Christopher Boone Superego

The human brain is the most complex and complicated organ in the human body that controls the most simplest things in life. When there is a conflict between the different parts of the brain, there can be physical, mental and emotional complications. Sigmund Freud proposed the Tripartite mind to try to explain the communications and workings of the conscious and unconscious. The pyramid is made of three major parts: the id, the superego and the ego. The id is entirely in the unconcious and encompases the parts of the mind driven by desires and urges of the most primal nature. The superego is mostly in the unconscious and partially in the conscious. It is typically shaped by teachers and parents to conform to social norms, therefore working in
It is what is presented to the world and is the balance between the id and the superego. When there is a conflict between the id and the superego, major and detrimental issues can occur to the conscious. Christopher Boone, in The Curious Case of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, is a young boy with behavioral issues. The novel is told through his perspective as he writes “a murder mystery novel” (4). This novel gradually transitions from Christopher’s attempt to solving the murder of a dog named Wellington, to him trying to trying to reconnect with his mother whom he assumes has been deceased. Throughout the novel, the reader is further guided through his elaborate mind, and finds that that there seems to be a constant conflict between his id and superego. However, his id is hyperactive, and seems to prevail in most
Being told one’s father murdered a dog is overwhelming, but with people like Christopher, it is even more difficult to cope with disturbances because his version of reality tends to be already warped without his id taking over. For Christopher, the only option is “to get out of the house” (122). In the heat of the moment and all of the trauma bombarding Christopher’s emotions, he decides “[father] could murder me, because I couldn’t trust him, even though he said ‘Trust me’, because he had told a lie about a big thing” (122). This causes Christopher to run away to his mother’s house in a completely different part of England. Growing up, children are taught to stay with one’s parents and to not run away to foreign places. But with Christopher’s hyperactive id, he fails to analyze how much danger he is putting himself in when making decisions. Christopher is unable to process the risk he is putting himself, and possibly other, in because the id is only concerned with personal satisfaction. Staying with his father, and figuring something out is what someone with a developed ego and superego would do. However, Christopher’s id only has tunnel vision to the present, and not the possibilities of the future. On his journey to his mother Christopher is halted by a cop trying to take him back to his father. Christopher goes to the restroom, sees a