The power of fear: Fantasy as an instrument to cope with trauma using Freud's defense mechanisms

• Main Author: Laco, Allyssa Tiara P.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2018
• Subjects: Philippine literature > History and criticism; Philippine literature (English); Comparative Literature
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2900
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Philippines is known for its colonial past-- having been occupied by the Spaniards, Japanese and Americans. Certainly, the events during that time could have been traumatic and insufferable especially for an innocent young child. There are some instances in life wherein the reality that a person faces can become too cruel-- like the outbreak of war-- which therefore leads to the reliance on the fantasy, or the imagined world. However, this imposes the problem that there could be the struggle between separating the reality from fantasy. And so, this research aims to study the defense mechanisms of a child in responding to traumaitc environment and explore the positive affect of literature as a way to escape the harshness of reality, by analyzing Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's When the rainbow goddess wept (1991). Using Ana Freud's, The ego and the mechanisms of defense, as the main theoretical framework and Melanie Klein's Play analysis, this paper will examine the child protagonist, Yvonne, and answer the question: Do Philippine myths and legends mentioned in the novel serve as an escape for the child, specifically due to the Japanese occupation and the threat of World War II?