INFOKARA RESEARCH ISSN NO: 1021-9056
Unconscious Mental Processes and Psychoneuroses:A
Psychoanalytical Study of IsaacAsimov’sThe Naked
Sun
Abstract
This paper deals with the psychological aspects ofIsaacAsimov’s The Naked Sunprovide a suitable
means of studying the genre of Science-Fiction in terms of its Psychoneuroses elements. In his
novel, The Naked Sun, about robots,Asimov has made a consistent effort to transform the attitude
of people by suggesting that robots too could be taken as human partners. Further, he has
presented these robots as incorruptible, divine and a better breed. In this novel Asimov has tried to
imaginatively depict changes in human behaviour in the days to come. Hence, he has projected
thickly populated worlds against thinly populated worlds, and worlds with large number of robots
against robots less societies to study the change in the attitude of the Homo sapiens in this novel.
The future worlds are also characterised by great advancements in the fields of science and
technology. The base so formed helps to study the socio-psychological adjustments of the people
of the future.
Keywords: Psychoneuroses, Science-Fiction, Psychological, Robots, Future
Author: Girisha D, PhD Research Scholar, Department of English, Annamalai University,
Annamalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu.
&
Assistant Professor of English
Government First Grade College of Arts Science and Commerce
Jyothi Nagar, Sira. Karnataka state. PIN-572137
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Co-author: Dr. C. Shanmugasundaram, Assistant Professor of English, Department of English,
Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu
Unconscious Mental Processes and Psychoneuroses:A Psychoanalytical Study of
IsaacAsimov’s The Naked Sun
Isaac Asimov is extensively regarded a champion of the science fiction genre. The prolific
writer is well-known for his fictional works of science fiction and for his many non-fictional
books, including several genres, guides to the bible and science, mystery novels, commentaries on
literature and history. The early twentieth-century dystopian science works were the cause for
technophobia. But Asimov with his optimistic vision created utopian works for more than four
decades and for five decades Isaac Asimov remained one of the central figures of science fiction.
In his introduction to Hallucination Orbit: Psychology in Science Fiction Asimov asserts
“psyche” originally in Greek stand for breathand later in English it comes to mean soul. Asimov
clarifies psycheto mean “most apt to use not soul, but mind”(4). Sigmund Freud has
conceivedanidea of clinical therapy to explore the functioning of the human mind; perhaps, the
most important accentuation in his novels is on the concept thatmost human mental activity is
unconscious, and that the elemental source ofpsyche, libido, is sexual. The remarkable
amongFreud’s contributions is theconcept of Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is a systematic
structure of ideasregarding the interrelation of unconscious and conscious psychological
processes.It is a technical action for exploring unconscious mental processes andis also adopted
for treating psychoneuroses.In “Jacques Lacan and the Adventure of Insight: Psychoanalysis in
Contemporary Culture,” Shoshana Felmansays:
Of all Freud’s followers, Lacan has, more than others picked up on the radicality of
Freud’s pedagogical concern with didactic psychoanalysis, not only as a subsidiary
technical, pragmatic question ... but as a major theoretical concern, as a major
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pedagogical investigation crucial to the very innovation of psychoanalytic insight.
(89)
Robotic works prior to Asimov have negated the use of robots inhuman society. They are
presented as metallic non-talkative soulless creatures.Their presence creates a threat that they
might steal the jobs of the workingclass. But Asimov’s robotistic works exhibit the merits of the
plausible robothumancoexistence. A study of consumer psychology as depicted in
Asimov’srobotics will be taken up in this section to bring out how his writing worked asan
advertisement media to boost up the production and sale of robots.
During the 1940s, the impact of the Second World War nullified theefforts of the science
writers. They could no longer glorify the merits of themachine. It was a challenge for the writers
to heal the ruptures. Asimov hasadvocated the positive aspects of science.
Asimov gradually presents noble robots, which are fitted withthe three laws of robotics. He
propagates through these works that robots aresafe, dutiful, and friendly. In his novels, Asimov
has gone a step further topresent robots as detective partners. Ultimately he brings home the point
thatrobots will decide the destiny of the human race. Asimov has tried to bridgethe gap between
the producer and the consumer.
