IN HARPER LEE’S: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD USING FREUD’S

PSYCHOANALYCTIC APPROACH

A THESIS PROPOSAL

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement for the Sarjana Sastra (S.S)

By :

Yani Anisyah

2016060457

English Department

Faculty of Letters

University of Pamulang

2021
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS.....................................................................................................i

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................1

1.1 Background of the Study........................................................................................1

1.2 Statement of the Problems.....................................................................................2

1.3 Scope and Limitation of the Study.........................................................................3

1.4 Goals of the Study..................................................................................................3

1.5 Function of the Study.............................................................................................3

1.6 Systematical Presentation......................................................................................4

CHAPTER.2 RELATED STUDIES, REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK...................................................................................................5

2.1 Related Studies.......................................................................................................5

2.2 Review of Literature..............................................................................................7

2.2.1 Fictional Devices..............................................................................................7

2.2.2 Group Psychology............................................................................................8

2.3 Theoretical Framework..........................................................................................9

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CHAPTER.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY................................................................14

3.1 Approach of the Study.........................................................................................14

3.2 Data Source..........................................................................................................14

3.3 Technique of Collecting Data..............................................................................15

3.4 Method of Analysis..............................................................................................15

BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................................................17
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Literature is referred to as the entirety of written expression, with the restriction that

not every written document can be categorized as literature in the more exact sense of the

word (Klarer, 2004:1). The term of literature seems best if we limit it to the art of literature,

that is, to imaginative literature. Literature is also produced by the imagination of the author.

Literature is not just a document of facts, it is not just the collection of real events though it

may happen in the real life. Literature can create its own world as a product of unlimited

imagination (Wellek and Warren, 1963: 22). So did the author of To Kill a Mockingbird,

Harper Lee, she poured her thought, experience, observation, and imagination into this

outstanding novel.

Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird winning a Pulitzer Prize for it became a

successful and widely read novel in the United States. There are some social issues that Lee

tries to present. Racial prejudice, social classes, gender are issues that are mostly found in

this novel. Aside from those issues, this research is interested to analyze the psychological

issue of the society in the story. This novel itself is about a family who lived in Maycomb

County, Alabama, which was set in 1930 after the Great Depression in America. Atticus

Finch and his children, Scout and Jem, living in a place where there are various social

classes of society. Finch and his family are White American, which could be known as the

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upper class, there are also the Ewels which is known as white trash, the Cunningham, the

poor class, and the Black, the lowest class.

Looking at the various type of social classes in the novel, there will be various

psychological analyses that could be explored from it. Each social class will have different group

psychology, and this group psychology is what will this study dig into and analyze, using

Freud’s Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego theory. According to Freud (1921: 2)

Group psychology is concerned with the individual man as a member of a race, of a nation, of a

caste, of a profession, of an institution, or as a component part of a crowd of people who have

been organized into a group at some particular time for some definite purpose. The beginning of

psychology development is coming from small and the closest circle such as family. The relation

between parents and children, brother and sister, in the family holds an important role in building

the psychological mental in an individual. One group form will differ from others group forms,

the differences of each group psychology in Maycomb County Society will further be analyzed

in this study.

1.2 Statement of the Problems

Based on the background of the study, there are two problems that will be analyzed:

1. How is group psychology depicted in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird?

2. How the characters in the novel described as individual's personalities and as members

of the Maycomb County Society?

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1.3 Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study will point up its scope and limitation to the psychology of the characters in the

novel To Kill a Mockingbird, and their development as a part of a group. Distinguish one and

another group psychology in the novel. Furthermore, this study will analyze the correlation

between the individual ego and its result to their group or a wider group of society.

1.4 Goals of the Study

The goals of this study are:

1. To describe the group psychology of Freud that reflects in the novel

2. To analyze the psychology of the characters as a part of a group / Maycomb County

Society.

1.5 Function of the Study

The researcher hopes that this study on To Kill a Mockingbird has benefits for:

1. The writer: to increase understanding of the topic that been choose, to improve the

writer analyzing skill.

2. To the reader: to get the moral value of the story, to give deeper concerning about

group psychology in the story and learn from it.

3. Further study: we hope this research can be a help or reference for the next researcher

study.
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1.6 Systematical Presentation

The systematical presentation of this research paper in An Analysis of Group

Psychology in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird is, Chapter 1, Introduction which

consists of six parts. First, the background of the study discusses the general view of the subject

and topic of the study and reasons for writing this study. Second, statements of the problem

containing research questions to be solved related to the issues discussed. Third, scope and

limitation of the study, which we limited to group psychology discussion. Fourth, goal of the

study, which consists of the purpose of how we answer the statement of the problem. Fifth,

function of the study, which we hope that this research could bring benefit to the reader, and the

writer self. Sixth is the systematical presentation.

