Character Analysis Of Identity In 'The Girl On The Train'

Decent Essays
' 'The Girl On The Train ' ' by Paula Hawkins is an number one national bestseller novel. The author wrote this novel with such detail and twists and turns, that it keeps you on your toes from the beginning to the end. Hawkins used Freud 's ' 'Psychoanalytic theory ' ' This theory has three parts the 'ID which is the first to develop, Ego second to develop, and finally Superego the last to develop ' all of three contribute to determining our personality. To get a better understanding we can compare it to the 'angel and devil ' on the shoulder when making a hard decision. The 'Id ' is the devil on the shoulder, it is the selfish part of you that thinks irrationally and tells you to 'just do it '. The 'Superego ' is the angel on the shoulder, …show more content…
Something Anna 's narrated chapters does include is her display of intense hate towards Rachel. Anna, Tom 's wife plays a major role in this confusing thriller. Anna 's character shows that she 's very selfish, and proud of the fact she broken up a marriage between a troubled couple. On the other hand, her love for her daughter Evie is the only good thing that is portrayed in the novel about Anna. To help us understand Anna 's character we can use Freud 's theory to help get a better understanding of her personality. Anna 's personality is influenced by her 'Ego ' and her 'Id '. She makes decisions instantly, but her ego makes her stop to make her decision rationally. Most of the time she thinks over the decisions. For example when she met Tom and gets to know him she knew he was married but yet she still dismisses her superego, which says it 's wrong to get involved with a married man society wouldn 't accept it. Instead she listened to her Id to satisfy her desires "Being the other woman is a huge turn-on"(Hawkins, ). Anna wants to prove everyone wrong when they call her insane for involving with a married man and she did. In the final chapter Rachel stabbed Tom with a corkscrew to escape from him. On the other hand Anna she jabbed the corkscrew deeper into his throat, but her reason is not the same as

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