Asimov is the first Science-Fiction writer who has humanised the machines throughhis
writings. Further, the principalindicationneeded to fix the murder mystery of thejuvenile
experiences of Asimov at candy-stores of his father might have madeample force to him to deal
with consumerpsychology in his robotisticnovels also. In his introductions to therobotic novels, he
has echoed the reality that prior writers haveenvisionedrobots as demons and the rival of human
beings. He has also said thatformerfictional works on robotics haveportrayed a general theme of
robots beingconceived and then in turn killing their creators. Robots are created andcustomarily
destroyed. Allegorically, the robots in Asimov’s novels moderately and sympathetically portray
the working-class.
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Asimov affirms that roboticists hold the Three Laws of Roboticsearnestly as an optimal for
safety while making robots. Consumer-psychology gets stressed in Asimov’s novels. In Gold:The
Final Science Fiction Collection, Asimov asserts that his novelshave persuaded the robot makers
who have regarded the positivefacets of his vision in making robots in factories.
Asimov’s novel, The Naked Sun, deals with the problems of colonisation, detective
elements, andpsychology.Solaria have always maintained a constant ratio of one human being
totwenty thousand robots. In this regard Solaria is the inverted image of Earth.Hence, The Naked
Sun is not constructed on a monolithic structural base. Thetheme centres on finding a solution to
the murder of Dr.RikaineDelmarreafefologist in Solaria. The same detectives namely, Elijah and
Daneel teamtogether for investigation in this novel also. They watch a suicide and see amurder
over a trimensional device. In addition Elijah is asked to report toEarth about the conspiracy that
the Outer Worlds have hatched to destroyEarth.
Gladia Solaria wife of Dr.RikaineDelmarre the prime suspect makesher debut in this
novel. In addition the novel introduces Attlebish- the ActingHead of Security; Leebig a roboticist;
Quemot a sociologist; KlorissaCantorothe assistant of Dr.Rikaine; Dr.Thool, a physician and the
Head of SecurityGruer.It seems that Asimovian acrophobic and agoraphobic tendencies
aretransferred to the protagonist Elijah. In this regard, Elijah also dislikes travelling by air. Like
Asimov, often Elijah is interested in watching the sky. The Solarians never attempt to see one
another personallybecause, ‘seeing’ is a taboo for them. Instead they meet over a
trimensionaldevice sitting miles apart. This system is called ‘viewing.’
On Solaria Elijah is forced to carry out the investigation by viewingonly. To begin his
investigation, Elijah views Gruer. The latter is as bad asthe naked sun.Gruer explains to Elijah
how the fetologistDr.Rikaine met hisdeath. The crux of the problem has intensified, as the weapon
of destructionhas not been discovered. Similarly, the motive for the murder is also unknown.Due
to circumstantial evidence, it appears as though Gladia has murdered herhusband. While they are
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discussing the murder by using a viewing device,Gruer is also murdered through poisoning. Later,
Elijah narrowly escapes froma poisoned arrow shot by a boy Bik when Elijah is interrogating
KlorissaCantaro the assistant fetologist of the victim.
During his interrogation, Elijah comes to know that Gladia was theonly human present
during the time of her husband’s death. Dr.Thool hadattended on her afterwards. Elijah feels that
unless he comes out of theenclosure of his claustrophobic tendencies, he will not be able to solve
theproblem. He speculates that the solution is available only outside the walls. Hedecides to
expose himself to the ‘Naked Sun’ in order to accustom himself toits luminosity. Elijah concludes
that he cannot overcome his phobia as long asDaneel is with him: Daneel’s possession of the laws
of robotics is a hindrancefor Elijah’s free movement. Therefore, Elijah stymies Daneel. Thus, The
Naked Sun is dominated by the character of Elijaharound who centres plot, characterisation,
motive, and the action of thenovel. Meanwhile, Elijah finds out the clue to the murder
mysteryaccidentally.
Daneel could comprehend only the literally meaning of thecommand, ‘give me a hand.’ It
seems that Asimov has elaborately developedthe entire novel based on this point: Daneel’s
confusion provides a clue toElijah to solve the murder mystery of Dr.Rikaine. Therefore, Elijah
holds aconference comprising Gladia, Attlebish, Leebig, Quemot, Klorissa, andDr.Thool to
analyse the murder case. Elijah analyses the case with three majordetective elements: motive,
opportunity, and means.