Chapter II is Related Studies, Review of Literature, and Theoretical Framework in which

the writer included some previous studies as references, quoted some experts’ opinions to

support the analyses and chose the right theory to analyze the data.

Chapter III is Research Methodology where the writer explains the approach used in

analyzing the data, where the data are taken from, the way of collecting data, and how the data

are analyzed.
 CHAPTER.1 AN ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL GROUP

PSYCHOLOGY

RELATED STUDIES, REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

1.1 Related Studies

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee undeniably is a popular novel, it well known since

it was published and now and then still interesting to be discussed. There are many moral lessons

that we could learn from this masterpiece. This novel is not just a story about a young girl and

her family, it has ore deeper meaning that we could dig into. the issue of discrimination,

prejudice, gender, and psychology often become frequent topics to be analyzed. There are some

previous studies that used To Kill A Mockingbird as their primary sources with different issues.

The first study was conducted by Winarni (2013) in her title “Affection and prejudice in

To Kill A Mockingbid by Harper Lee Novel (1960) A Psychoanalyctic Approach”. Her purpose

of the study to analyzes the novel by using a psychoanalytic approach presented by Sigmund

Freud that has three major structures of personality; the id, the ego, and the superego. She used

qualitative research as a method of study and the result of her study was People sometimes have

to consider the love and affection to face the problems in life. This condition is caused by the

contradiction in the structural personality between id and superego. If they cannot get the

appropriate solution it will cause them suffer. In this novel, Harper Lee represents this condition

in the major character of Atticus Finch with his conflicts. The battle of his id and superego

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influences his decision to do something. His superego rather than his id dominates his

personality in taking decision.

The second study was conducted by Putri (2015) in her title “Discrimination Toward

Tom Robinson in the Novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee”. Her purpose of the study is

to describe how discrimination affects Tom Robinson’s life. The method she used in the study

was library research for she got the source and factual information from the library and also used

a critical theory of racial discrimination and the Marxist theory as the approach method. The

result of her study was “The novel To Kill A Mockingbird raises the issue of discrimination

toward the black people. Through the eye of an innocent child, it can be found the essential issue

such social class, and how the winning class legitimates their power through the law. Meanwhile,

Tom Robinson’s cases experience the discrimination which is unable to get him an opportunity

and the rights even though he was a victim”.

The third study was conducted by Faizah (2012) in the title “Racial Prejujdice in Lee’s

To Kill A Mockingbird”. Her purpose of the study is to describe the racism prejudice in Scout

life. The method she used in the study was qualitative descriptive and used Pip Jones theory as

her approach method. The result of her study was “The racist action of white people to black

people had made most of them blind because of prejudice. White people in that area had made

their assumption if black people were poor, uneducated, and the source of criminal”.

The previously mentioned studies have the similarity with this research which the literary

work used is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. On the contrary, the purpose of the study of

this research is different from the previous studies. While Putri focused on discrimination toward

the character, Faizah focused on racism prejudice in Scout life and Winarni focused on analyzing
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characters in the novel based on their id,ego, and superego. Although this research has the same

literary theory used with Winarni, psychoanalytic approach, the issue this research will bring up

is not the same. This research will focus more on the analyzes of group psychology in Maycomb

County Society and is using Freud “Group Psychology and The Analysis of The Ego”

1.2 Review of Literature

1.2.1 Fictional Devices

2.2.1.1 Characters

Characters are an important part of a story. Character is an individual (usually a person) in a

narrative in a work of fiction or creative nonfiction. The act or method of creating a character in

writing is known as characterization. The main character is central to a story and needs to be

“round” or complex, with depth and distinctive qualities. A cast of supporting characters can be

of various types—even “flat” or uncomplicated ones, who nonetheless help move the story along

(Nordquist,2019)

According to Taylor (1981: 62) A character in a novel or play is not real human being and

has no life outside the literary composition, however well the illusion of reality has been created

by the author. There are two classifications of characters. First is major character which is the

main actors or actresses in the story. Second is minor character who supporting actors or

actresses in the story.

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2.2.1.2 Setting

According to Abrams (1990:107), the setting makes us understand the behaviour of the

characters and the significance of their actions. Setting can make the reader imagine the

atmosphere of a story, if the setting of the story can be changed by any place without changing or

influencing the character and theme, the theme is not integral. Abrams (1990:107) also wrote that

“the major elements of the setting are the time, place, and social environment that frame the

character”. Furthermore, the setting is dealing with situations where and when events happen

toward characters.

