Mantissa and the Psychoanalytic Theory

When I first started reading "Mantissa" I found it very representative of the psychoanalytic theory in many ways. When Dr. Delfie begins taking off her clothes and insisting that Mr. Green fondle her, in order to test his reflexes, it becomes obvious that Dr. Delfie is after much more in the attempt to reinstall Mr. Green's memory, while he suffers from amnesia. However, in the midst of Dr. Delfie's obscene behavior, Mr. Green can't help but panic and resist Dr. Delfie's perverse force over him. Mr. Green can't fully comprehend the sexual advances of Dr. Delfie, because it completely steps outside of his conscious and moral reality. Dr. Delfie states, "If you must know, Mr. Green, your memory-loss may well be partly caused by an unconscious desire to fondle unknown female bodies" (pg 21). In this sense, Dr. Delfie acknowledges the fact that the traumatic incident Mr. Green experienced before his onset of amnesia could have placed his unadmitted desires out of his consciousness and into his unconsciousness. As a result, certain desires or urges that Mr. Green once felt are repressed, and he cannot access them in his unconscious anymore. Mr. Green uses the tactic of sublimation, in which repressed information is disguised as something honorable. When Dr. Delfie makes sexual advances on Mr. Green, he completely dismisses all of it, and instead preaches that this is not correct behavior for a doctor, and what about his wife? Therefore, Mr. Green disguises his repressed sexual desires in the face of moral justice and faithfulness, even though he doesn't even remember his wife, and she is just as much a stranger to him as the doctor. Another particular quote that truly reflects the psychoanalytic theory is stated by Dr. Delfie "Now listen closely, Mr. Green. I will try to explain one last time. Memory is strongly attached to ego. Your ego has lost in a conflict with your superego, which has decided to repress it- to censor it. All Nurse and I wish to do is to enlist the aid of the third component in your psyche, the id. Your id is that flaccid member pressed against my posterior. It is potentially your best friend. And mine as your doctor. Do you understand what I am saying?" (pg 26). In light of what Dr. Delfie tells Mr. Green, she asserts that Mr. Green has lost his conscious memory or ego, because Mr. Green's conscience or superego has repressed his once conscious desires and urges, therefore, in order to restore Mr. Green's conscious desires they must get Mr. Green's id, or unconscious desires working, so that his ego restores itself and his memory comes back. Therefore, Dr. Delfie and the Nurse are trying to restore Mr. Green's unconscious sexual desires from his id by sexually provoking him. The concept of projection is also reflected here. Projection is when negative aspects of ourselves are not recognized by ourselves but projected onto another person. Mr. Green's repressed sexual desires are projected onto Dr. Delfie who fully exerts sexual desire and force. Projection acts as a defense mechanism for Mr. Green who does not want to face the painful realization that he has these sexual urges. In these particular ways, I feel as though the psychoanalytic theory can effectively evaluate this certain scene from Mantissa.