To begin with, motive might be subjective. While mental disharmonymay be attributed as
Gladia’s motive, Dr.Leebig’s relation with Dr.Rikainehas deteriorated after the latter’s public
humiliation. Similarly, Klorissa’smotive to murder Dr.Rikaine could have stemmed from a desire
to head thefetology engineering department. Though it may be a minor cause, Quemotalso has a
motive, as he has been frequently defeated in chess by the deceased.Any one of the above could
have murdered Dr.Rikaine. But Elijah points out that motive alone are insufficient to solve the
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case.Shifting to the point of opportunity, Elijah points out that only Gladiahad an opportunity to
murder her husband as she alone could reach him by‘seeing’. Since, motive and opportunity were
not convincing enough to deducethe murderer; Elijah considers the point of means for the murder.
In order tohave a better focus Elijah argues and dravi’s inferences by means ofeliminating most of
the distracting elements. Accordingly, the murder couldhave been committed either by
Mrs.Rikaine or by others. If she were themurderess, a weapon should have been identified at the
murder scene. Byanalysis Elijah infers that apart from the deceased and his unconscious wife,
arobot was also present. Though the robot is not the murderer, it could haveserved as a weapon.
In Gruer’s murder case, the murder might have been committed by thecombination of the
functions of two robots. The robots generally accept thestatements made by human masters at face
value. Similarly, a robot mighthave handed over a poisoned arrow to Bik to shoot at Elijah in
Klorissa’s farm.Elijah had suggested to Leebig in the earlier part of the novel that the threelaws of
robotics require modification as follows: “A robot may do nothingthat, to its knowledgewill do
not harm a human being; nor, through inaction,knowingly,allow a human being to come to harm”
(195). Interrelating the threecases, Elijah points out that the robots were innocent. Each robot is
designedto perform a single function. The murder of Dr.Rikaine is accomplished by
thecombination of various functions performed by more than one robotindividually. Each robot is
unaware of the task done by other robots in thisteamwork. Elijah refers to the incident without
mentioning the name ofDaneel, that on the previous day a robot had got confused in
comprehendingthe implied meaning of the command ‘Give me a hand.’ In this
regard,Dr.Rikaineis experimenting with a new system of detachable limbs of arobot. As Gunn
points out, in a ‘locked room’ murder mystery in a specialScience fiction sense, detachable limbs
form another ironical example of aC/Fe culture. The roboticist Leebig is the only competent
expert who knowsabout robots with detachable limbs. Hence, he is one of the suspects in thecase.
He has a double-edged motive. On the one hand, he suspects thatDr.Rikaine’s invention of a robot
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with a detachable limb might beideologically and professionally contradictory to his stand. On the
other hand,it is an opportunity for him to take revenge against Mrs.Rikaine. In fact, shehas
previously rejected his offer to work under him. Therefore, Leebig mighthave given an instruction
to the robot with detachable limbs to hand over oneof its limbs to Mrs.Rikaine whenever the
couple quarrels. Though robotmaintenance and repairs are the specialities of Solaria, Dr. Leebig
hasdeliberately destroyed the evidence, a fact which is the convincing proof toestablish
Dr.Leebig’s guilt. Further, Leebig has planned to conquer the Galaxy,by building spaceships with
positronic brains. The robots could be informedthat only Solaria have human beings and they
would smash the enemy’s spaceships even if they are human ships.
Hence, Dr.Leebig commitssuicide after confessing his guilt. But the writer does not
convict Gladia. Afterthe conference, Elijah meets Gladia. Then she has overcome her
Solariantaboo; hence she prepares to migrate to Aurora.Back home, Elijah meets Minnim to give
an account of the political,economic, sociological, colonial, and psychological structures of his
findingsabout the Outer Worlds. Accordingly, robots are both the strength andweakness of
Solarians. Further Elijah infers that without the interaction of humanbeingsagainst human beings,
the mainconcern in life is gone; majority of the intellectual ethicsare gone; majority of the reason
for living is gone.“Viewing is no substitute forseeing” (99).Thus, the character Elijah upholds the
merits of community living.Also he advocates that life would be happier if Earth could colonise
theuninhabited worlds with the help of robots. If Solaria is the inside out of Earth,there must be
another ideal world where a semblance of harmony could exist.That is the planet
Aurora.Dr.RikaineDelmarre in The Naked Sun is to find the weapon used forthe murder. Elijah
fixes the issue at the closure of the novel by interpretinghow he know about the experimentation
regarding themovable limbs of robots and the weakness of robots to understand idiomaticEnglish.
