Marisa Jones

Professor Granillo

English 103

25 September 2019

What’s Up with Her Ego?

What makes up the personality of an individual? According to Psychoanalyst Freud

Sigmund the superego, ego, and id form the personality of an individual and speaks into the

society and culture they live in (Tyson 25). Bob’s Burgers “Gayle Tales” presents Gayle as

insecure and needing validation from others, the short stories within the episode display her core

issues of fear of abandonment and unstable sense of self. Though the episode is meant to be seen

jokingly, the focus placed on Gayle's deteriorating love life show the conflicts within her ego and

id; grossly displaying to the audience that society should influence one's self worth.

The animated show centers on a family of five; the parents Bob and Linda and their three

children Tina, Gene, and Louise. They all work within their family restaurant “Bob’s Burgers.”

The series chronicles through their daily lives, highlighting main events and holidays. The

episode of discussion centered on the visit of Linda’s sister Gayle. She arrives to the restaurant in

distress, crying, over her boyfriend canceling their date to the theater. The children offer

themselves as replacements, but only one can join her. They each prepare a short story praising

Gayle, as she is deciding her boyfriend appears, and she immediately decides and leaves with

him.

The main goal of the episode was to uplift the spirits of Gayle because her boyfriend had

“flaked” on their date. The children created short stories that praised Gayle, they played into her

likes and dislikes and subsequently her core issues. Initially Gayle’s defense of displacement is
shown through her outpouring of emotions to her family due to the canceled date. Displacement

is the expressing of emotions on people or objects that are less threatening (Tyson 15). Louise’s

story centered on Gayle being the powerful queen of Catsteros, and her sister Lindarya (Linda)

stealing her cat dragons. Upon realization of her cat dragons being stolen she exclaims, “My cat

dragons are gone. I must go get them; they are my children. They suckled at my teats” (Bouchard

00:15:11). Gayle feels that since her “children” are gone they will forget about her, her fear of

abandonment stems from her childhood relationships with her mother and sister. Once the

children have finished their stories Gayle tells them, “I don’t need Stacy! You’ve shown me that

I’m talented and lovable and strong...” (Bouchard 00:19:27). She displays insecurity within

herself stating the influence of their descriptive words in their short stories defined her

personality. The children in their short stories played into her id, her desire for power without

regard to consequences (Tyson 25). While her ego, the source of an individual's self-image and

stability, accepted the displays of praise, the ego is conflicted over what society says is right and

wrong and speaks into the culture (Tyson 25). In the end, after the praises she still returns to the

boyfriend who abandoned their date initially, validating to the audience her character is insecure.

The use of a television show can show influence an audience in how they should behave

in a certain situation. When this episode is viewed by its intended demographic, the viewers feel

bad for Gayle in her desperation for a man. They see that external influences build up her self-

worth and that she attains a superiority complex briefly, then her boyfriend shows his face and

she is quick to return to him. The family during this exchange did not question her decision, only

proving that the current society sees no problem with finding self-worth in others. In conclusion,

the episode demonstrated that the influence of society is greater on an individual than themselves

determining their own self-worth.

 Works Cited

Bouchard, Loren. “Gayle Tales” Directed by Ian Hamilton, performance by H. Jon Benjamin,

Fox Studios, 01 March 2015. Hulu

Tyson, Louis. “Psychoanalysis Criticism,” Critical Theory Today. Routledge, 2015, pp. 1-38

Silverman, Jonathon and Rader, Dean. The World is a Text. Broadview Press, 2018