Essay Sample on Psychoanalytic Literary Theory

Introduction

The psychoanalytic literary theory presents distinct interpretations and revelation of the actions of characters. Characters within a literary piece of art engage in actions that emanate from their past experiences. As a result, they attempt to cover for intense pleasures, activities, and privileges they forfeited. Carpenter presents a distinct understanding and analysis of the character's behaviors that arguably shape their present actions. Crime incarceration and punishment emerge as major derivative causes of actions that the driven protagonist in the movie City of God. Carpenter highlights that repression, symbolic order conscious Vs. Unconscious, the uncanny sums up the present actions of an individual. In the movie City of God, characters such as Rocket, li'l Z, Otto, knockout Ned depicts repressed emotions that they express differently and overcome in distinct ways as the movie progresses.

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Past Experiences

Lil z emerges as a character who suppresses a lot of past experiences through the flashback. We learn in the movie city of God that he has the desire to kill. He yearns to lead the gang to receive fame, recognition, power, and money. He even takes a revolver and points directly to the head of one of his gang members' Goose, who directly takes the revolver and slaps him. He then adds that he is also a gangster. Therefore, his urges are repressed due to the authority that his gang n members have over him. He is considered a child, yet Li'l Z sees himself as the leader of the gang. Increasingly, he grows up to witness extreme robbery with violence in the ghettos. For instance, he directly participates in the robing of the gas truck going through the ghetto.

He is the first one to hear the cop's siren and alerts his fellow gang members to depart from the scene of the crime. During their first raid in a motel, he even attempts to orders his junior to do it during the raid. However, they choose to ignore and leave him behind. As the raid is going on, Li'l dice does the unthinkable. He considers the act of other team members raiding the motel as he awaits others as having fun. His thirst and quench to kill finally sets in, and he decides to kill every single soul in the motel, citing the barbaric act as having fun. "That night Li'l Dice satisfied his thirst to kill '' (40:58). His accomplices flee in terror, thinking they are policemen. Li'l Dice's art of killing increases spontaneously. He is aware that his gang members will not be happy with his actions of killing so many innocent souls in the motel. He, therefore, decides to leave the City of God and discover another form of livelihood.

Nevertheless, he works so hard for peanuts when he leaves the City of God. He comes back to express his repressed desires. He wants full control of the City of God, thereby provoking gang enemies between himself and Carrot. Increasingly, he grows up to become one of the most respected gang leaders. He possesses golden money bracelets that other people admire. As time moves, he emerges to become a gangster who earns respect through seizing different territories. His repressed urges where fellow gang members denied him opportunity emerges when he grows up. He kills various gang members as he takes over the entire City. This act of seizing territories and buying new rifles is repression that he forfeited in his early childhood. A distinct interpretation from a psychoanalytic point of view.

Ghetto Life

The ghetto life and the experiences that Rocket faces present some traumatic experiences. He frequently experiences a life of crime, violence, and murder. He experiences a lot of rejection from friends such as Angelic, the girl he has always wanted. His allies label him as a useless man at the football ground, which ideally shapes his future career. He witnesses an excessive number of deaths that arguably makes him shun away from gang-related crimes. For instance, he witnesses the death of Shaggy as he attempts to flee from police officers. Therefore, Rocket leaves in fear to the extent that he doesn't want to meet with Li'l Z and his gang. He becomes fearful, turning back when he sees Li'l Z and his gang on his way. Rocket, as a character, also takes drastic steps that turn out to define his future.

Through a distinct flashback of the movie City of God, we learn that he is disgraced and undervalued by his friends. He is considered worthless and an ordinary boy who does have a future nor skill. For instance, as they are playing at the beginning of the movie, Rocket misses a penalty kick. His friend proceeds to call him useless. Besides, Rocket anticipates a brighter future. He openly denounces that he neither wants to be a fishmonger like his father nor become a gangster. Therefore, he chooses to remain conservative as most of his early friends decide to sink into crimes. He even remarks that he doesn't like following his elder brother Goose who increasingly is parts of the gang, "I never had courage to follow my brother goose 5:37" he subsequently chooses the right path of going to school and later secures a small mini camera that he uses to take pictures of his friends at the beach.

