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The Conscious Vs. Unconscious Theory

Satisfactory Essays

In Reading Lessons, An Introduction to Theory, Scott Carpenter explains that “psychoanalysis is a lot like reading. It is, though, a particular kind of reading, and one that is often intensely personal” (67). The conscious vs. the unconscious is one of the concepts of psychoanalysis that are considered while doing a psychoanalytic literary reading. In the conscious vs. unconscious concept, “mind” was linked to both consciousness (rationality) and unconsciousness (irrationality). Carpenter describes that “[Freud] was in a sense responsible for deconstructing this model of the Mind” (69). First, Freud asserted that “consciousness (rationality) was in fact the exception in mental processes, and that the irrational (the unconscious) dominated our psyche” (Carpenter 69). Then, Freud suggested that “even conscious is not the rational force it believes itself to be. Actions, ambitions, and interests we may be inclined to think perfectly reasonable may be motivated by causes we do not recognize” (Carpenter 69). In addition, Carpenter interprets that Freud created “a monster: a consciousness that was both rational and irrational, an unconscious that was both concealed and revealed” (69). After that, Carpenter describes that one of the most effective tools of psychoanalytic interpretation is “the idea of repression, which Freud saw as the very cornerstone of psychoanalysis” (69-70). He also explains Freud definition of repression as “the process by which we push out of mind thoughts

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