Phobias as a tool of psychoanalysis also help to study Asimov’s works.Acrophobia is the
fear of the mind to travel in a higher place. Asimov’sacrophobic tendencies did not allow him to
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pay the last homage to his parents.Similar to Asimov’s traits the opening lines in The Naked Sun
describeElijah’s mental condition:
Stubbornly Elijah Baley fought panic.For two weeks it had been building up.
Longer than that even...Partly it was the sense of urgency introduced by anyorder
for plane travel. Partly it was the thought of the plane;simply that. Still that was
just the beginning of uneasiness and,as yet, easy to suppress ... So, while plane
travel is neverpleasant, it would, at least, not be a complete step into theunknown.
(1)
Jessie, Elijah’s wife, is also acrophobic. She has never been airborneand also has a terror’ for
flight. She suggests to Elijah, “But I don’t like you totake a plane,Elijah. It isn’t natural” (1).
When space travel becomes absolute ashis professional requisite, Elijah resists travelling in an
enclosed ground car onSolaria. “Baley had lived long with duty to allow even the overwhelming
factof open space to stop him in its performance”(2). Elijah asked Daneel, “Canthe car’s top be
pushed back? Can it be made open to the - the sky?” (29). Daneelhad a great concern for the
safety of Elijah. He wanted to prevent Elijah fromexposing him to the harmful ‘Naked Sun.’
Therefore Daneel resists followingthe orders issued by Elijah. As a result, Elijah’s anxiety
doubles, “Baley couldfeel his face darkening with an influx of blood and at the same time could
feelthe complete uselessness of anger” (30). However, the novel exhibits not onlyElijah’s
acrophobic tendencies, but also his success in overcoming this kind ofa phobia.
In conclusion, the psychoanalytical study pioneered by Freud and hisdisciples aspires to
trace the cause for the abnormal behaviour of patients.Though it began to diagnose the symptoms
of a patient by means of therapy, aparallel growth could also be witnessed in the field of theory,
which traced theroot cause of anxiety first to early childhood experiences, and later toinsufficient
sexual libido.Asimov hasexploited the idea of the unconscious to construct his novel The Naked
Sun. It can also be inferred that Asimov has an excessive lovefor robots. Through the narration
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Asimov has raised the statusof robots from metallic non-talkative machines to humaniform robots.
Someof them have been endowed with telepathic devices in his fictional works.Thus, it can be
observed that the writer has a missionary zeal in convincing thereaders about the positive effect of
technology. Asimov is successful inpresenting the robots, which are inferior to man. But the
problem ariseswhenever the writer deals with robots which are equal to or treated as masterof
men. In such cases, the people of the fictional world transgress the norms ofsociety. To them,
robots should not be mind reading robot-like; they cannot be egocentric orcompete with man on a
similar footing. Robots cannotrespond to human emotions as is depicted or beefficient and
intelligent as men. In other words, man does not allow a robot toattain the status of a human
being. At the same time, man cannot become asefficient and dutiful as a robot. Hence, man has
developed an inferioritycomplex. Therefore, Asimov does not impose law of humanics on man in
anyof his fictional works. He thus returns to the starting point to make a newbeginning. Asimov
returns to the Frankenstein motif in The Naked Sun as an ultimate robotic story. It ensures that the
thematic cycle inAsimovian robotics is complete.
References
Asimov, Isaac.The Naked Sun. New York: Bantam, 1991. Print.
---. Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection. London: Harper Collins,1995. Print.
---. Hallucination Orbit: Psychology in Science Fiction. NewYork: Farar Straus Giroux,
1983. Print.
Felman, Shoshana. Jacques Lacan and the Adventure of Insight: Psychoanalysis in
Contemporary Culture. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1987. Print.
Freud, Sigmund. A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis. New York:
`Washington Square P, 1952. Print.
Hassler, Donald M.Isaac Asimov. Mercer Island: Starmont, 1991. Print.
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