Bruce Robertson's Suicide in Filth by Irvine

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

BRUCE ROBERTSON’S SUICIDE IN FILTH BY IRVINE WELSH: A PSYCHOANALYSIS STUDY

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

By GABRIEL GARDA HANGGARADI Student Number: 154214064

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2020 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

BRUCE ROBERTSON’S SUICIDE IN FILTH BY IRVINE WELSH: A PSYCHOANALYSIS STUDY

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

By GABRIEL GARDA HANGGARADI Student Number: 154214064

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2020

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

“To infinity, and beyond” – Buzz Lightyear

vii

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE………………………………………………………………………...ii APPROVAL PAGE………………………………………………………………....iii ACCEPTANCE PAGE……………………………………………………………..iv STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY……………………………………………...... v LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH….....vi MOTTO PAGE……………………………………………………………………..vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………….viii TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………...ix ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………xi ABSTRAK…………………………………………………………………………...xii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………...1 A. Background of the Study……………………………………………………..1 B. Problem Formulation………………………………………………………....3 C. Objective of the Study………………………………………………………..3 D. Definition of Terms…………………………………………………………..3 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE……………………………………...4 A. Review of Related Studies…………………………………………………...4 B. Review of Related Theories……………………………………………….....8 1. Theory of Characterization…………………………………………….....8 2. Freud‟s Psychoanalytic Theory…………………………………………11 C. Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………..14 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY……………………………………………….15 A. Object of the Study………………………………………………………….15 B. Approach of the Study………………………………………………………16 C. Method of the Study………………………………………………………...18 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS………………………………………………………..20 A. Bruce‟s Characteristics…………....………………………………………...21 B. Bruce‟s Id, Ego, and Superego……………………………………………...26 C. The Interactions between Bruce‟s Id, Ego, and Superego Resulting in His Suicide………………………………………………………………………36

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION……………………………………………………43 REFERENCE……………………………………………………………………….46

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ABSTRACT HANGGARADI, GABRIEL GARDA. BRUCE ROBERTSON’S SUICIDE IN FILTH BY IRVINE WELSH: A PSYCHOANALYSIS STUDY. Yogyakarta, Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2020.

Irvine Welsh‟s Filth contains an intense journey of a corrupt detective named Bruce Robertson, with his controversial and rather immoral ways of dealing with his problems. His ways of dealing with his problems will eventually lead to his suicide. This study focuses on how Bruce‟s actions in solving the problems in his life leads to his suicide. To figure it out, the writer must first point out Bruce‟s dominant characteristics, dominant being the characteristics that are most related to the problem formulations. This is done to help determine which of Bruce‟s traits are his id, ego, and superego, which can be determined through character understandings, and psychoanalytic approach. There are three main objectives of this study as written above. First is to point out Bruce‟s characteristics that are most dominant. The second objective is to determine which of Bruce‟s traits are his id, ego and superego. This will open up a way to solve the third objective, which is to analyze the relation between Bruce‟s id, ego and superego leading to his suicide. Library research method are done in order to determine which theories and related studies that will be used. Internet research method are also done in order to get more theories that can support this study. The theories of this study will be Freud‟s psychoanalytic theory and Murtagh John Murphy‟s theory of characterizations. Those three elements need to be in balance in order to achieve a stable state of mind. It is proven that the interactions between Bruce‟s id, ego and superego is unbalanced, as he gradually goes insane and pushes himself into suicide. A deeper understanding of a character in literary work will also gain a deeper lesson that the literary wok is trying to point out. Keywords: Id, Ego, Superego, suicide, manipulation, impulse

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ABSTRAK HANGGARADI, GABRIEL GARDA. BRUCE ROBERTSON’S SUICIDE IN FILTH BY IRVINE WELSH: A PSYCHOANALYSIS STUDY. Yogyakarta, Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2020.

Novel Filth karya Irvine Welsh berisi perjalanan intens seorang detektif korup bernama Bruce Robertson yang penuh dengan kontrovesi dan siasat – siasatnya yang tidak bermoral dalam memecahkan persoalan hidupnya, yang berujung pada kematian. Banyak pembaca novel ini yang akan tercengang dan takut melihat aksi – aksinya. Skripsi ini membahas secara rinci bagaimana tindakan Bruce dalam memecahkan masalah menjadi penyebabnya bunuh diri. Untuk memecahkan teka – teki tersebut, penulis skripsi harus menentukan id, ego dan superego Bruce berdasarkan tingkah lakunya dalam novel, yang dapat ditentukan melalui pendalaman karakter dan psikoanalisis. Ada tiga objektif dalam skripsi ini, yang pertama adalah mencari tahu mana karakter Bruce yang paling menonjol. Objektif kedua adalah menentukan tindakan Bruce yang mencerminkan id, ego dan superego-nya, yang akan membuka jalan untuk memecahkan objektif ketiga, yaitu menganalisa korelasi id, ego, dan superego Bruce dengan tindakan bunuh dirinya. Studi pustaka dilakukan untuk menentukan teori dan penelitian terkait yang akan digunakan. Studi internet pun dilakukan untuk mendapatkan lebih banyak teori yang dapat mendukung berlangsungnya skripsi ini. Teori yang diterapkan dalam studi ini merupakan karakterisasi dan psikoanalisis, menggunakan teori psikoanalisis Freud dan teori karakterisasi Murtagh John Murphy. Telah dibuktikan dalam skripsi ini bahwa id, ego dan superego Bruce tidaklah seimbang, Bruce perlahan kehilangan akal sehatnya dan akhirnya memutuskan untuk bunuh diri. Memahami karakter dengan lebih dalam akan memberikan pengertian yang lebih dalam mengenai pesan moral atau pelajaran yang disampaikan dalam karya sastra tersebut. Kata kunci: Id, Ego, Superego, suicide, manipulation, impulse

xii

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Literature is always written based on what humans experienced. No matter how fictional it is, any kind of literature is a reflection of reality. It has become a way of expressing thoughts, feelings and experiences rather than just a mean of entertainment. “These characters are not flesh and blood creatures, of course, but are imagined human beings who have many parallels with people like ourselves” (Paris,

1997, p. xi). That is why psychology and literature are closely related. Literary texts function like how the eyes is the window to the heart, rather a window to the brain or how human‟s brain, psychologically, functioned, because there are no specific rules in literary works that needs to be followed, it is mostly a way of expressing the author‟s feelings. A specific branch of literary study, psychoanalytic, has been in the working since then to specifically study about this matter, where the researcher finds any psychological factor in the literary works.

Psychoanalytic theory argues that literary texts, like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author. In other words, a literary work is a manifestation of the author's own neuroses. “Psychoanalysis deals with human beings in conflicts with themselves and each other, and literature portrays and is written and read by such people” (Paris, 1997, p.3). However, instead of just the author, the

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

writer sees that literary work is also a manifestation of society condition.

Works that tend to criticizes the society are the example of both manifesting the author‟s mind and the social condition. Many example of this type of work usually use certain genre to emphasize the meaning intended, like using dystopian to remind people of what could happen in the future while others use crime to draw attention to a more personal level of the character.

Irvine Welsh is one those writers that tends to use this more personal level kind of approach. His works are usually written in first person styled in stream-of- consciousness and drugs. Trainspotting and Filth are the example of this. However this paper only focuses on Filth, a 1999 novel that had been adapted to a movie with the same title starred James McAvoy as Bruce Robertson.