2.2.1.3 Conflict

According to Perrine (1993:42), conflict is a clash of actions, ideas, desires or wills. He

also states that “the conflict may be physical, mental, emotional, or moral. In physical conflict,

usually there will be a physical fight, such as fistfight or gunfight. Just like in action stories.

More than of physical combat, there is also moral conflict, such as good versus bad.

1.2.2 Group Psychology

The individual in relations to his parents and to his brothers and sisters, to the person he

is in love with, to his friend, and to his physician comes under the influence of only a single

person, or of a very small number of persons, each one of whom has become enormously

important to him (Freud,1921).

According to Freud (1921; 1) Group psychology is the individual man as a member of a

race, of a nation, of a caste, of a profession, of an institution, or as a component part of a crowd

of people who have been organized into a group at some particular time for some definite
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purpose. Le Bon (in Freud: 1921) stated that group psychology is whoever be the individuals that

compose it, however like or unlike be their mode of life, their occupations, their character, or

their intelligence, the fact that they have been transformed into a group puts them in possession

of a sort of collective mind which makes them feel, think, and act in a manner quite different

from that in which each individual of them would feel, think, and act were he in a state of

isolation.

1.3 Theoretical Framework

Everybody has a personality, it differs from one and another. Schultz (2015: 9) stated that

if the world in which people live and the factors that affect their upbringing are so different, then

surely their personalities can be expected to differ as a result. From the previous statement, we

can conclude that the environment of an individual life has an influence on personality. What an

individual learns from his closest relative such as family, race, or social class could differ when

they join in a wider group of society where there are some other races, other social classes, other

nation that different from what he taught in the environment. Therefore, he will be trying to

adapt to their new environment/group so that he will feel that they are qualified or accepted to be

a member of the group.

Since personality is an important part of psychology analyses, this study will enclose the

three components of personality according to Freud’s Psycoanalictic:

The Id
The id corresponds to Freud’s notion of the unconscious. The unconscious contains the

major driving power behind all behaviors and is the repository of forces we cannot see or
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control. The id is the reservoir for instincts and libido. It is vitally and directly related to the

satisfaction of bodily needs. The id strives for immediate satisfaction of its needs and does not

tolerate delay or postponement of satisfaction for any reason. It knows only instant gratification;

it drives us to want what we want when we want it, without regard for what anyone else wants.

The id is a selfish, pleasure-seeking structure—primitive, amoral, insistent, and rash. (Schultz:

2015)

The Ego
To Freud, the rational aspect of the personality, responsible for directing and controlling

the instincts according to the reality principle. The reality principle is the principle by which the

ego functions to provide appropriate constraints on the expression of the id instincts. The ego

serves two masters—the id and reality—and is constantly mediating and striking compromises

between their conflicting demands. (Schultz: 2015)

Superego
Freud state that superego is a powerful and largely unconscious set of dictates or beliefs

— that we acquire in childhood: our ideas of right and wrong. In everyday language, we call this

internal morality a conscience. He believed that this moral side of the personality is usually

learned by the age of 5 or 6 and consists initially of the rules of conduct set down by our parents.

Through praise, punishment, and example, children learn which behaviors their parents consider

good or bad. Those behaviors for which children are punished form the conscience. The second

part of the superego is the ego-ideal, which consists of good, or correct, behaviors for which

children have been praised. (Schultz: 2015)

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These are components of individual personality/psychology, now what will happen when

this individual interacts with a wider group of society? As already mentioned in the previous

sub-chapter, group psychology is the individual man as a member of a race, of a nation, of a

caste, of a profession, of an institution, or as a component part of a crowd of people who have

been organized into a group at some particular time for some definite purpose. If the individuals

in the group are combined into a unity, there must surely be something to unite them, and this

bond might be precisely the thing that is characteristic of a group. As continued by Freud, our

conscious acts are the outcome of an unconscious substratum created in the mind mainly by

hereditary influences. This substratum consists of the innumerable common characteristics

handed down from generation to generation, which constitute the genius of a race.

According to Freud (1921, 6) the disappearance of the conscious personality, the

predominance of the unconscious personality, the turning by means of suggestion and contagion

of feelings and ideas in an identical direction, the tendency to immediately transform the

suggested ideas into acts; these, we see, are the principal characteristics of the individual forming

part of a group. He is no longer himself but has become an automaton who has ceased to be

guided by his will. This means that when individuals are alone or not in a group, they could be

themselves, let's say that they are cheerful, full of humor, attractive inside, in contradiction, they

become a shy person, uncommunicative, lonely, when they are in a group or the other way

round.

