Man's Inner Desire
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Transcript of Man's Inner Desire
William WatsonSection 46373
4/19/2007
Man's Inner Desire
A psychological analysis of "A Party Down at the Square"
A Party down at the square by Ralph Ellison is the story of a ruthless burning of a "nigger" on a night
of chaos, and how a young man is sickened and fascinated by the horrific behavior of well respected,
Christian people, including himself. Through the actions and dialog of the characters in the story, the reader
is able to draw conclusions to the physiological motivation that drives the characters to act as they do. This
story is a perfect example of the Freudian concept of the Id, desires and fears, overriding the Ego, or values,
of the characters, and how that is able to happen more easily large groups of people.
The main character of the story is a boy from Cincinnati, a place where violence against negros never
reaches an apex like the event in the story. His ego, shaped from his experiences, is that of a northerner,
where the negros are relatively free from violence and free to act as they wish, and directly opposing the
event taking place. The id of the character however, is the same as that of any person, and described by Freud
as the "completely unconscious part of the psyche that serves as a storehouse of our desires, wishes, and
fears. The id houses the libido, the source of psychosexual energy.” and that is what comes forth through all
the characters at the "party" (Siegel). When the boy sees the plane crashing he says "I didn't know what to do.
I wanted to run, and I wanted to stay and see what was going to happen" (Ellison 391). At this point in the
story the boy's mind is telling him that he should run in fear, both from the crashing airplane, and from the
horrific event or burning a man, yet he doesn't. The fact that he stays isn't just out of curiosity, but because
the chaos of the situation is driving everyone there into an excited, if violent, state, and his mind which
normally follows the rules of the ego, and as stated by professor Dino Felluga, "seeks alternative expression
for those impulses that we consider evil" is instead offered to indulge in one of those evil impulses, and the
temptation breaks through the ego's repression.
William WatsonSection 46373
4/19/2007 Another thing the main character does that gives a view into the human mind is the fact that he
addresses the negro as "the nigger" (Ellison 390). This dehumanization is a reoccurring thing in human
society, any time in which a human being is forced or wishes, to do something horrible to another human
being; the only way they can accomplish the act without destroying their psyche is by making the person
something other than a human being. Much in the same way, the Nazi's saw Jewish people as just "Jews", the
boy from Cincinnati has to tell himself that the man burning in front of him is not a real person, but an object
or animal. He even describes him while he is burning as looking "just like a barbecued hog", and exclaims
how he was "some nigger!" (Ellison 393, 394). However, the main charter suffers consequences for the
betrayal of his Ego, and they come not in a mental perversion, but as a physical illness making him too weak
to leave his house.
The other important insight into the human mind, and reasoning behind the behavior of the characters,
is the analysis of how people act differently when in groups. The figurehead of the group mentality isn't the
main character, but Jed Wilson, for he is "popular with the folks" and expresses the entire group’s suspension
of values (Ellison 392). When the negro pleads with the mob made up of Christians for a little mercy Jed’s
reply is “ain’t no Christians around tonight” (Ellison 392). Just as Jed states, the people are no longer the
ones they are during the day, by banding together they have transformed into single-minded, violent, beings.
This mob-mentality is an insight into human behavior, when people band together into a mob they are given
power, and anonymity, and in the case of the story their power is irreproachable. With the power to do as
they wish without being blamable, the temptation to do evil encompasses the mind of the individual, and
Ellison shows us this behavior through the occupants of his “party”. The power of the mob is shown through
the death of the woman, for despite the horrible way she dies, the mob, as a whole, doesn’t even notice, you
can kill one and not even remotely stop their violence. This behavior does not go unsupported though, it
directly parallel the lynch mobs seen in Americas history, when a crime would go unsolved, violence would
often turn to the closest available victim, and they were unable to resist the power of a mob. The main
William WatsonSection 46373
4/19/2007 character of the story is sucked into this mob and views everything in the mob’s perspective of an all-power,
inhuman being, not his own. One such example of this assumed perspective is the characters reaction to the
death of the woman when he says, “Her white dress was torn. I saw one of her tits hanging out” (Ellison
392). Any normal human would react with fear or pity, yet when in the grip of the mob’s thrall the main
character only coldly observes, devoid of natural emotions.
William WatsonSection 46373
4/19/2007
Works Cited
Ellison, Ralph “A Party down at the Square.” Short Fiction: Classic and Contemporary. 6th ed. Ed. Charles Bohner and Lyman Grant.Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006. 390-394.
Felluga, Dino. "Terms Used by Psychoanalysis." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. 28 November 2003.Purdue U. 19 April 2007. <http://www.purdue.edu/guidetotheory/psychoanalysis/psychterms.html>.
Siegel, Kristi. "Literary Trends and Influences." Introduction to Modern Literary Theory. 19 April 2007 <http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm#psycho>.