Hosseini Pour1

Asma Hosseini Pour

Professor Farzad Kolahjooei

Research Principles and Methods

18 December 2020

Psychologists Reading of The Third Policeman

Flann O’Brien portrays the unstoppable force of the unconscious part of the human

psyche, skillfully in his surreal work of art called The Third Policeman. Though when the

readers first discover the foolish world of the main character of The Third Policeman, the

impossible sequence of events sound meaningless; the bizarre personality of the nameless

man is a great example for illustrating the power of the human psyche. When analyzing Flann

O’Brien's work through the view of psychoanalysis theories, every single element that is in

the characteristic of the 31-year-old narrator plays a major role in understanding the

importance of the unconscious human psyche.

Keywords: unconscious, psychoanalysis, denial, repression, sublimation,

rationalization

In this novel, there is no line between reality and dreams, leading the audience into

the world of hellish dreams and uncertainty. The main character of the story as suggested by

Dina Macpherson in her paper is dealing with the aftermath of childhood trauma and he is

hallucinating throughout the whole novel. He is also suffering from several mental illnesses

(23). The circumstances, places and even people described by the narrator, are all far from the

known reality. From half human half bicycle creatures to the two-dimensional building, the

entire book is filled with absurdity from the first page to the last one. Not only the main
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character is dealing with the aftermath of childhood trauma (Macpherson, 5) but he is also

struggling with Complex Trauma and Post-traumatic disorder after committing a homicide.

Certainly, the author is quite familiar with the human psyche; the way it functions in regards

to dreams as a form of an escape, after a traumatic incident, while creating his character. The

theme of the different range of emotions is spread out throughout the whole novel; confusion,

numbness, dissociation, anxiety, sadness and physical arousal. The world he lives in makes

no sense at all to the reader at first glance but it does make complete sense from the eye of the

narrator. Davis remarks “ [b]ecause the self has been allowed to run wild and madly create an

impossible inverted world” (55) He later on adds “ [t]hus his senses are preternaturally alive

and active while his mind refuses to evaluate any logic; he merely accepts what he is told in

this world where anything seems possible. The Narrator always chooses the easy route—the

fantastic—over the real.” (56). He created this crazy universe for himself in extremely vivid

daydreams with his own characters, settings, plots, and other detailed, story-like features. He

also has difficulty sleeping at night, an overwhelming desire to continue daydreaming and

daydreaming for lengthy periods (many minutes to hours) as he often loses the meaning of

time. Robert remarks on the subject of the imaginary world that “The  distinction between

the  imaginary  and what can be  said with confidence  to be real is of  course  a  major 

theme  of  the book” (5), the main character is often confused about the actual events that

happened a long time ago in his imaginative world. He constantly forgets who he is and

where he comes from at the end believing the fake reality he made up in his head. Hunt also

notes that: “The  textual  dream  world,  thus,  can  be  interpreted as  the narrator’s

unconscious mind attempting, but failing, to rid itself of the psychic disturbance caused by

trauma” (92). The unconscious part of his brain is filled with unpleasant memories of the

murder he was involved in and the memories from the event-triggered him into the

visualisation of the accident. Upon entering the location of the traumatic experience, he
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started from the beginning to relive every single emotion intensely. He found the situation

very uncomfortable and filled with terror and anxiety.

Sigmund Freud was the person who coined psychoanalysis in 1868. He believed that

all people possess unconscious thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories. A form of the

literary interpretation that employs the terms of psychoanalysis (the unconscious, repression,

the Oedipus complex, etc.) to illuminate aspects of literature in its connection with

conflicting psychological states. Surrealism, an art movement of the early twentieth-century

was heavily influenced by psychoanalysis. Flann's text is a surreal work of literature itself, so

it was heavily affected by the research of Sigmund Freud. Therefore the main character in his

book is based on Freudian theories on dreams, the unconscious drives, memories, and mental

disorders. Through the lens of psychoanalysis, I will explicate the nameless man's personality

and his absurd universe.

