Self- Defense Mechanisms and the Influences of Memories in Never let me Go

Abstract

This paper examines how memories are expressed and utilized in a dystopian society through the lens of Sigmund Freud’s theory of self-defense mechanisms. The self-defense mechanisms are categorized into many themes, some of these themes will be applied to some characters throughout the sequence of actions in the novel. Each theme will offer itself as the most accurate means of understanding the importance of any individual memories and others’ attitudes. What will be mentioned in this paper, compensation, Denial, displacement, identifications, regression, repression and sublimation in Sigmund Freud’s theory. This paper will also specifically show both regression and repression characterized in some characters in the novel. Regression involves a return to either a painful or a pleasant experience in any individual, and repression is incarnated in putting things into darkness. Repression and regression also will be mentioned to show the psychological method of living in present by remembering the past. Kathy is the protagonist and the narrator of the novel, and she keeps flashing back her memories to avoid the unpleasant realities of the coming doomed future. The sequence of actions in the novel will reveal the past as a future while reading this piece of art by Kazuo Ishiguro.