Filth tells a story about Bruce Robertson, by far an antihero with his racism, misogyny and euphemism. The story takes place in Scotland, UK. Bruce is a detective that is currently working on a murder case of a journalist, Efan Wurie. He is obsessed with promotion because he believes that if he get a promotion his wife and daughter will come back to him. Later in the story, it is unfold that Bruce is actually involve in the racially driven murder and he is addicted to many kinds of drugs that ends in his unemployment. From the novel, it is clear that Bruce is suffering from mental illness cause by his childhood trauma and drug abuses, he also suffers from bipolar disorder.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

This paper focuses to elaborate the main character‟s psychological problems as the author presented throughout the plot and also to analyze how the way the main character deals with the problems causes his hallucination by analyzing the character‟s behavior.

B. Problem Formulation

As it is analyzed in the novel, the writer formulates three questions that will narrow the analysis of this study, as follow:

1. What are Bruce‟s dominant characteristics shown in the story?

2. How are Bruce's id, ego, and superego revealed in the story?

3. How does the interactions of Bruce‟s id, ego and superego result in his suicide?

C. Objective of the Study

The first objective of this study is to understand Bruce‟s dominant characteristics which will help the writer achieve the second objective, to determine which are Bruce‟s id, ego, and superego, and figure out the interactions between them as the writer presented throughout the plot. The third objective is to analyze how the interactions between id, ego and superego result in his suicide.

D. Definition of Terms

To provide a clear overview of this study, some terms should be defined. In

Courtney E. Ackerman‟s “Psychoanalysis: A Brief History of Freud’s Psychoanalytic

Theory” “psychoanalysis is a therapy used to release repressed emotions to lead to the client‟s healing.” (Ackerman, 2019) Psychoanalytic approach is the method used to

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

figure out what lies inside one‟s conscious and unconscious mind, those method includes in figuring out what the person considered as the big questions in life, what matters to them, figuring out what complexity lies beneath the simple surfaces.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter discusses literary reviews of related studies and theories that can be used to support this study. There are three parts in this study. The first one is review of related studies. This part covers the studies that have been done by previous researchers that are related to the topic of this study. The second part is review or related theories. This part covers the application of theories in answering the problem formulations in this study. The third part is theoretical framework, this part gives a thorough explanation on how the writer applies the reviews to solve the problems.

A. Review of Related Studies

The first related study is Imagined Human Beings: A Psychological Approach to Character and Conflict in Literature (1997) by Bernard J. Paris. In this study, the main topic that is discussed is how it is possible to analyze literary characters psychologically with the theory of Karen Horney. The problem formulation of his study was the applications of a Horneyan Approach and Horney's Mature Theory, and how a psychology theory is applicable to a literature work.

Horney's theory does not force us to invent the character's early history but it permits us to utilize the exact information that is supplied in the literature. This theory is explained just by studying the character's current behavior without even completely understanding the character's background story. “She replaced biology

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

with culture and disturbed human relationships when explaining the origins of neuroses, and she shifted to a predominantly structural paradigm in which she sought to account for behavior in terms of its current function” (Paris, 1997, p.17). This kind of approach is not very applicable to daily life situations and conditions. That fact makes Bernard J. Paris's study different from this study, this study focuses more on how a fictional character's psychological behavior and development can relate to a person's life, and the possibility of applying the study on both the character and the person with the same ways and methods.

The second related study is The Psychology of Fiction: Entering Another’s

Experience (2012) by Keith Oatley. This study focuses on Geoff Kauffman and Lisa

Libby's term of experience taking: entering the experience of another. It starts with experiments with students. In the experiment, the students were divided into two groups, and both groups were told to read a story where the main character is also a student. One group was given instructions to imagine themselves as an average student no matter what their background life is, and another group is not given the instructions. The group that is given such instructions shows more empathy and experience taking than the group that weren't given the instructions. According to

Kauffman and Libby, this happens due to the fact that the group that were given the instructions, tried to be as selfless as possible, while the other group still have the thoughts of comparing the character's life to theirs, making it hard for the experience taking to happen.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

In experience taking, although in a sense we remain ourselves, we can also become the character about whom we read: the story-character's thoughts and feelings become our own. We might think that we have just one life to lead, but fiction enables us to lead many lives, and to experience being many kinds of person. (Oatley, 2012)

Oatley's study is very much relatable to this study as the experiment shows how human can feel what the main character is feeling in the story. Which means, applying the same method to both character and a real person in studying their psychological behavior and problems will be valid and will have a credible result.

The third related study is “Oedipus Complex Revealed within Kafka Tamura in Haruki Murakami‟s Kafka on the Shore” an undergraduate thesis written by Satya

Wastu Windrya in 2018. Windrya‟s thesis discusses the main character of a novel titled “Kafka on The Shore” by Haruki Murakami. In the novel, Kafka, the main character, runs away from home to avoid a prophecy predicted by his father. His father stated that one day Kafka is going to marry his own mother, and kills his father too. However, no matter how hard Kafka avoids this, his actions eventually leads to the prophecy being fulfilled.

This study is related in terms of theories that are used to solve the research questions. Windrya‟s thesis uses Freud‟s theory of characterizations in order to dig deep into what lies beneath Kafka‟s subconscious mind and personality, and their relations with the problems they have.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

Before analyzing one character‟s psychological issues in this study, the theory of character and characterization is applicable in order to gain more understanding towards one‟s personality. The methods of understanding character‟s personality in the novel are quite similar with the methods on how people get to know about other people in real life. (Windrya, 2018: 13)

Windrya‟s usage of the theory of characterization is relatable to this study.

Applying the same theory will result in a better understanding of Bruce‟s characteristics and his personality. With the understanding of Bruce‟s characteristics, the writer is also able to solve the research question, which is Bruce‟s interactions between his id, ego, and superego, and how those interactions lead to Bruce‟s suicide.

The last related study is “Lawrence Wargrave‟s Forbidden Aggressive Urges to Kill in Christie‟s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE: A Psychoanalytic Study” an undergraduate thesis by Geovanny Reinita Deborah Luntungan, written in 2019.

Luntungan‟s study discusses a character in the novel “And Then There Were None” written by Agatha Christie. Justin Lawrence Wargrave, the character, is a retired judge who commits ten murders in Indian Island. The study focuses mainly on

Lawrence Wargrave‟s urges of killing.

Luntungan uses the theory of forbidden aggressive urge, based on two of

Bernard Weiner and David McClelland‟s book: “Human Motivation” (1980) and

“Human Motivation” (1985). Luntungan‟s chosen theory is related to this study in terms of identifying the id, ego and superego of the character. Luntungan uses this theory to identify the reasons and causes of Lawrence Wargrave‟s urges to kill people, and how Lawrence Wargrave‟s moral value is defeated by his urges. “The

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

unconscious mind has a big urge to encourage human to do something based on the events which happened in the past during daily life” (Luntungan, 2019: 12).

Luntungan‟s method of solving her research questions is applicable in this study as well, for the writer first needs to identify Bruce‟s id, ego and superego and the interactions between them, to understand what leads to his suicide at the end of the novel.

All the previous related studies used psychological theory and applied those to literary works for better understandings of the characters featured in the literary works. Which serves as a common matter to this study. The differences of each related studies compared to this study is that this study focuses on the character‟s id, ego, and superego and how it affects the character himself.

B. Review of Related Theories

This part of the study consists of theories that are related to the writer‟s study.

The use of these theories aims to assist the writer to analyze the object of the study.