The story of The Third Policeman is about a man who was sent to boarding school

when he was a young boy, right after his parents died. The fascinating part of the novel starts

right after he kills his rich neighbor, old Mathers, with his friend John Divney to steal his

money. His friend hides the money from him while he was busy burying the dead body. His

friend reveals the location three years later. From there on he goes on an eerie journey to find

the missing money box. As the story goes on, the insanity of the character and what he

believes in become even more peculiar. Different bizarre concepts are introduced such as; the

idea of people having colors (33). Or the idea that the wind also has different colors. And that

“ There are four winds and eight sub-winds, each with its own colour” (34). They also discuss

policemen who are gifted with the ability to wind watch (34). Or policemen who live up to a

hundred years (37). What might surprise the audience at first is that all this concepts seem

entirely normal to the protagonist of the story. The entire book is from the point of view of

nameless man, therefore, the only information provided for the reader is from the perspective
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of the narrator himself. The story starts by the unnamed man claiming that “ [n]ot everybody

knows how I killed old Philip Mathers” (7). He does not give the reader any kind of proof for

his claims. He believes in made up truth in his troubled mind. Hence every little incident that

takes place in the novel is all in his head. His unconscious sends him on an odd imaginary

journey in an attempt to dismantle himself from his brutal reality. The reason being that he

stepped into the place where the trauma occurred. Now the hidden memories that were in the

unconscious part of his brain are revealed to his conscious mind, along with the anxiety and

fear of his traumatic incident which become clear and vivid before his eyes upon his “ visit to

the home of the old Mathers” (23) In his case in forms of disturbing thoughts and nightmare.

The man has been dead for three years. In his dreams, he wished he had not killed someone,

therefore he dreamed of his neighbour being alive. After all, dreams are a form of wish

fulfilment for the dreamer. But the visualization is not pleasant at all. While explaining the

state of old Mathers the man he brutally murdered, he describes the dead man by saying that

he has a terrifying face (25). Even though he could remember vaguely, that, he murdered his

neighbor, his first solution was to believe the opposite. This is a crucial part of the story

because right before his encounter with the dead man, the line between reality and dreams

turns completely blurry for the narrator: “ my head was strangely empty” (23). Although the

possibility of the conditions the nameless character finds himself in, are none-existstent in

real life, he still goes along with his creative imagination and wild dreams. He follows along

with whatever nonsense is introduced to him by various other characters. Even when a

policeman shows him a spear that is seven inch long but it is so thin that one can not see it

with eyes (67), he just nods along and accepts it as a fact. Or when the policemen take him to

the eternity with a lift he just follows the man into the woods (132).

Denial is one of the many unconscious defense mechanisms, he uses to rid himself of

the feeling of guilt and anxiety after the murder. Denial as a defence mechanism was
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originally conceptualized by Freud as the refusal to acknowledge disturbing aspects of

external reality, as well as the existence of disturbing psychological (internal) events, such as

thoughts, memories, or feelings(Costa). It starts with the process of rejecting the truth and

then revealing it: “ perhaps the murder by the roadside was a bad dream” (29).

The act of smashing someone’s head with a spade is a terrifying scene to witness let

alone be a part of. The situation is too harsh to handle thus he refuses to accept the fact that

he killed someone. So in his imagery world, he talks to him and even dares to ask him where

the money box is (20). As the novel moves forward with the plotline, he denies the fact that

he killed Old Mathers. When the policeman accuses him of killing a man, he asks him if this

is all a joke (101). He refuses to accept the fact that he committed a crime. He even attempts

to escape from the prison when the policeman locks him in (75). After his escapes, he meets

with the old Mathers again. Despite knowing the man is dead, he tells himself that he needs

to act natural (109). At the end of the story when he realizes that he is dead, yet again he tries

to deny it and simply not accept that he has been dead for a long time. Even though he hears

his friend screaming that he has been dead for sixteen years (203). He says that his friend

killed him with a bomb when he sent him to get the black box but he does not know whether

he believed him (203).

