A Freudian Analysis of the Absent Mother in Dicken’s Oliver Twist

A Freudian Analysis of the Absent Mother in Dicken’s Oliver Twist

In this essay I will look at the absence of the mother in the novel Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, using a Freudian analysis. The main focus of this paper will look at how Sigmund Freud uses his psychosexual theories, defense mechanisms, and his analysis of the psyche and apply them to the missing mother in the Dickens novel.

With Freud’s ideas I will try to explain how the main character Oliver Twist should have grown up in a different manner then what Dickens depicted in his book. In the end one will be able to see the psychological perspective of Freud and how the absence of a mother can effect the maturation of a child.
Freud is one of the pioneers in his field of psychology and paved the way for future psychologists in many aspects. The most famous piece of work that Sigmund accomplished is his theories of psychosexual development of children.

In the book, Insights Into Child Development, by Stanley K. Fitch, an author who received “ Man of Achievement –1973 award from England, states that “ Each child’s personality could be explained according to this theory” (38). Freud states that each person goes through three levels of awareness, three functional divisions of the psyche, five stages of psychosexual development, and four different types of defense mechanisms (38).

The ones that most concern the topic of this paper are, one of the psychosexual stages, one of his defense mechanisms and some of his analysis of the psyche.
Of the five stages that Sigmund has developed one is of utmost concern with the development of the Oedipus complex . This complex takes place during the ages of three to six years of age and marks the beginning of a major conflict in the child’s life that must be resolved by identifying with the parent of the same sex (Click 32).

With this idea in mind one can see that Oliver did not grow up with his mother or his father that he is supposed to relate too. For example Dickens writes, “there………………………………………………