1. Theory of Characterizations

In order to figure out which are Bruce‟s id, ego, and superego, the writer must figure out Bruce‟s character first. Therefore, Characterization theory by M.J Murphy is used to help the writer solve it. According to Murphy, there are nine ways of understanding a character, those nine ways consists of personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation of others, reaction, direct comment, thoughts and mannerism. These are referred by Murphy as the “eye of God” method.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

“A writer using the „eye-of-god‟ method or any method that involves the „stream of consciousness‟ can lay bare the innermost thoughts of the character that people his books.” (Murphy, 1972: 161) a. Personal description

Personal description can help the readers understand the characters through appearances, such as face, body, and the clothes they are wearing, as narrated by the author. This provides better understandings for the readers towards the main character. b. Character as seen by another

The author helps the readers gain images of the main character through the descriptions given by other characters in the story. By doing so, the readers will also have better understandings on how other characters receive the main character‟s behavior, and how it will be accepted or not. c. Speech

The author expresses the character‟s behavior through the way the character speaks, whether it is just small talks, opinions, whether it is a dialogue, monologue, or even dream states. The way a character chooses their words and form sentences when they are talking express their subtle feelings and thoughts inside of them that are not explicitly shown/worded out.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

d. Past life

The characteristics of the main character can be seen through direct description by the author, or by other characters. Direct comments by the author can give the readers a more certain understanding towards the characters. e. Conversation of others

The main character‟s characteristics and traits can be seen through how other characters talk to them, or how other characters talk about them, other characters idea of the main character. The opinion of other characters towards the main character is a great way to get deeper into what traits the main character is showing, as characters that are close to them shows different ideas of what the main character is like than those characters who are not as close. f. Reaction

The main character‟s reaction towards certain events, or their reactions on how other characters talk to them, can give away some main points of the characteristics to the readers. How the main character reacts to what is coming towards them shows the main character‟s current state of mind. g. Direct comment

The author‟s direct description of the character in the story. It helps the readers picture the traits of the main character through the description of the author.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

h. Thoughts

This is the main point of the “eye of God” method. The author reveals what is inside the character‟s mind through direct conscious speech or what the character said inside their head. i. Mannerism

The author describes the main character‟s manners, habits and personality, to give away characteristic points to the readers. The attitude of the main character represents the main character‟s traits.

2. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

The theory that is used in this paper is Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality. Psychoanalytic theory is a theory of understanding human's behavior.

This theory is not accurate if it is applied to ourselves as we rarely speak the truth when we open up about our behavior. This is not because we are consciously lying, it is more of a defense mechanism that we create in order to prevent us to expose ourselves too much. Psychoanalytic theory of personality is made specifically to understand others, to understand why someone made such decisions, what drives someone to have that behavior and attitude. Freud believes that most of the decisions and behavior we construct in life is highly related to our experiences in one‟s past, specifically our childhood, and the time when we are in our most vulnerable condition in forming our personality that is trapped in the unconscious mind.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

“Anxiety originating from traumatic experiences in a person‟s past is hidden from consciousness, and may cause problems during adulthood (in the form of neuroses)”

(Mcleod, 2018).

Freud classifies these states of mind into a three major points of a personality that are very significant. Everything a person does is always affecting and/or affected by these three states of mind, not a physical area within the brain, but rather hypothetical conceptualizations of important mental functions. These are the following points, according to Saul Mcleod (Mcleod, 2018.).

 Id

Human beings have many kinds of desires in their lives, it influences both of their physical and emotional needs. “Freud assumed the id operated at an unconscious level according to the pleasure principle (gratification from satisfying basic instinct).”

(Mcleod, 2018.) Id‟s target is to reduce the tension level of the desires. Two main biological desires in which Freud calls as eros and thanatos. Eros is the desire of surviving, anything that will help humans survive their lives is considered as Eros.

Those desires consist of eating, respiration and sex. While thanatos is the desire of violence and anger, destructive forces that is dangerous to self and others. As destructive and powerful it may seem, Freud believes that Eros is stronger, and that is why humans are able to survive.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

 Ego

Ego is the one that takes control of the personality. It is the one that decides which of id‟s needs that gets to be fulfilled, depending on how it will be able to be socially accepted. “The ego‟s goal is to satisfy the demands of the id in a safe a socially acceptable way.” (Mcleod, 2018.) Ego follows reality principle, for it is both conscious and unconscious. Reality principle is one‟s ability to comprehend and respond to the external world in a socially acceptable way, rather than just responding to it through lust or the pleasure principle, so to speak. Every action that humans do that involves in fulfilling their desires are the result of ego deciding what to choose, under the circumstances of whether the person realizes it or not.

 Superego

Superego is the person‟s awareness of the moral value in the society, in which normally is based on culture and religion. “The superego operates on the morality principle and motivates us to behave in a socially responsible and acceptable manner.” (Mcleod, 2018.) It is basically human‟s conscience, helping the person decide what is right and what is not. It is the internal manifestation of social values created by the society that one believe is right.

To summarize the theory, Freud classifies the structure of personality into Id,

Ego, and Superego. Id is the first personality structure that operates on pleasure principles or desires. The second structure is ego, usually referred as the referee, it

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

functions as a balance tool to meet Id's demands and society standard. The last one is superego, it has a capacity of self-evaluation and criticism. In other words, it functions as a judge to the id and ego in the basis of society‟s rules. It is considered as an abnormal human behaviors when these three are constantly in disagreements, or when one of those three is more dominant than the other.

C. Theoretical Framework

The writer applies two theories in order to solve the two research questions, theory of characterizations and psychoanalytic theory. The theory of characterizations is used to help the writer figure out every bits of Bruce‟s characteristics. Once the characteristics are unfolded, the writer uses the psychoanalytic theory to determine which of Bruce‟s characteristics represents id, ego and superego. With the id, ego and superego determined, the writer uses the psychoanalytic theory to understand the interactions between those three, and what happens in between the interactions that causes Bruce to commit suicide.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The object of this study is a Scottish novel by Irvine Welsh entitled Filth.

Welsh is well known for his dark stories that are quite relatable to the people who read his works. He has written eleven novels and four short stories collections. A lot of his works are revolving around social problems of the low to middle economy class of the people in Scotland, mostly working classes. What makes his stories dark is that he adds a lot of relatable working class‟s negative sides in his novels, such as hooliganism, drug abuses, low-paid work, and freemasonry.

“Fast and furious, scabrously funny and weirdly moving, this is the spectacular return of the crew from trainspotting. Lurching from crisis to crisis, the four men circle each other, driven by their personal histories and addictions, confused, angry. One of these four will not survive to the end of this book. Which one is wearing the dead man‟s trousers?” (Moncrieff, 2018.)

In Filth, the abuse of drugs and alcohol are one of the main theme used in the novel. The novel is about a detective sergeant named Bruce Robertson, a

Machiavellian that is also an addict, sexually disturbed and a euphemist. It starts with a murder case that Bruce is assigned, a murder of a journalist in Edinburgh. The plot actually has little to do with the murder case, but it holds an important part as the novel traces Bruce‟s life and pasts. Bruce‟s boss states that whoever solve the case will get a promotion to be a detective inspector, which gets Bruce to be obsessed by

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

the case and starts to do various illegal things and schemes towards his colleagues in order to get his promotion. Later in the novel it is shown that Bruce begin to develop series of psychological problems and it worsen his drug and alcohol addiction that he is already having since before the case, and the drugs and alcohol addiction eventually worsen his psychological problems, creating a cycle he cannot escape. As he works on the case, the readers will eventually figure out that the reason why he is so obsessed with the case is because he believes that he can get back together with his wife and daughter if he can earn the promotion. Even so, at the end of the novel it is shown that his beliefs of it are nothing more than a hallucination that he himself causes by going out at night committing crimes while dressed up as his wife, revealing his involvements in the very first case introduced in the novel, the case that he believes will lead to his happy ending. It is also revealed that all his colleagues that he despises, including his boss, are aware of his guilt all along, but they choose to protect him out of pity and loyalty. Knowing this, Bruce eventually kills himself out of regrets, hoping that his wife and daughter will never find out of his suicide.

