Unconscious Mind essays

Unconscious Mind essays The unconscious or subconscious mind, according to classical Freudian psychoanalysis, is a part of the mind that stores repressed memories. Sigmund Freud believed that the unconscious can be found in dreams and fantasies; and forced us to recognize that unconscious factors are significant determinants of human behavior. Since Freud studied mainly women, those unconscious factors usually were sexual traumas during early childhood. Many of his followers looked up to him and improvised on his ideas, but felt that he focused too much on sexual traumas. One of which is Carl Jung, who felt that Freud did not elaborate enough on his view of the psyche. Jung added 'collective' to unconscious mind, he believed that "...the personal, unconscious life of the individual rested on a deeper and more universal layer of the human psyche,..." (Fiero, 30). In one of his best works, The Collective Unconscious, he explains his theory on the unconscious mind. The concept of the unconscious mind ca n also be found in: Franz Kafka's, The Metamorphosis, my own dream, My Death, and a painting by Leyla Bruderlin and James Durant, Emotions. Kafka uses a strong image to symbolize the contents of his characters unconscious mind. In my dream, my death becomes the symbol of the unconscious mind; and lastly in the painting Emotions, different images, shapes, and colors signify all the emotions hidden in the unconscious mind. Franz Kafka is another prominent writer of the twentieth century. In his work, The Metamorphosis, the image of an insect symbolizes issues of the unconscious mind. Kafka uses this representation to show that Gregor Samsa has problems that lie deep within his subconscious. So deep, he does not even know about them. One morning Gregor awakes and notices he has been transformed into an insect. Gregor does not seem to be too worried about his state, but dwells on the fact that he should have been at work hours ago. Gregors mother...