Revealing Jody’s Motivation to be Violent Towards Animals: A Freudian Psychoanalytic Reading of John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony

Abstract

Reading John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony, which describes Jody, an animal lover who turned to be an “animal enemy”, the researcher was interested in trying to find out what motivated Jody to be cruel and violent towards animals. Because the examination was focused on Jody’s behavior, this study used Minderop’s theory of characterization to examine the changes in the character’s behavior. This study also borrowed Psychoanalytic criticism to find out the motivation because psychoanalysis helps people understand human behavior. After examining Jody’s unconscious, his family background as well as his past experiences, this study found that his violent attitudes towards animals are his defense mechanisms which take the forms of projection and displacement. Jody does them because of his disappointment with himself for failing to be responsible for his pony. He is also motivated by his low self-esteem, which makes him vent his negative emotions to weaker beings around him, which cannot be other than animals. Finally, Jody is also motivated by his inability to express his feelings in words. These are rooted in his family culture, which considers responsibility significant but feelings and good communication among family members unimportant. These findings are expected to help English literature students understand Psychoanalytic criticism and its application better, help readers understand children’s behavior better as well as the importance of animals, particularly pets, in children’s emotional and personality developments.