Saturday, January 30, 2010

Dora Deconstructed Part 2

A main 'character' (for lack of a better word) in the book is a man by the pseudo name of Herr K. Herr K is a complicated character in Dora's life. Freud's analysis of there relationship is what first made me think Freud was off his rockers. This man, a man close to her father's age, was her father's best friend and I suppose you would say despite the age difference a close friend of Dora's as well. When the relationship was first introduced I saw him as a sort of 'uncle' figure to her, a kind friend, a caring neighbor and so forth.
We find out soon after his introduction that Herr K has tried on not just one but two occasions to seduce Dora, both of which she denounced. Freud suggests at this point that Dora was really in love with Herr K and that they should spend time trying to derive the cause of her rejection towards him when she apparently, unknown to her, had great feelings of attraction and love for him. At this, I felt an outrage. I thought to myself "This girl is a victim!", "Why would she not denounce a married man?", "What a betrayal she must feel!". I continued reading the book shaking my head at what I believed to be complete inane conjecture on Freud's part, and at the least, which I would come to realize Freud was unconcerned with -insensitive!
But as the case continues to unveil itself and further circumstances come to light we soon come to realize that Dora did indeed love Herr K and was not upset by the bestial nature of his advance but rather by the insincerity behind his words. She was upset because he offered her less then marriage, eternal love and attachment. Freud reveals to us that the unconscious does not know the word 'no' and therefore two opposing views can live in the mind of one person. She could indeed reject and love Herr K at the same time.
As excellent as I believe Freud's insight and analysis to be, I wonder if a modern day psychologist, even a psychoanalysis would go in the same route. We have a very strong 'victim mentallity' in our modern culture. For example their was a huge case where a designer was accused of raping or sexually abusing a countless number of woman. Let's take one case, an underage woman (I believe 16) was "raped" by this designer. Evidence came out that she exchanged sexually messages with the designers, sent him provocative (depending on who you ask) pictures of herself, had sex with him, kept in contact with him etc., it wasn't until she (the model) realized that he would not advance her career (again depending on who you ask, but I believe the dates concur), that she reported this incident of rape.
Now, would a modern day psychologist tell this patient "You only reject him because of his rejection of you, had he done what you expected of him, you would have more then happy to continue this relationship". I feel like they would be treated with a "How dare you? statement, even though this is the way Dora first reacted I just don't think you could get away with ever 'blaming the victim' in our modern culture. Maybe I'm wrong, I have after all never been to a psychologist -but I think I will soon. I think it would be good for me if not personally, at least as a psychology student to get the first hand of being a patient and observing a psychologist...

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