B. Approach of the Study

The approach that is used for this study is a psychoanalytic approach.

Psychoanalytic approach is a method of finding what lies beneath the conscious mind of a person, these methods can be done through talking to the person regarding of what matters in their life, and diving into their subconscious mind. This approach is

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

highly dependent on the human mind, which in this case, the character‟s mind (Bruce

Robertson). According to Freud, the model of human mind is divided into three layers of structure, which are conscious, preconscious and unconscious. A more detailed model that coexists between consciousness and unconsciousness are id, ego and superego. “Freud believes that these three parts of the mind are in constant conflict because each part has a different primary goal” (Mcleod, 2018). Id focuses on unconscious instinctual drives and desires, while ego works as a measurement on what‟s socially right or not, helping id meet its needs. Superego is a place in mind where higher morality resides, encouraging one to act in a socially acceptable way.

This approach is used due to its details in peeling off the skins of one‟s mind.

The human mind is a wide range of fields that can be observed in many ways, and this theory provides all the needs to observe the character‟s mind and behavior.

“All of Freud‟s work depends upon the notion of the unconscious, which is the part of the mind beyond consciousness which nevertheless has a strong influence upon our actions. Freud was not the discoverer of the unconscious: his uniqueness lies in his attributing to it such a decisive role in our lives. Linked with this is the idea of repression, which is the „forgetting‟ or ignoring of unresolved conflicts, unadmitted desires, or traumatic past events, so that they are forced out of conscious awareness and into the realm of the unconscious.” (Barry, 1995, p.96-97)

With psychoanalytic approach, this study will be able to figure out the cause of the character‟s hallucination and psychological problems in every detail. All of the concepts of the psychoanalysis are necessary to help the author of this study figure out what is going on inside the character‟s mind and what the character does that leads to his hallucinations and insanity.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

C. Method of the Study

The primary source of this study is the novel itself. A novel of 393 pages, published in 1999 by Vintage Books United Kingdom, written by Irvine Welsh. This novel, as a primary source, is used to collect evidences and data to answer the problem formulation in this study. Library researches are conducted to help understand how to answer the problem formulation better. Second studies found are

American Psychiatric Association‟s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

Disorders (Fifth Ed.), Paris‟ Imagined Human Beings: A Psychological Approach to

Character and Conflict in Literature, Oatley‟s Entering Another’s Experience: In

Fiction One Can Become Someone Other Than Oneself, Mcleod‟s What Are The Most

Interesting Ideas of Freud? These studies and articles are used to help strengthen the answers of the problem formulation.

The first step of the study was to read the novel several times to gain better understandings of the character and the story. By reading the novel several times, the author was able to construct the missing pieces of answers that were needed in the problem formulation. Not only re-reading the novel was necessary to make the problem formulation, re-reading the novel would also help the author find answers.

With full understandings of the novel and the character, problem formulations were made. The problem formulations were decided by analyzing the novel, while at the same time, the author was researching on other related books, articles, and journals, to help the author determined what specific problem in the novel was best for

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

research. The third step was collecting data, evidence and facts written in the novel that could support the answers of the problem formulation, in order to continue to the fourth step, in which was analyzing the novel based on the collected data and evidences, using psychoanalytic approach. Conclusion was made as the last step when answers are certain and everything was all set and clear. As simple as it may seems, re-reading the novel and other related journals and articles was one of the most crucial steps in doing this research, for it was obligatory for the author to keep the accuracy of the story, as every step of constructing this study that was needed to be done, required numerous times of re-reading re-understanding the novel.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

The novel Filth is presented in a first person point of view of the main character, Bruce Robertson. He is a racist, sexist, homophobic and most importantly manipulative detective who works hard to fulfill his needs and goals. His wife left him and she is taking their daughter with her. Bruce does not focus too much on the divorce because he is too busy working on the prospective promotions from his hated boss, the promotion that he believes will get his life back on track, including getting his family back together. During the process of working on the promotions, Bruce‟s life began to fall apart as he gets deeper and deeper into drugs and alcohol, while simultaneously having his manipulative schemes toward his colleagues and friends backfiring on him. His drug abuse and alcoholism results in severe damage in Bruce‟s mind, creating a character of Bruce‟s consciousness symbolized as the tapeworm

Bruce gets in his stomach for eating a gala pie earlier in the novel. The tapeworm likes to call itself “the self.”

The first part of this chapter focuses on how the author illustrates Bruce‟s interactions between id, ego and superego throughout the novel. The second part of this chapter focuses on how Bruce‟s interactions lead him to his suicide.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

A. Bruce’s Characteristics

In order to have a clearer understanding of the first problem formulations, the writer digs deep into Bruce Robertson‟s characteristics, for it is essential to study the characteristics first to determine which are Bruce‟s id, ego and superego.

Bruce Robertson is the main character in Irvine Welsh‟s Filth, a detective sergeant working at the Edinburgh Police Department. He is shown to have a bitter personality where he does not care about anything or anyone, believes that everyone in the world is playing manipulative games to each other, and that he should do the same to others. He has no one that he considers as friends, and his wife left him for another man. Despite the bitter behavior he has, he is still deeply in love with his wife and is desperate to get her back. His main conflict in the novel is him trying to solve a murder case of a black journalist named Efan Wurie. The murder was considered as race crime and therefore offers a big reward of promotion to whoever solves it. Bruce believes that if he gets the promotion, he will get his wife back. Bruce‟s characteristics are gradually shown during his journey of solving this case.

The writer uses Murphy‟s theory of characterization in order to determine

Bruce‟s characteristics, focusing only on the main character‟s thoughts, or the “eye of

God” method, as Murphy refers it, speech and reaction. Based on Bruce‟s characteristics, the writer defines three elements that are viable for the writer to identify Bruce‟s id, ego and superego, those three elements are the back and forth of

Bruce being a manipulative and impulsive character.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

Id is basically the human instinct that are based on impulses and it is mostly irrational, which fits with Bruce‟s impulsive character. Ego is the one that executes, it decides what the person does based on their instincts and what the person believes is morally right, it mediates the two of those, which fits with Bruce‟s manipulation in order to fulfill his needs and impulses. Superego is the ideals and morals, it punishes the person with guilt every time the person does something that they believe to be morally wrong, and rewards the person with pride every time the person does something that they believe to be morally right, which fits in how Bruce reacts to the things he has done based on following his id. Bruce‟s two dominant characteristics and how Bruce tries to overcome the cause or damage of his manipulation and impulses represents his id, ego and superego.

1. Manipulative

To describe this specific trait of Bruce, the writer uses the elements of thought, or the “eye of God” and speech. Bruce is described as manipulative because the character himself believes that he is manipulative, and he also believes that everyone else is just as manipulative as he is. He believes that it is the only way to survive this cruel life he is having, and he does not want anyone else to manipulate him. Bruce calls this belief as “the game.” Bruce describes this mindset quite early in the novel, as if he is justifying his following actions in the novel to the readers.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

The games are the only way you can survive the job. Everybody has their wee vanities, their own little conceits. My one is that nobody plays the games like me, Bruce Robertson. D.S. Robertson, soon to be D.I. Robertson. The Games are always, repeat, always, being played. Most times, in any organisation, it‟s expedient not to acknowledge their existence. But they‟re always there. (Welsh, 1999: 3)

The monologue above proves Bruce‟s characteristics as a manipulative person, as he himself stated it. There are other examples of manipulative things he does where he is trying to ruin the family of his colleague, Bladesey, by persuading him to have an affair. Bruce does this to distract Bladesey from outrunning Bruce in solving the murder case, while simultaneously trying to have an affair with

Bladesey‟s wife, to fulfill Bruce‟s sexual needs. Bruce starts off by persuading

Bladesey to talk deep about his marriage life, getting him to open up to Bruce.