Another defense mechanism he uses to avoid the guilt of the sin he committed, or his

emotional conflict, is rationalization. Rationalization helps a person justify specific behaviors

or decisions that may not be acceptable to the conscious mind (Knoll, et Al). His irrational

thoughts come from the difficulty of the situation he had to overcome in his life. As an

example, he says he does not remember his father but he says he was a strong man. He also

adds that he thought he was a generous man, although he did not know his father personally

and his father did not know him either (9). He is protecting himself against the feeling of the

fact that his parents were not emotionally available for him in his childhood. He was
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abandoned as a child and he grew up isolated. It also affected the way he reacts to the

conflicts and the stress. He can not make his own decisions and he does whatever others tell

him to do. For instance when they were killing old Mathers, his friend Divney ordered him to

“ finish him with the spade” and he does, or when they steal the money he wants to use the

money so bad but he waits because Divney told him to (19). It sounds logical to have access

to the money one steals, and murders someone for in the process, but the narrator justifies his

friend's intentions, who will not share the money with him. He tells himself that he needs to

be patient even though he has every right to use the money (19). He takes the money for

himself and tricks the nameless narrator into believing he will share the money with him (20).

But he actually sends him to the location of the old Mathers' house where he hid a bomb to

blow him up (207). He frequently uses self-deception to remove his painful experiences. In

his adult life, he was involved in a homicide, so he creates another set of excuses to make his

circumstances less threatening and bearable. But also to avoid tension and anxiety, yet again

failing to address the underlying reason. For instance, he says that he does not understand all

the terrible things that happened to him and that he must be mistaken about them (29). He

believes that the murder should not have any consequences on his life, as if it is completely

normal to smash someone’s head and steal his money (17). The motive behind his actions are

too uncomfortable for the narrator; therefore, he slowly tries to reject the truth altogether.

Like the fact that he believes that his friend was the reason he was involved in the murder:

“He was personally responsible for the whole idea” (7). He also blames Divney for that he

told him to bring his spade to kill old Mathers (7). Although later on in the story, he mentions

that he wanted money himself to print a commentary book (10). Or the fact that he stole a

book when he was sixteen and did not even feel guilty about it. He also notes that it was for

his favourite philosopher that he committed his first serious sin (9). He does not take any

responsibility for the fact that he was a criminal. He dismisses any possibility of being
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involved in anything and he constantly blames other people for the matter. When he talks

about his broken leg, he says that it was broken for him (10). Rather than accepting the fact,

that he broke his leg, he avoids giving a true explanation as to why he broke it in the first

place. He feels ashamed of his wooden leg so he creates a block against his internal emotions.

He often justifies his actions by giving false explanations that seem to have some sort of

rationality to it. Although the real purpose of his actions is unconscious.

Another way of reducing his anxiety and frustration he feels in life, is sublimation.

Sublimation is the channelling of unacceptable feelings, desires, and impulses – often of a

sexual or aggressive nature – into positive, socially approved activity. This activity is often

creative, but it does not have to be (kohen, et al). His main focus in life is to print a

commentary book on his crazy philosopher De Selby. He “ had also embarked upon the task

of learning French and German thoroughly in order to read the works of other commentators

in those languages”. He was sent to a strange school: “ It was a boarding school filled with

people I did not know” (11), he had to deal with losing his parents and his beloved dog at

such a young age, and he felt “ sorry and disappointed” (8). He spent most of his life

obsessing over De Selby: “ I did little work about the place myself, spending all my time

arranging my papers and re-reading still more closely the pages of de Selby” (11). He does all

that to stop himself from protecting his anger and annoyance. He is unable to do anything

about the fact that his friend Divney stole his family farm: “ I began to tell myself that even if

I did own everything, he owned me” (11), so he just keeps himself busy. He says that “

[n]early all my own time was spent in study” (13). He shifted his impulses in pursuit of more

acceptable and valuable achievements.