He overcomes all his struggles, internal conflicts, and depression by choosing to remain focused and shunning away from deadly gangs. He chooses to engage in an honest business of helping his father to sell fish. He takes a bold move to go and capture pictures that ultimately contribute to his fame. He, therefore, overcomes the repressed desires by becoming recognized photography. He achieves his dreams of becoming a photographer to showcase that he is no longer useless, just as he was in the early days.

Psychoanalytic Literary Analysis

Psychoanalytic literary analysis postulates that early childhood experiences shape an individual's future life. Similarly, (Carpenter 74-75) states that "childhood experiences mark a character over the long haul, expressing themselves in some form of symptomatic behavior." Several characters emerge to avenge their death that the gang members orchestrate by the gang members. For instance, Otto attempts to avenge the death of his father. During the bank raid, he witnesses a shocking incident that propels him to revenge. Knockout Ned successfully fires bullets taking down Otto's father instantly. Therefore, Otto decides to declare his stance, thus joining the gang with a significant aim of avenging his father's death.

Several other youngsters join the gang due to petty reasons that culminate and leads to their death. For instance, one unnamed boy joins the gang simply because another boy from the carrots gang punched him. Rocket voice says, "more volunteers kept signing up to die… a boy from the carrots gang punched me” (1:36:09-1:36:16). another boy also comes to play and says "one of li'l Z's soldiers kicked me"1:36:19. Another young teenager also comes and says "The jerk who raped my sister is with carrots' '1:36:28. Another youngster also says, "li'l Z evicted my family"1:36:30). Conversely, after stating their desires, their godfathers, either Carrot or Li'l Z, assigns them guns to execute their burning desires for revenge. Otto is an ideal example who overcomes his depression thoughts by simply confronting his villain. He first attempts to kill knockout Ned only to shoot him in the arm. On the second attempt, he kills him, which depicts his way of dealing with his inner conflict.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Psychoanalytic theory is an essential dimension in understanding the present overhaul behaviors of individuals. The child's history and upbringing primarily influence many present actions such as engaging in crimes and achieving to become great people in society evidence in the movie city of God. In the movie city of God, Rocket emerges as a character who lives in a den of crime. He witnesses so many young people, friends, and even his brother engage in crime where the ending is fatal. Most of them are killed by police, for instance, shaggy. However, he remains fearful for his life and chooses the right path, and follows a legit kind of hustle that will earn him money. Rocket also represses how he is treated as a useless man by his friends. Later he grows up to become one of the most outstanding photography from the ghetto, a way that he arguably deals with his repressed emotions. Li'l Z also repressed his urge to become a gang leader at a tender age.

Most of his gang members were against his odds of killing. When he decides to kill several people in the motel, he leaves City of god since he is aware of the consequences. He grows up to become fearful, and finally, the repressed urges of becoming a leader and leading a gang resurfaces. He emerges to become an influential gang leader seizing every territory evidence of his repressed urges to control and lead the group. He kills so many people to gain fame recognition and become the most feared gang leader in the streets of the City of God, just as he has always wanted. On the other hand, Otto also suffers when he witnessed his father's murder during the bank robbery. He expresses his emotion by joining the Carrots gang to secure a gun to kill knockout Ned. The act of killing Knockout Ned to him is a way of overcoming his repressed urges of vengeance. Therefore, psychoanalytic literary theory adequately explains the present actions and choices individuals such as Rocket made in the City of God.

Works Cited

Carpenter, Scott D. Reading Lessons: An Introduction to Theory. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 2000. Print.

Lund, Kã¡tia, and Fernando Meirelles. City of God. Miramax, 2002.