CRA Proposal

 

Prompt 4) Analyze one of the works we have studied using Freud’s concepts of ego, id, and super-ego. For example, you may want to consider The Bluest Eye, “Super-Frog Saves Tokyo,” or “Eight Bites” and consider how the ego of the central characters negotiate their relationships to the demands of their environment (including external sources of authority) and of their own inner drives. Be sure to take into Freud’s views and concepts where appropriate

The primary text I will be using is, “Super-Frog Saves Tokyo”

The primary Freudian text I will be using is Five Lectures on Psychoanalysis

Title- Battle of Superego and Id

 

Working thesis- The conflict between the frog and the worm displays the conflict between the superego and id altering what goes on in Katagiri’s conscious.

 

Abstract

Reading this short story I saw the concepts of ego, id, and super-ego. For example, the worm was described as a creature that is under Tokyo and is only awakened when he is angered. I felt like that was a foreshadow as the id because Katagiri has many reasons for having his feeling of hatred and anger due to no one caring about him. His siblings leaving him after he did so much for them, his job giving him the scraps, and people after him due to his job. The worm caused its earthquakes when it was angered, and I saw it as a build of Katagiri’s feeling from how he was treated. Then, there was the Frog being the superego fighting the id away. The frog “fighting” the worm (Id) lead to Katagiri’s split of consciousness. He didn’t know how to handle both superego and id leading to the death of the frog at the end and the worms coming out of the frog to leave him in darkness. His conscious was affected it by this due to being legit unconscious due to the conflict between the two egos, and it leads to an imbalance you could say between the two in his conscious.

Draft

Society influences many people’s actions and leaves you with your own responsibilities and hardships. In the story “Super Frog Saves Tokyo” by Haruki Murakami, illustrates how society gave no sympathy to the main character Katagiri, shaping him to be the person he is. He faces several unfortunate events that enables him to feel worthless within his society; until a frog and worm gave him purpose. With the development of Katagiri with the frog and worm, Murakami illustrates that society can leave you helpless, which is aided by the Freudian’s concepts of wish-fulfillment, dream-work, and human personalities. 

“Super Frog Saves Tokyo” presents Katagiri as underappreciated, as his efforts were never acknowledged by others. He took on the burden of taking care of his siblings both physically and financially after both his parent’s death. Frog explains to Katagiri, “You raised your teenage brother and sister single-handedly, put them through college and even arranged for them to marry, all at great sacrifice of your time and income… They have shown you no respect I almost wish I could beat them to a pulp on your behalf” (Murakami). Katagiri going his whole life unappreciated and unthanked for all his sacrifices for his family, which he wasn’t obligated to do, but did so willingly, was finally recognized by the frog. This animal brings light to how much Katagiri gave to his family for them to reciprocate nothing but disrespect, leading him to live a life that was unworthy. Through a Freudian lens, we can examine the frog as Katigiri’s wish fulfillment. In Freud’s, “Five Lectures on Psychoanalysis”, he states, “We humans find reality unsatisfying quite generally, and for that reason entertain a life of phantasy in which we like to make up for the insufficiencies of reality” (Freud 2235). Freud defines wish fulfillment as being displeased from reality causing us to make up our fantasies, as Frog was apart of Katagiri’s fantasy. Wish-fulfillment was needed in Katagiri’s life due to the lack of value and respect in his life, which lead him to the fantasy of Frog appreciating him. He fantasizes about Frog to acknowledge all that he’s done for his family along with the lack of recognition his siblings gave him. 

Within feeling helplessness in a society, the three human personalities that play a role are superego, id, and ego. These personalities influence the way we think resulting in our own unique behaviors and actions. The superego is our conscience in which determines from right to wrong. The id is “the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but it has no organization” (Freud). Lastly, the ego is what balances the interaction of the superego and id to adapt to what is acceptable in society. Murakami illustrates these three personalities: superego through the frog, id through the worm, and Katagiri as the ego. Katagiri is the one in control of both the frog and worm as he decides what is acceptable to him and his society. In, “Super Frog Save Tokyo”, we see Frog warning Katagiri the madder the Worm gets the more dangerous the earthquake will be. This goes to show the egos because the superego is trying to get the ego to not be influenced by the id. Murakami states, “The floor, too, was covered with worms and bugs. They climbed up the lamp and blocked the light, and, of course, they crept onto Katagiri’s bed.” Katagiri imagines the worms invading his room as he became more id-driven. This is due to he imagines that the frog prevented the earthquake but the worm wounded Frog leading to his death. Now Kataigiri is only left with his id(worm), which is why he imagined worms attacking him. To sum it up the text is displaying the battle of the superego and the id with the Super Frog trying to stop the Worm. In, “Haruki Murakami’s Storytelling World”, by Patricia Welch, it states, “ Though his protagonists are ordinary individuals, they can do extraordinary things if they live their lives with meaning… Above all, they must choose to act but also to accept that in some circumstances they might be their own worst enemy”(Welch 59). This quote contributes to the egos because in this story the conflict between the Super frog, Worm, and Katagiri leads to his loss of consciousness. The egos contributed to Murakimi’s illustration of the helplessness in society because Katagiri’s helplessness in dealing with these three egos lead to them colliding with each other leading to his downfall.