Psychoanalytical analysis of the main character of the novel called

Khadivpour, Rouholah; Zirak, Sareh; Farzad, Abdolhosein; Ghorban Jahromi, Reza

doi:10.22054/ltr.2022.68594.3579

Psychoanalytical analysis of the main character of the novel called "Haras" according to views of Karen Horney

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

¹ Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University

² Assistant Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

³ Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran

⁴ Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Science and Research branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22054/ltr.2022.68594.3579

Abstract

Karen Horney is among psychologists that emphasizes on social interactions as the principal defining factor in formation of the human personality. She called on other psychoanalysts to focus on social backgrounds where people grow in. We similarly use Horney's ideas to analyze the personality of "Nawal" the main character in the novel "Haras". Our methodology here is descriptive analytical, aiming to identify which type of neuroticism is used by Nawal to protect herself against her major anxieties. The findings of this study show that Nawal's terrible childhood conditions such as lack of support from her Mother's side and her father's failure in meeting her basic needs lead to the formation of a basic anxiety in her personality, which increases in intensity when young Nawal loses her child. Therefore to protect herself against the basic anxiety, she exhibits neurotistic behaviors (moving towards people, moving against people, moving around people). However the forces and contradictions existing in these behaviors lead to a basic contradiction in her personality. Under these conditions, Nawal turns to self-idealism (motherhood of all the dead) to protect herself against the basic contradiction that aggravates her personality problems further and moves her farther away from her true self.

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