- Listen Bladesey, my auld mucker, do you mind if I ask you a personal question? - Well, I . . . - You and Bunty, are you shagging her? Bladesey looks at me, then averts his gaze. That cunt‟s no daein any shaggin, no fuckin way. When he starts to speak, he seems embarrassed, but not offended, no that I gie a fuck. - Well . . . eh . . . actually, that side of things haven‟t been too great lately. I nod sternly as Bladesey coughs out his humiliation to me, this wanker actually thinks I care. Wrong! (Welsh, 1999: 40)

Seeing that Bladesey is starting to open up, Bruce then persuades Bladesey into cheating on his wife by shoving Bladesey‟s mind with insecurities, telling

Bladesey that his wife is probably already cheating on him, while at the same time convincing Bladesey that it is his fault that his wife cheats.

- Listen mate, a bit of advice in the affairs-of-the-heart department. With women what you have to do is shag them regularly. Keep them well-

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

fucked and they‟ll do anything for you. Well-shod and well-shagged, that‟s the auld phrase. - You actually believe that? - Course I do. All these stupid spastics at the marriage guidance counsellors: a load of fuckin shite. The root of a marital problem is always sexual. Women like to get fucked, whatever they make out. If you ain‟t fucking the woman you‟re supposed to be with then that creates a vacuum and nature abhors one of them. Sure as fuck some cunt‟ll come along and fill the gap. Fill it with several inches of prime beef. And if she‟s no daein it for you, you go and get your hole somewhaire else. (Welsh, 1999: 41)

Bruce‟s manipulative traits is shown by how he is messing with Bladesey‟s mind solely for his personal purposes and as he clearly states in his mind that he does not care at all about it.

2. Impulsive

Bruce‟s impulsive traits are shown through speech and reactions. Bruce is described as an impulsive character based on how he reacts to certain situations, and how he binges to his needs of sex, drugs, and alcohol. There are some moments in the novel where he knows that giving into his impulses is not what he is supposed to do, but he does it anyway. He is fully aware of it and is not doing anything to stop, even when his consciousness (The self) is reminding him about it.

There is a part of the story when Bruce is going to have sex with his colleague named Chrissie, Bruce knows that doing it will damage his way of getting the promotion, it is not informed in the novel as why would having sex with Chrissie will damage it, but Bruce is quite hesitant to do it at first, but he continues to do it in order to satisfy his needs, needs that he knows only temporary. It is shown in the novel that

Bruce later regrets doing it.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

I pull Chrissie and we start to turn the gas off for each other. The hoor is getting good at this, her that wisnae intae it at all in the first place. - Tighter Bruce . . . tighter . . . she groans, and I feel my own windpipe constrict a few centimetres as she twists her belt. I‟m finding it difficult to keep enthusiastic. I keep thinking about the rivals in the promotion stakes. (Welsh, 1999: 208) As they are done having sex, Bruce later checks himself out on the mirror as he is having a moment of regret, implying that he considers what he has done not right for him.

I collapse on to her, roll off and we doze for a while. I wake up first and inspect the damage. The blood vessels in my eyelids have ruptured and there‟s a thick mark on my neck. I‟m a professional law enforcement officer. I have to deal with public. I can‟t go around looking like this because of that selfish bitch. (Welsh, 1999: 209-210) Bruce‟s impulsiveness is also shown in other parts of the novel that focuses on his drug and alcohol abuse. In this part, Bruce is actually reminded by “the self,”

Bruce‟s own consciousness, symbolized as another character, a tapeworm that has grown its own personality, referring to itself as “the self.” Bruce is on his way on snorting cocaine in his car when “the self” reminds him. “Don’t binge on the coke

Bruce 00Don’t binge on the coke00” (Welsh, 1999:330) Bruce continues to do it despite not only being reminded by his consciousness, Bruce is also surrounded by a lot of people passing by his car when he is doing it.

I get into the motor and I want to snort a line on the dashboard, but there‟s too many cunts around. Desperation takes over and I do it anyway. It‟s as strong as fuck. You have to test the stuff, save wasting police time putting it through the labs. One big snort. (Welsh, 1999:330-331)

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

Bruce‟s characteristics of being impulsive is shown in how weak he is in controlling himself. Most of the time Bruce‟s impulses and urges just gets the best of him, even though he is fully aware of it and continues to regret it in the following moments.

3. Wrathful

Bruce is often shown as a person who is easily triggered in the novel. He is in a state of anger almost every situation he is in. He is impatient and when things get him to feel angrier than he has always been he often jumps right in without thinking of the consequences first every time he faces a situation. There are moments in the story where he grumbles over simple things and actually thinking of doing something violent out of that rage he has.

There is a part in the story where Bruce is being angry at the weather, he is worried that the snow increasing is going to cause traffic in the road and it will ruin his process of investigation. Bruce begins to have murderous thoughts on the kinds of people that he thinks will cause traffic on the road.

The recent snows have frozen over. Of course, this means chaos on the roads with the highway cunts unable to cope. As if they werenae used to bad weather. There‟s a bottleneck stretching from Colinton to fuckin Aberdeen or the likes. THIS HAPPENS EVERY FUCKIN YEAR. I feel like getting out of the car and choking the living shit out of any spastic whose face offends me, which in this case is just about every cunt. (Welsh, 1999: 57) This shows Bruce‟s rage inside of him, the way Bruce does not express his rage outside that often causes him to get stressed out, especially as he is working on

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

his case. In order to compensate the stress of working on the case, Bruce abuse alcohol and drugs during his work hours.

When Bruce is having an argument with his female colleague about what they both love to do in bed, Bruce gets triggered by his female colleague‟s words telling him that he is not manly enough to give her what she needs. Bruce responds in a violent way, almost killing her in the process, but then Bruce stops before he does anything too damaging to her.

How far do you have to go to be like that guy at the south side? Is there a time during the struggle, the struggle for life and breath, when you finally consciously realise that it‟s all fucked and that you‟re going for good? How does it feel? – YOU FUCKIN CHOKE ME THEN! I scream, choking and poking at it, and in the end I have to grab my ain belt and turn off my ain gas soas that I get there, but she does too and I‟m so close to just keep going, increasing the pressure and she sees it in my eyes for a second and I see the panic in hers and I come hard with an accompanying series of muffled heaves. (Welsh, 1999: 117-118) B. Bruce’s Id, Ego, and Superego

In order to solve the second problem formulation, the writer must first reveal

Bruce‟s Id, Ego and Superego, which can be determined through analyzing the results of the first problem formulation, determining which of Bruce‟s characteristics and how Bruce makes decisions towards himself and his surroundings, based on his characteristics show which are his Id, Ego, and Superego.

The author decides to show the reveal of Bruce‟s id, ego and superego through Bruce‟s inner conflicts around what he does to solve his problems and to fulfill his goals. Earlier in the novel, Bruce eats a gala pie that has a tapeworm in it,

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

the tapeworm later starts to talk to him referring itself as “the self” after Bruce starts to consume drugs and alcohol more often. Bruce‟s drug abuse and alcoholism starts as a way of coping his stress and pressures from the problems he himself created by manipulating his friends and colleagues in order to get his promotion. Bruce believes that everyone is also manipulative and in order to win in life you must be better at manipulating people than others. He likes to call it as “the games.”

