual play”, “Elementary sex” page 22, and liking what they have to do to create a “social stability”, “All conditioning ends at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny” page 12. This makes “sex” acceptable, and have an important role in the “civilized”