The Impact Of Repressed Thoughts On One’s Subconscious Mind
Freud, an Austrian neurologist, discusses the elements of dreamwork that can be seen through the short story “A Country Doctor” by Franz Kafka. The motivations of the doctor in the short story can be understood by viewing the story as a dream. Through a Freudian lens, the doctor sees a reflection of his insecurities, feeling useless, and weak, through the Freudian concepts of dreamwork, condensation, and displacement, which was caused by the repression of his thoughts in real life.
Through the notions of Freud’s dreamwork, our unconscious mind sometimes reflects the thoughts we prefer to conceal. To begin with, the doctor’s dream reflected on his thoughts, failing in trying to save his maid, Rose, from the groom. Specifically, the doctor states “I remember Rose again; what was I to do, how could I rescue her, how could I pull her away from under that groom at ten miles’ distance, with a team of horses I couldn’t control. ”(Kafka n.p.g). The doctor, in particular, is unable to save Rose from the groom who is attempting to harm her since he is too far away. This relates to his self-doubt as he is questioning himself three times demonstrating his panic attack. He believes he is powerless to save his maid because he lacks control in the dream. If the horses are under the groom’s control, then, the doctor is unable to control both the horses and the groom. While the doctor tries to conceal his thoughts, a precise description of the horses exposes his concealed feelings of insecurity. The doctor compares his own horses which he states “had died in the night” with the groom’s horses that he states to be “enormous creatures with powerful flanks, one after the other, their legs tucked close to their bodies, each well-shaped head lowered like camel’s”(Kafka n.p.g). Moreover, the horses can be seen as a condensed symbol of strength which indicates that the doctor views himself as weak while the groom is strong. Furthermore, If this is seen from the perspective of sexual strength, then the doctor views his sexual status as also weak but the grooms as vigorous.
Moreover, the doctor shifts his focus from saving Rose to saving a sick boy which is labeled as displacement, according to the concepts of dreamwork. The doctor’s repressed thoughts are him feeling powerless which turned into a dream. For instance, the doctor states “Poor boy, you were past helping…the doctor is supposed to be omnipotent with his merciful surgeon’s hand; I have not thrust my services on them; what better do I want, an old country doctor that I am ”(Kafka n.p.g). Clearly, the doctor also failed to save the boy, which was his responsibility. The doctor moves his focus from saving Rose, as her employer and protector to saving a young boy, as a doctor, hoping he will be successful in something, however; he also fails. This explains that his confidence is shattered because he was unable to save two people that trusted him and his abilities. Moreover, the way he speaks to himself reflects on how he views himself because he’s calling himself “an old doctor”. Furthermore, the doctor still wishes to save Rose on his way back but things don’t go as he imagines. For example, he states” Gee up!” I said, but there was no galloping; slowly, like old men, we crawled through the snowy wastes; a long time echoed behind us”(Kafka n.p.g). The doctor still has hope in saving Rose so he tries to take the horses back to the house. However, the horses are no longer strong or fast now that they’re under his control. This implies that the horses represent the groom and his strength but not the doctors’ since he can’t control them.
Ultimately, people experience these dreams due to their repressed thoughts which ties to Freud’s concept of dreamwork. Freud states “which transforms the repressed complexes into symptoms where there is unsuccessful repression ” (Freud, 2223). Precisely, our subconscious mind experiences the aforementioned concepts of dreamwork due to our repressed thoughts which in fact can have consequences. This is because if we consistently try to conceal our thoughts simply because they make us feel insecure like they did to the doctor, then it will be brought to our subconscious mind. Therefore, repressing our thoughts won’t make them go away but instead, it will chase us until we are aware of it.
Briefly, our unconscious mind reawakens our repressed thoughts while also reflecting on our self-perception. The concepts of dreamwork by Sigmund Freud can aid in the interpretation of “A Country Doctor”. The doctor tries to block his repressed thoughts of feeling unruly and insecure which turns out to be unsuccessful because it transformed into a dream that can be interpreted through the concepts of dreamwork.
Works Cited
Rasch. (n.d.). About psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud: 5 Lectures about Psychoanalysis. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.rasch.org/over.htm
Kafka, F. (n.d.). A country doctor and other stories. Understanding Franz Kafka, 163–194. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv6wgcn2.1
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