The games are the only way you can survive the job. Everybody has their own wee vanities, their own little conceits. My one is that nobody plays the games like me, Bruce Robertson, D.S. Robertson, soon to be D.I. Robertson. (Welsh, 1999: 3)

This shows that Bruce believes being manipulative is the right thing to do, something he does not realize will backfires on him later in the novel, causing him to get deeper into drugs and alcohol, which eventually causes the disagreements between id, ego and superego. Bruce believing that being manipulative is the only way to survive shows that he lacks of empathy of others. “Typical Toal, concerned with the state of mind of the cunt that got murdered.” (Welsh, 1999: 5) it means that

Bruce already has problems as an individual to begin with, resulting in an easier way to create disagreements between his id, ego and superego once he consumes more and more drugs as his life starts to fall apart.

1. Id and Ego As it is mentioned before, Id is considered as one‟s instinctive traits of personality, it commonly consists of impulsive urges of one‟s needs. Id has no relation to the outside world and it operates only inside one‟s unconscious mind. “It

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

consists of all the inherited components of personality present at birth, including the sex instinct, and the aggressive instinct.” (Mcleod, 2018)

Ego is how one reacts to the impulses id gives. It influences one‟s mind to decide whether they should follow his instincts or not. Ego helps one decide which of id‟s urges make sense or not. “The ego operates according to the reality principle, working out realistic ways of satisfying the id‟s demands, often compromising or postponing satisfaction to avoid negative consequences of society.” (Mcleod, 2018)

In the analysis below, the writer gives a clearer understanding of which is

Bruce‟s id and which is Bruce‟s ego.

In the beginning of the novel, it is explained that Bruce‟s goal is to solve a murder case of a journalist named Efan Wurie, a case that-if solved-will grant him a promotion promised by Bruce‟s boss, raising his rank from Detective Sergeant to

Detective Inspector. Bruce believes that raising his rank will help him get his ex-wife back. Bruce‟s id is later revealed as his reckless and impulsive methods of solving the case that would help him to get his wife back, for Bruce commit many impulsive attempts that he believes will get him to achieve his goals. As he is a little too in a hurry in achieving his goals, for he is longing for his ex-wife, Bruce began to use furtive ways such as manipulation, drugs and alcohol abuse, for what he believes as an instant way to speed up the investigation of the case. At first, Bruce believes that

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

manipulating his colleagues is not going to hurt anyone, as he believes that everyone is always secretly manipulating each other, which he refers to as “the games.”

The games are always, repeat, always, being played. Most times, in any organization, it‟s expedient not to acknowledge their existence. But they‟re always there (Welsh, 1999: 3). As the story goes on, Bruce‟s consciousness that is symbolized as the tapeworm in his stomach grows and refers itself as “the self,” reminding him that what he is doing is on the contrary to what he deep inside values, leaving Bruce in doubt and guilt of what he has done all this time to solve the case and get his wife back. Bruce‟s consciousness will later be revealed as his superego. However, knowing what he is doing is wrong, Bruce gives in to his impulses, and keeps on manipulating others, abusing drugs and alcohol, because he is so persistent in getting back together with his wife. Bruce giving in to his impulses is later concluded as his ego.

During the investigation, Bruce is tempted to have a sexual interaction with two of the female witnesses, so he plans to blackmail them into giving what he wants, knowing well that the witnesses do not have anything to do with the case besides witnessing it. During this scene, “the self” is already in development and is already reminding, and attempting to prevent Bruce from doing what he knows is wrong.

So just entertaining that wee notion makes me wonder as to whether Mine Host can perceive me, and if so, how this big creature feels about me? Because here I am, thinking that this host, due to his greater complexity is probably an empiricist; believing that intelligence can only be inferred from behavior, which I know to be false. I know this as what I

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

feel in my soul does not correspond with the constraints my physical form puts on me. (Welsh, 1999: 71) Despite all the speech “the self” gives, Bruce gives in to his impulses and continue trying to interrogate the girls with the “Special Bruce Robertson

Interrogation” as Bruce refers it.

I mean, you arenae gaunny go intae Chelsea Girl or Next or River Island and have a wank over a load ay tops or pairs ay troosers or skirts hingin oan a rack, are you? No unless you‟re some sad cunt like my wee mate Bladesey. Anyway, I‟ll pull on these wee slags for some of the special Bruce Robertson interrogation. If ayy nighteengaahhle could seeng like yooo. (Welsh, 1999: 71) Bruce does this again to a young lady as he is visiting her house for some questions. She happens to be home alone at the time and Bruce catches her having sex with her boyfriend and possessions of drugs. She begs Bruce not to tell her father and Bruce offers her a deal that if she gives him a blowjob, he is not going to tell her father what happened.

-please . . . I‟ll do anything . . . don‟t tell him! She squeaks. -Well, I‟ll tell you how it‟s going to be. You listening to me? Because I‟ll say this once. Okay? She looks up and nods slowly at me. I can‟t see much of Donaldson in her. I‟m not sure whether it‟s good or bad. -you suck my cock and we‟re square. And you suck it good. Okay? (Welsh, 1999: 93) Bruce also manipulates one of his colleagues, a woman named Karen Fulton, to give him special treatments in the investigations of the case, and to fulfill Bruce‟s sexual needs. Bruce tricked her into thinking that they are both in love with each

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

other. As the story goes on, Bruce began to feel like Karen‟s not quite of a help anymore, which results in him dumping her. Karen eventually realizes what Bruce has done to her, and she decides to confront him.

-I‟m sorry . . . I had to talk to you. About what you said a couple of weeks ago, did you really mean it? -What? What was that? -The other week Bruce . . . You told me you loved me, remember? Or was that just something you made up because you thought I wanted to hear it? -I don‟t think that was what I said. What I said, if you remember, was that I could fall in love with you easily. But I also said that if I gave you love, spiritual love, you would have to be strong enough to take it. Remember? (Welsh, 1999:109) Bruce has done sexual manipulation towards his female colleagues a dozen times, most of them resulting in false love and heartbreaks, leaving all the women he approaches wanting him and chase him around. He does this to get easier shortcuts in solving his problems, including the case that is a ticket to his promotion. As Bruce is on the phone with his female colleague, Bruce informs her that she is not allowed to see Bruce anymore, and Bruce tells her that there is no point in the relationship that they are having at the moment, Bruce tells her that it is just for sex. His female colleague cannot accept that as she is already in love with him. “- I need to see you!

Pleeeassssse . . . – Be there Bruce, please don‟t let me down . . .” (Welsh, 1999: 326)

Bruce never once thinks about his wife when he is manipulating those women. However, once the thought of his ex-wife Carole crosses his mind, he realizes how guilty he is, for he is also brokenhearted, but even with his realization of

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

his guilt he still gives into his impulses on manipulating others, because he is still mixed with his beliefs of “the games,” the belief of everyone constantly being manipulative to others to achieve their goals. As he considers his goal extremely important, he ignores all his consciousness including the advice of “the self,” and continue to follow his impulses, even though there is one time where Carole crosses his mind as he is on his way on having sex with a woman who has fallen in love with him. This results in mix feelings of guilt and urge of following his impulses.

