Chapter 4 9/26

In this passage, Sigmund Freud discusses many of his ideas. One of the main points he made involved the three levels of consciousness and how it can be represented by an iceberg. The part of the iceberg that we can see represents consciousness, while the part of the iceberg below the water that we can still see represents pre-consciousness. The majority of the iceberg buried in the darkness represents the unconscious, which is material in our minds, but not accessible to us. According to Freud, the unconscious material is very important as it shapes many of the things we do as human beings. Freud makes an excellent point here, as we do many things that just come naturally and we cannot help but do. As Freud later says, “We cannot control this unconscious power within us.” Freud goes on to suggest that there are three forces operating the human psyche. These forces are the id, representing list and desire, the superego representing conscience and guilt and finally the ego, which tries to mediate between the id and superego. It’s important to note that all three of these forces are unconscious. Other key points made in the passage are displacement and condensation. Both of these terms deal with how we block or mask sexual content in our dreams that would otherwise alert our superego and cause us to wake up. In displacement, we use substitute symbols to avoid alarming the superego. Such symbols include sticks or knives for male genitalia, while gardens or flowers are used for female genitalia. In condensation, we combine things to mask their sexual content. Although many of Freud’s ideas are far-fetched, they continue to play an important role in the thinking of many scholars today.