Freud then describes moral of group that in order to make a correct judgment upon the

morals of groups, one must take into consideration the fact that when individuals come together

in a group all their individual inhibitions fall away and all the cruel, brutal, and destructive
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instincts, which lie dormant in individuals as relics of a primitive epoch, are stirred up to find

free gratification. prominent. It is possible to speak of an individual having his moral standards

raised by a group. Related to this study, the writer will analyze the development/ moral standards

raised by a group in character Boo Radley, he is one of the interesting characters in the story. As

an isolated individual this study will describe the development he got after ‘interact’ with other

members of society.

The other character that will be analyzed is Scout Finch, as children, she countered with

different types of individual personality. Freud (1921: 8) describe that in young children, for

instance, ambivalent emotional attitudes towards those who are nearest to them exist side by side

for a long time, without either of them interfering with the expression of the other and opposite

one. If eventually, a conflict breaks out between the two, it is often settled by the child making a

change of object and displacing one of the ambivalent emotions onto a substitute. The history of

the development of neurosis in an adult will also show that a suppressed emotion may frequently

persist for a long time in unconscious or even in conscious phantasies, the content of which

naturally runs directly counter to some predominant tendency, and yet that this opposition does

not result in any proceedings on the part of the ego against what it has repudiated. In the process

of a child development into a mature adult there is a more and more extensive integration of his

personality, coordination of the separate instinctual impulses and purposive trends which have

grown up in him independently of one another. From Freud's description above, this study will

describe the struggle Scout experienced as a member of Maycomb County children,

encountering different types of people in the country, and how she overcomes her struggle.
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There will be more characters that this study will discuss using Freud’s Group

Psychology and The Analysis of The Ego.

 CHAPTER.2

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Approach of the Study

This study uses “To Kill A Mockingbird” novel by Harper Lee as the object of the

analysis. The approach of the study uses the qualitative approach. According to Cresswell (1994)

"A qualitative study is defined as an inquiry process of understanding a social or human

problem, based on building a complex, holistic picture, formed with words, reporting detailed

views of informants, and conducted in a natural setting. Moreover, this study focus on the

process that is occurring instead of the outcome of that process. The focus is on participants'

perceptions and experiences and the way they make sense of their lives

2.2 Data Source

The data of this study has two sources, the primary source, and the secondary source. The

primary source of this study is the novel by Harper Lee entitled To Kill A Mockingbird, a story

about Scout Finch and her family living their life in the Southern U. S in the 1930s, getting along

with various types of races and social classes in society. The secondary source is the journals of

other researchers, theory books, and online websites.

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2.3 Technique of Collecting Data

This study uses library research in collecting data. The data is collected from the object,

theory books, journals, and web searching.

The data is taken from Harper Lee’s novel. To Kill A Mockingbird. The writer uses these

steps in order to get information about the study :

1. Reading the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

2. Finding the issues appear after reading the story

3. Finding the theory book for the chosen issue

4. Finding the journals related to the study

2.4 Method of Analysis

This study is conducted a qualitative study, therefore, the methods for gathering and

recording are with observation, journals, and document analysis. The data that is recorded

by these methods come from a variety of sources: a novel, journals, theory books. The

data that emerge from a qualitative study is descriptive. That is, data are reported in

words or pictures rather than in numbers. (Fraenkel & Wallen in Creswell, 1994)

This study will be analyzed with distinguished theory from two things called

description and interpretation.

A description is simply a factual narrative of what happened, at a very low level

of abstraction. It is not a theory because the connections between the events are neither
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abstract nor explanatory, but simply spatial and chronological; it makes no attempt to go

beyond what is immediately or potentially observable.

Interpretation, (also differs from theory) refers to an account of the meaning

given to some situation or event by the people studied, in their own terms. Interpretation, in this

sense, is not theory for the same reason that description is not theory: it simply a concrete

account of that meaning and has no explanatory intent. (Maxwel,1996)

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abram, M. (1987). Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Singapore: Longman

Singapore Publisher Pte Ltd.

B, W. (2013). Affection and Prejudice in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Novel.

Publication Article , 4 - 13.

Faizah, S. (2012). Racial Pejudice in Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. 78.

Freud, S. (1921). Group Psychology and The Analysis of the Ego.

Lee, H. (1960). To Kill A Mockingbird. United States: J. B. Lippincott & Co.

Perrine, L. (1956). Literature, Sound and sense. New York: Thomson Learning Ink.

Putri, A. S. (2015). Discrimination Toward Tom Robinson in The Novel To Kill The

Mockingbird. 26.

Schultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E. (2015). Theories of Personalities (Vol. XI). Boston:

Cengage Learning.

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