I pull away, but she‟s still coming on, this fucking cackling witch, her mocking, vicious hoor‟s eyes; and I‟m pulling hr hands away, but I‟m stiffening against my will. – Leave me . . . leave me . . . -C‟moan . . . I‟m shivering and trembling and I need my Charlie, it‟s in my pocket, and I need to see Shirley or Carole . . . she‟s the one I need. (Welsh, 1999: 332) Bruce‟s impulses are the symbolization of id, as his impulses are often unconscious and are not based on something Bruce completely need. These impulses are mostly sexual needs and starvations of drugs and other substances, which he believes will help him achieve his main goal. Mcleod stated that “The id is the impulsive part of our psyche responds directly and immediately to basic urges, needs, and desires.” (Mcleod, 2018) This statement suits Bruce‟s impulses that are shown in the novel. “The self” constant appearance in almost every time Bruce is doing or trying to do something contrary to his conscious is a decent support to identify

Bruce‟s impulse as his id.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

How Bruce is almost always giving in to his impulses is the symbolization of his Ego, as ego plays a role in making decisions on whether one should do as the id pleases or, postpone their satisfactions depending on how the society will accept it or not. “Often the ego is weak relative to the headstrong id, and the best the ego can do is stay on, pointing the id in the right direction and claiming some credit at the end as if the action were its own.” (Mcleod, 2018) In the novel, it is shown how Bruce‟s ego is not in control of Bruce‟s id, as Bruce frequently follows the impulses he has.

2. Superego

The superego is one‟s understandings of moral values of society obtained from one‟s parents and environments as they grow up. It controls id‟s urges, specifically the ones that are not socially acceptable, depending on one‟s moral values. It is the one who reminds the ego which are morally acceptable and which are not, and when ego fails to comply and gives into id‟s impulses, superego will provide punishments in forms of guilt. “Behavior which falls short of the ideal self may be punished by superego through guilt.” (Mcleod, 2018) The analysis below gives a better understanding of Bruce‟s superego.

Bruce‟s superego first appears when Bruce eats his gala pie, which happens to be the same time the author shows Bruce expressing his longing for his ex-wife

Carole. This is also the part where his consciousness first shows up, symbolized as the tapeworm inside his stomach. Bruce consciousness, symbolized as tapeworm is later concluded as Bruce‟s superego. The tapeworm first appears introducing itself as

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

“the self” and has not shown any proof of it being Bruce‟s superego, it is rather shown as a new character. The author uses speech balloon every time “the self” tries to speak to Bruce. The author also uses a lot of the number “0” in between words spoken by “the self” to emphasize absurdness.

00000000000000000000000I0000000I am0000000000000000 I am a 00000000000 I am alive0000000000000000000000000000000000I am alive0000000000000 I am soft and I am weak 00000000000000000000000I must grow000000000 I must eat (Welsh, 1999: 24)

The author shows that “the self‟s” growth indicates that Bruce‟s life begins to fall apart, as it is followed by Bruce‟s narration of him missing his wife, who has left him for quite a long time before the story even begins. “I sense the space beside me and I grab at her dressing gown and hold it tightly. It still has her smell.” (Welsh,

1999: 24)

“The self” grows stronger and stronger. The author shows the growth of the growth of the self‟s with the growth of its speech balloon that starts to cover the whole main conversation between Bruce and other characters, implying that Bruce cannot concentrate on others as his consciousness speaks to him so loudly in his mind, with more words to offer, as if it is another living being inside his head.

“0000Feed me host00000000000000000000000000000 I travel through the inside of this vessel, growing, filling its cavernous voids, to utilize its space and become one with it.” (Welsh, 1999: 55) “The self‟s” growth would later become his superego, as the words spoken to Bruce would later become more of a suggestion, or inner guilt, rather than a self-existence claim. For instance, Bruce is constantly

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

reminded of his dark past and mistakes, and being constantly reminded of how much of a bad person he is every time he tries to lie, manipulate others, or when he uses drugs and drink alcohol.

Eat Bruce eat! I wish I could make you eat more. You’re a terrible man. There was somebody who could always make you eat. I sense this. Just moving around inside you I can feel all your ghosts. You’ve internalized them Bruce.000000000000000000000000000000000000000 I can sense one that looms large in your life. 0000000000000000000000000000Ian Robertson was his name.00 (Welsh, 1999: 242) As “the self” grows stronger, Bruce began to feel anxious over everything he is doing, implying that deep inside Bruce knows that all the manipulation and drug abuses that he is doing is considered immoral, resulting in the guilt trips he is having over the words spoken by “the self” every time Bruce tries to do anything. During

Bruce‟s manipulation towards Bunty, his colleague‟s wife, into having an affair with him, Bruce is reminded by “the self” that being manipulative to others will only results in loneliness, pain and suffering. “How can you live like this Bruce, like the way you’ve made us live, alone in this world?” (Welsh, 1999: 301) As Bruce tries to consume cocaine, “The self” remind him not to consume it. “Don’t binge on the coke Bruce00Don’t binge on the coke00” (Welsh, 1999: 330) Bruce later decides to ignore “the self” and continue to consume the cocaine, as Bruce states that the color of cocaine is white, and it is clean, not black and filthy, denying his consciousness, implying that doing cocaine is good and not sinful.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

Coke for fuel, coke for energy. Have a coke and a smile. Coking coal. This is white, not black; clean, not filth. You never eat coke. You just snort it up. (Welsh, 1999: 330) In Saul Mcleod‟s “What are the most interesting ideas of Freud?” Mcleod states that “The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from one‟s parents and others.” (Mcleod, 2018) With “the self” being the symbolization of Bruce‟s consciousness, reminding him what a bad person he is every time he does something related to drugs, alcohol, and manipulation, it can be concluded that “The self” is Bruce‟s superego. As “the self” reminds Bruce of the sins he have commit, Bruce is left feeling guilty for what he has done, which suits the form of punishments superego provides when the person gives in to their desires, and on the other way around, when a person behaves properly according to their superego, superego will grant them pride and joy, which coincidentally has never been done by Bruce, making “the self” as his superego provides only guilt for all the things he has done throughout the novel.

Behaviour which falls short of the ideal self may be punished by the superego through guilt. The super-ego an also reward us through the ideal self when we behave „properly‟ by making us feel proud. If a person‟s ideal self is too high a standard, then whatever the person does will represent failure. The ideal self and conscience are largely determined in childhood from parental values and how you were brought up. (Mcleod, 2018) It is never explained in the novel how Bruce gain his beliefs of his moral.

There is no flashbacks or any background childhood stories ever told either by Bruce, or other characters around him. “The self” is the only character ever mentioning

Bruce‟s beliefs indirectly, stating that Bruce should not give into his impulses and

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

needs of drugs and sex, telling Bruce that it is wrong to manipulate others for his personal purposes. Based on how “the self” states it, it can be concluded that Bruce‟s moral beliefs is the opposite of what Bruce has been doing this whole time. How

Bruce eventually feels guilty after “the self‟s” several attempts prove that Bruce is doing deeds that are against his own moral codes. His “game” that he mentions earlier in the novel is just his excuse of doing what he does, manipulating others, falling into his lusts and impulses, and hurting others, in order to solve the case and get the promotion he needs.

C. The Interactions between Bruce’s Id, Ego, and Superego Resulting in His

Suicide.

To solve the third problem formulation, the writer sums up Bruce‟s inner conflict and analyzes it based on Freud‟s psychoanalytic theory of id, ego and superego.

At the end of the novel, Bruce eventually commits suicide. It is caused by

Bruce‟s guilty feelings of not being able to control himself, and realizing at the end that nothing he does will affect his broken marriage, despite all the illegal acts he has done.

Bruce is pictured as an extremely manipulative and impulsive person, he is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. In most cases, he believes that many of the things he wants to do is a necessity for solving the murder case that will grant him his promotion. Bruce also believes that the promotion will get him back

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

together with his wife, thus making him competitive towards his colleagues who are also aiming for the promotion. He uses a lot of ways to solve the case and to get his colleagues off his way, most of those ways are considered as illegal and morally wrong; drugs and alcohol abuse, tricking his female colleagues to fall in love with him, and messing with his colleague‟s mind, making his colleague thinks that his wife is cheating on him, thus making him lose focus of the case.