The nameless man also uses Repression to remove the unpleasant memories of his life

from his brain. Repression is a defense mechanism whereby unpleasure-provoking mental

processes, such as morally disagreeable impulses and painful memories, are actively
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prevented from entering conscious awareness (Boag). He does not remember his name or

who he was or what his business was (35). Or when the old Mathers asks him about his name,

he can not remember it by saying, “ I did not notice its irrelevance because I was shocked to

realize that, simple as it was, I could not answer it” (34). Although he may be not consciously

aware of the fact that he is hiding these memories from his awareness, they still cause him

distress. Because the things that are repressed can not just disappear on their own. He fails to

properly cope with his feelings so they build up over time and begin to appear through the

feeling of anxiety. The most mentioned emotion throughout the whole novel is fear. He most

likely finds himself in situations where he describes it like this: “Feeling frightened, deluded,

cold and bad-tempered” (187). He is in an endless cycle of frightening situations. For

example when the policeman wants to hang him for the murder “ My voice rose to a thin

tremolo of fear” (102). The fact that he has been dead for more than a decade but keeps

forgetting it. His friend Divney tells his ghost that he watched the house blow up while the

narrator was inside it (203). Each time he goes on a never-ending cycle of reliving the same

events all over again. Yet he still feels like it is his first time. He is still unfamiliar with his

surroundings. He does not know where he is going either. He starts his journey again by

meeting the same policeman asking him about the bicycles “ [i]s it about a bicycle?” (206).

Although the narrator is a murderer, like any other traumatised person, he needs to

find a way to cope with his life. The ways he tries to solve the obstacles in his way, suggests

that he has a gifted brain. His unconscious has the ability to manipulate the reality into

whatever he pleases. He uses all sorts of coping mechanisms such as repression,

rationalisation and denial to find an escape. Although the reader finds out at the end, that he

has been dead throughout the story and is living in a hell created by his bad deeds, the

audience feels sorry for him when he reaches the end of the book. The characteristics of the
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nameless man is similar to any individual who had to face a trauma; therefore, sympathising

with him seems normal for the reader.

Work cited

Boag, Simon. “Repression (Defense Mechanism)”. Springerlink, edited by Virgil Zeigler-Hill

and Todd K. Shackelford, Springer, Cham, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-

8_1423-1.

Cohen, Dov, and Emily Kim. “Sublimation (DefenseMechanism)”. Springerlink, edited by

Virgil Zeigler-Hill and Todd K. Shackelford, Springer, Cham , 2017,

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1430-1.

Cost, Rui Miguel. “Deinal (Defense Mechanism)”. Springerlink, edited by Virgil Zeigler-Hill

and Todd K. Shackelford, Springer, Cham , 2017, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-

8_1373-1.

Davis, Sara Gasquoine. “Violence: The Devil within Us”.  1981. The University of British

Columbia. MA discretion. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/22764

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Hunt, Daniel. “A Chronic Nightmare: Dream Interpretation as the ‘Royal Road’ to

Understanding the Trauma of the Nameless Narrator of Flann O’Brien’s The Third

Policeman.” New Hibernia Review, vol. 24, no. 3, 2020, pp. 90–103.,

doi:10.1353/nhr.2020.0022.  

Knoll, Megan, et al. “Rationalization (Defense Mechanism)”. Springerlink, edited by Virgil

Zeigler-Hill and Todd K. Shackelford, Springer, Cham , 2016, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-

319-28099-8_1419-1.

Lumsden, Robert. “Voidance in The Third Policeman”. The Review of Contemporary

Fiction, vol. 31, no. 3, 2011, p. 49. https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-

281790925/voidance-in-the-third-policeman.

McPherson Dina. “A  journey  is  an hallucination”. 2014. The University of Missouri. MA

discretion. https://hdl.handle.net/10355/45826.

O’Brien Flann. The Third Policeman. Flamingo, 1993, Hammersmith, London.