An Interpretation Of Rickie Elliot’s Mental Growth In The Longest Journey In Light Of Freud’s Structural Theory Of Personality

E.M.Forster(1879-1970)is a renowned British novelist and literary critic in the 20 th century.The Longest Journey is his most autobiographical novel,which presents the process of Rickie Elliot’s mental growth and his pursuit of true self.This thesis attempts to interpret the process of Rickie Elliot’s mental growth under the guidance of Freud’s Structural Theory of Personality.Although many scholars have interpreted this novel from the perspective of psychoanalysis,they mainly adopted the perspective of Lacan’s psychoanalysis and Oedipus Complex.By far,no scholars have ever attempted to interpret the process of Rickie Elliot’s mental growth and his pursuit of true self in light of Freud’s Structural Theory of Personality.Rickie Elliot’s mental growth is coincident with id,ego and super-ego in Freud’s Structural Theory of Personality.By interpreting Rickie’s id,ego and super-ego in the process of his mental growth,this thesis aims to dig out the main causes of his tragic life.There are three stages in the process of Rickie’s pursuit of true self.First of all,Rickie’s id plays a dominant role in his personality after repressing his ego and super-ego.Under the drive of pleasure principle,Rickie continuously pursues instant satisfaction,and vents his instincts and desires excessively.Secondly,as the story goes on,Rickie’s ego replaces his id,following the instruction of reality principle in the conflict among id,ego and super-ego.At last,his super-ego controls his personality after struggling with his id and ego.In this period,Rickie blindly pursues ego-ideal and abandons the reality principle.In the end,he chooses to die to claim the failure of pursuing his true self.By interpreting Rickie Elliot’s mental growth and his pursuit of true self in light of Freud’s Structural Theory of Personality,this thesis has arrived at the conclusion that Rickie Elliot has never solved the contradictions among id,ego and super-ego in the pursuit of his true self,which eventually led to his tragedy.In the formation of personality,the balance of id,ego and super-ego is very important for the healthy development of human beings.All of us should have a thorough understanding about ourselves to gradually build our personality in the social practice and complicated interpersonal relationships.Thus,a healthy personality can efficiently help us attain harmony between man and man,man and society,and man and nature.