It is shown in the novel that Bruce eventually realizes his wrong doings, as

“the self‟s” increasing appearance throughout the novel, reminding Bruce that what he is doing is wrong. However, Bruce does it anyway, keeping his guilt of it in a jar, pretending to believe that it is the right way of solving the case due to his beliefs of

“the games” that everyone is always manipulating each other in order to get what they want. This goes on and on until Bruce himself is eventually caught for his actions. Bruce never really admits that he regrets it, but “the self” being his conscious thoughts, symbolized as a humanized tapeworm in his body, constantly shows that

Bruce is indirectly sorry for his actions, but it is already too late and all the damages are done. Bruce then commits suicide for it. After Bruce‟s death, the tapeworm falls off of his anus and states that “the self” is going to die, and it is such a pity that Bruce never complies to any of “the self‟s” advice.

It is explained in the first problem formulation analysis that “the self” is

Bruce‟s superego, Bruce‟s impulses being his Id, and Bruce‟s response to his impulses is his ego. Simply put, Bruce is constantly having a battle with himself

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

throughout the novel, on whether or not should he be doing what he is doing to achieve the promotion that he believes is going to get him back together with his wife. It is specifically a battle between Bruce‟s id and Bruce‟s superego, a battle between Bruce‟s impulses and what Bruce believes to be socially acceptable decisions, what Bruce believe is morally right, based on what he is taught as he grow up. Bruce keeps on giving into his impulses, which leads to him getting caught, and he then regrets it, he feels guilty for his actions, which is the punishment form the superego gives when the ego gives in to the id. The events in the novel which the battle between the superego and id occurrs is explained above in the dialogues shown first research questions section. All the dialogues above revolves around Bruce giving into his impulses and regretting it afterwards, which all piles up to angry suicidal thoughts that leads him into suicide.

“Now that we‟ve told her to come, all we can do is sit and wait. And prepare. Prepare to do the cow. For good 00000000000 be reasonable Bruce0000000000000000000000 nothing is so bad that it can’t be made better0000000000000000 maybe not with her, but you have your whole life ahead of you 000000000000000 please00” (Welsh, 1999: 391)

Even then “the self” still reminds him to stay alive and keep going, and still

Bruce chooses to ignore it and kills himself, stating that he is consumed by guilt and he just cannot take it anymore, meaning that his superego is too strong for him to handle, and that he chooses to run from it.

“It‟s horrible how we always die alone, but no worse than living alone. 00000000000DON’T BRUCE00000000000000000DON’T BRUCE00000” (Welsh, 1999: 392)

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

Bruce dies out of shame and guilt that he piles up gradually since “the self” first appears and reminds him of his mistakes, trying to prevent him from making mistakes, and telling him that deep down inside Bruce knows that what he does is not what he is supposed to do. This shows that Bruce‟s instability of his id, ego, and superego leads him to his demise. “The self” punishes him with guilt and remorse as

Bruce keeps on doing what he knows is wrong.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

The novel Filth shows Bruce‟s journey in making his life better, which results in his own demise due to his lack of self-control caused by the instability of his id, ego and superego. The discussion of this study shows the relation of Bruce‟s suicide with his id, ego and superego by digging deep into Bruce‟s characteristics. Their relations to one another are revealed after discussing on determining which of

Bruce‟s characteristics fit into Bruce‟s id, ego and superego, for they shape Bruce into who he is in the novel.

Bruce‟s way of dealing his problems play a big role in his suicide. As the way he solve things are highly influenced by his characteristics, specifically the characteristics that fit into what his id, ego and superego is. The discussion of this study proves that Bruce‟s desire to solve the case that he believes will get him his wife back, and the impulses of doing the case solving methods that he have is the symbolism of Bruce‟s id, it is his instincts, and how it is mostly done unconsciously without thinking of the consequences are the symbolism of his ego. Bruce like to think that what he is doing is acceptable and would not be a problem to anyone including himself, and this is where superego comes into place.

Bruce knows deep down in his heart that he is doing highly illegal and immoral things, but he does it anyway for his id is so strong that his ego chooses to

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

do the things he desired, instead of looking at the bigger picture of what is right and what is wrong. Little does he know that Bruce‟s superego is slowly creeping on his shoulders to remind him of all the wrong things he is doing to solve the case that he believes will get him his wife back. This causes guilt that grows gradually throughout the story, which consumes Bruce more and more as he keeps giving into his impulses. Bruce never admit it verbally in the novel, although Bruce‟s inner voice

“the self” states clearly that he feels guilty. Eventually his guilt grows so strong and he finally sees the damage he has caused. Realizing that it is too late for him to fix anything, Bruce gives in to the last symbolization of his id, which is to run away from the problems he has caused for himself and for others. He cannot take the pressure of guilt given by his superego and it drives him into his suicide.

This study has revealed Bruce‟s id, ego and superego, and how the relation between the three elements results in his suicide. Bruce‟s desire in getting his wife back is the root to his impulses in solving the case, which represents his id, how

Bruce always decides to give into his impulses represents his ego, and Bruce‟s inner voice “the self” constantly reminding him of his mistakes and making him feel guilty is his superego. The battle between Bruce‟s ego and superego is the root of why

Bruce commits suicide. The superego ended up winning the battle is what triggers

Bruce to finally commit.

This study shows that understanding a character in a literary work with a psychological aspect can get a deeper understanding of what the arc of the character

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

actually means. The advantage of applying psychoanalysis on a fictional character in a literary work will help one point out the conflicts inside the character that the story does not shown explicitly, which can be much more realistic when it is only the root of the conflict that is compared and reflected to one‟s reality, in this case, not specifically on Bruce‟s suicide, but more on his lack of self-control as a result of the instability of his Id, Ego, and Superego. It helps understand Bruce‟s lack of self- control and relating to it, without having to involve Bruce‟s suicide as the result of his lack of self-control and picture it on one‟s consequences of their lack of self-control in their reality.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

REFERENCES

Ackerman, Courtney E. (2019). Psychoanalysis: A Brief History of Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory. Retrieved from https://positivepsychology.com/psychoanalysis/

American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. pp. 74–85.

Barry, Peter. (1995). Journal. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory.

Luntungan, Geovanny Reinita Deborah. Lawrence Wargrave‟s Forbidden Aggressive Urges to Kill in Christie‟s And Then There Were None: A Psychoanalytic Study. Thesis. Yogyakarta, Sanata Dharma University, 2019.

Mcleod, Saul. (2018). Article. What Are The Most Interesting Ideas of Freud? Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html

Moncrieff, John Scott. (2018). 2018 Saltire Literary Awards Shortlist Unveiled at Special Event in Edinburgh. Retrieved from https://www.saltiresociety.org.uk/news/2018/10/22/2018-saltire-literary- awards-shortlist-unveiled-at-special-event-in-edinburgh

Murphy, Murtagh John (1972). Understanding Unseens: an Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students. London, Allen and Unwin pp. 160–161

Oatley, Keith. (2012). Article. Entering Another’s Experience: In Fiction One Can Become Someone Other Than Oneself. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-psychology- fiction/201208/entering-anothers-experience

Paris, Bernard J. (1997). Journal Article. Imagined Human Beings: A Psychological Approach to Character and Conflict in Literature

Windrya, Satya Wastu. Oedipus Complex Revealed Within Kafka Tamura in Haruki Murakami‟s Kafka On the Shore. Thesis. Yogyakarta, Sanata Dharma University, 2018.