Why We Do What We Do When We Write

"And of course, if psychoanalysis can help us better understand human behavior, then it must certainly be able to help us understand literary texts, which are about human behavior." (Tyson, 2006, p. 11)

Psychoanalytic Criticism can be traced to the principles of classical psychoanalysis established by Sigmund Freud over one hundred years ago. Psychoanalysis is the process of understanding human behavior and its origins. With the use of this therapeutic tool, one begins to better understand how the unconscious mind motivates human behavior. In Psychoanalytic Criticism, the author's unconscious is studied through a psychoanalytic lens. Below is a brief overview of several psychoanalytic principles as discussed by Lois Tyson in chapter two of her text, Critical Theory Today, (2006).

The unconscious is "the storehouse of those painful experiences and emotions, those wounds, fears, guilty desires, and unresolved conflicts we do not want to know about because we feel we will be overwhelmed by them" (Tyson, 2006, p.12). Beginning in childhood, unhappy and painful events are repressed into the unconscious mind so that the person is not overcome by those disturbing experiences. Psychoanalysis uncovers information that has been repressed and allows one to understand how behavior has been influenced by the repression of events and memories from one's past.

One's family of origin often has a direct impact on the unconscious particularly with what Freud referred to as the oedipal conflict and sibling rivalry. Oedipal conflict is the conflict one feels for the parent of the opposite gender. Sibling rivalry is the competition siblings possess as they compete for parental attention.

Defense mechanisms are tools of the unconscious that our minds use to avoid anxiety and unpleasant emotions. Some of the common defense mechanisms include denial, selective perception, selective memory, avoidance, displacement, projection, regression, active reversal, and fear of abandonment.

Literary critics believe that by examining an author's work through a psychoanalytic lens one can take a peek into the writer's unconscious mind. The production of a literary text is the expression of an author's conflicts and anxieties. Simply put; what an author says or does not say in a piece of literary work is a projection of his or her innermost thoughts, anxieties, and repressed events from one's past.

Perhaps this is why so many are intrigued by the work of great writers. It is not always what is written on the page, but what can be seen between the lines that fascinates us so.

Below is a link to Purdue's Online Writing Lab with further duscussion on Psychoanalytic Critism.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/04

The Ocoee Middle School Flash Mob

The following link is from a story featured on Oprah about a middle school in Florida that used this technique to encourage reading.


http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Watch-a-Florida-Middle-Schools-Reading-Flash-Mob-Video

The Question: What is knowledge?

Writing and Secular Knowledge~Ch. 9

"Knowledge is a large, vague term often considered coterminous with civilization."

"By knowledge, we mean concepts and information shared with other people rather than personal certainties." (Bazerman & Rogers, 2008, p. 143).

Until I began this concentrated study of literacy, I never truly thought about the ways that reading and writing -as a way to share and disseminate knowledge- are used. The sharing of knowledge is done through reading and writing; which makes the role of educator ever the more daunting. Hmmm...

"Thus the impact of literacy on thought and knowledge should be understood within particular social, cultural, and historical circumstances and practices. Writing in turn reshapes the forms of social and cultural organization in which literacy is practiced" (Goody, 1986, as stated in Bazerman & Rogers, 2008, p. 144).

I've been reading quite a bit about social constructivism lately. It fascinates me to think about the idea that learning does not occur in a vacuum, and that the interplay and exchange of ideas is beneficial to the meaning making process.

Social constructivism is based on the idea that learning occurs as a socially or culturally constructed practice. Vygotsky’s social constructivism has its roots in Marxism and socialism. He believed that language and culture played a large part in the learning development of a child (Vygotsky, 1962, 1978).


Local Literacies and Ways with Words reinforce the idea that learning is socially constructed and dependent upon others for implementation. In Local Literacies for example, Harry discusses helping his grandchildren with their homework, writing references, assisting neighbors with taxes, and writing letters to the local paper with his friend of twenty years. These activities certainly could not take place without the others in his life! How fortunate for his friends and family members that Harry is so generous with his time and writing abilities.

In Ways with Words, Heath documents the many influences one's home environment has on the learning that takes place at school. Heath discusses the socialization process that occurs in differing communities and the disparity that exists in educational opportunities because of those differences. She emphasizes that teachers must be made aware of language and cultural diversities so that students are not marginalized but empowered through their unique qualities.

The answer:

"Knowledge is power" (Sir Francis Bacon,1597).

iPods in the classroom

Check this out!!

I saw this on WKYC last week. Euclid school's are using iPods and cell phones to increase reading test scores.


http://www.wkyc.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=68233086001