Ernest Hemingway's short stories are particularly renowned for their ambiguity and brevity, and the collection of short stories entitled In Our Time contains many of these highly minimalist stories. One character who appears in two separate stories is Dr. Adams, the father of Nick Adams, who is the main character of several other tales. Dr. Adams is present in both “Indian Camp” and “The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife,” and Dr. Adams leaves his mark in each of these stories. Because Hemingway often leaves the character's thoughts and actions open to interpretation, Dr. Adams is a prime candidate for evaluation in psychoanalytic criticism. Modern psychology, although a relatively new and largely still debated scientific field, focuses not on how people do certain things, but on why. Most people would agree that modern psychology began with Sigmund Freud in the early 1900s. Freud came up with many theories in this field, some of which are still respected today and others that have been largely forgotten . Freud's most important work concerns his belief in the subconscious mind, a place that, although we are unaware of the impact, secretly plays a role in the things we say, do, and even dream. Since then, psychology has continued to grow and develop thanks to B.F. Skinner, Pavlov, Maslow, and other collaborators who have continued to evolve Freud's initial thoughts and make great strides toward understanding why humans act and they react in certain ways. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay One method of psychological criticism involves the psychoanalysis of a character within the text. This will bring the character's motivations and desires to the forefront and give readers a better understanding of the character. To effectively perform a psychological critique in terms of a character within a text, the critic must be creative and have a general understanding of psychological terms to "diagnose" the character, which will ultimately bring the character's motivations to the forefront . the first floor. Through a psychoanalysis of Dr. Adams' actions and reactions, I will work to demonstrate that Dr. Adams suffers from borderline personality disorder (BPD), characterized by marital problems, problems with masculinity, and problems with anger and aggression. Adams appears in two Hemingway stories: "The Indian Camp" and "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife." For the purposes of my analysis, my main focus will be on "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife", although I will use other Nick Adams stories to support my claims throughout the diagnosis. "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife" opens with a group of Native Americans, including Dick Boulton, coming to chop wood for Dr. Adams. The logs had fallen from a log bar that transported them from the mill. Dr. Adams says this means they are driftwood, and therefore they are up for grabs. So he took them and hired Native Americans to tear them apart. When Dick Boulton sees that the logs are from a local lumber company, he accuses Dr. Adams of stealing them. Angry, Dr. Adams tells Dick and the other men that they should just leave if they want to accuse him of theft. Dr. Adams then threatens Dick Boulton: “….I will knock the teeth down your throat” (Hemingway 25). After this spat, Dr. Adam enters his bedroom (interestingly, he doesn't share a bedroom with his wife) and immediately begins cleaning a rifle. After a short conversation with his wife,Dr. Adams goes out and he and his son Nick go for a walk to look for black squirrels. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, borderline personality disorder is characterized by the following: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental disorder marked by a pattern of ongoing instability in moods, behavior, self-image and functioning. These experiences often result in impulsive actions and unstable relationships. A person with bipolar disorder may experience intense episodes of anger, depression, and anxiety that can last anywhere from a few hours to days. Some people with bipolar disorder also have high rates of co-occurring mental disorders, such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders, along with substance abuse, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and suicide (NIMH 2016). The disorder is recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association. Officially recognized personality dysfunctions are listed in the table above. With these symptoms and criteria in mind, I will attempt to rationalize Dr. Adams' actions and reactions to demonstrate that Dr. Adams suffers from an undiagnosed case of borderline personality disorder. The first symptom shown by Dr. Adams is his engaging attitude in risky behaviors. Dr. Adams does not own the logs he took to be cut by the Native Americans. Hemingway says that Dr. Adams “took it for granted” that he could take them, meaning he knew it was probably theft, which, in effect, indicates participation in risky behavior. This indulgence in risky behavior meets number 4 on the DMV's list of diagnostic criteria. Later, Dr. Adams soon becomes angry when he is called out for taking the records. His anger manifests itself quickly and he soon threatens to become violent, promising to knock his teeth down his throat. His anger seems not only misplaced, but excessive. According to The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, this event calls Dr. Adams' masculinity into question (Benson 35). Furthermore, when Dr. Adams enters the house and explains that he had an argument with Dick Boulton, his wife responds, “I hope you haven't lost your temper” (Hemingway 25). The doctor's wife's response indicates that Dr. Adams tends to lose his temper with some regularity. This type of rapid and potentially violent anger meets number 8 on the list of symptoms. Symptom number 2 on the list concerns a series of problems in interpersonal relationships. There are several contextual clues within "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife", as well as other clues throughout In Our Time, that indicate that Doctor Adams has a less than satisfactory home life. In “The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife,” we learn that Dr. Adams and his wife do not share a bedroom, as Hemingway says that she was “in his bed” while he sat “on his bed” (26). His wife also seems to belittle him, intentionally or not: first, by taking a maternal and authoritative tone with him (“'Tell me, Henry. Please don't try to hide anything from me'” [26]) and then by saying that his hypothesis is clearly wrong [“Dear, I don't think, I really don't think anyone would intentionally do something like that”” (26)]. Later, in "The Three-Day Blow", Nick refers to Bill's father as a "good boy" and then immediately says that his "old man" is "fine" (Hemingway 44). The implication here is that Nick thinks more highly of Bill's father than of his own. While none of the tales come out and openly discuss Dr. Adams' relationships with his wife and son, there are several clues tocontext that can lead us to the conclusion that neither of the two relationships is necessarily positive. This may be an indication that Dr. Adams has difficulty maintaining relationships, even with the people he should be closest with. After Dr. Adams's brief discussion with Dick and his conversation with his wife, Dr. Adams retreats to his room where he takes his time first cleaning his rifle, then sitting down and pumping out all the shell casings, only to load it and then pump them again. There are two possibilities as to what this might mean, and both would fall into the category of impulsivity and potentially risky behavior. The first possibility is that having easy access to the gun and the fact that this is the first place he turns when angry is evidence that Dr. Adams may be mentally unstable. He immediately leaves the argument and goes to get the gun: this could be seen as a sign not only of aggression, but possibly also of threat of violence. On the other hand, it is possible that Dr. Adams' rifle ritual is a euphemism for masturbation. According to the article “Trophy Hunting as a Trope of Manhood in Ernest Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa,” the pumping of shell casings from the rifle is a “masturbatory display of phallic power” (Strychacz 168). This theory makes sense: keep in mind that Dr. Adams was not only humiliated by Dick Boulton, but he was also emasculated by his wife. What better way to remind himself that he is a man than by performing as only a man can? Additionally, Hemingway uses several word choices that may indicate the possible double entendre at work here. For example, Hemingway provides the reader with the image of Dr. Adams “pumping” the rifle and the shell casings “scattering on the bed” (26). Hemingway also makes sure to tell his readers that Dr. Adams is "very fond of them" (26). Whether it's a sign of aggression or gentle masturbation, Dr. Adams' actions in this scene are clearly questionable and leave plenty of room for interpretation. Either he is so angry that he entertains the idea of ​​shooting Dick Boulton, or he is so emasculated that he impulsively resorts directly to self-stimulation, a possible vice of his. As it stands, there are enough cases of personality deterioration to satisfy that category. of the DSM diagnosis guide. However, this is only the first step. The next step in successfully determining that Dr. Adams is struggling with borderline personality disorder is to access any impairments in interpersonal functioning. The way to discover interpersonal disorders is to see if any of the following are present: lack of empathy or lack of intimacy. Although only one interpersonal skill must be impaired to get a diagnosis, Dr. Adams is poor in both of these categories, which is typical for someone with borderline personality disorder. According to the DSM, empathy is defined as “the ability to recognize the feelings and needs of others,” an interpersonal skill that Dr. Adams undoubtedly lacks. The best example of this gap can be seen in the story “Indian Camp”. In this story, Dr. Adams is heading to the Indian reservation to help a young Native American who has been trying unsuccessfully for days to give birth to a baby. Dr. Adams and Nick arrive to help the woman. Dr. Adams soon discovers that the baby is breech, so he performs an emergency cesarean section on the young woman without any anesthesia. He used a switchblade to cut it and tapered ends to sew it back together. Dr. Adams tells Nick that he doesn't hear the woman's screams because "they're not important" (16). Dr. Adams is unaffected by the event, too. 36-47.