Personality Theories-winter quarter 2008-2009

Kamila Shamsie’s ‘surface of glass’ is an extremely intriguing story about a woman’s various psychological states. The narrative begins with the bold theme of religion which is pursued throughout the writing. Razia’s strong ties to religion point an extreme inclination towards the superego. She believes in morality, when the writer mentions in the first few lines that Razia felt a strong bond with Allah but her expectation of the reciprocation of the feelings, according to Razia, were wrong. These concepts points out her submission to her superego and her “moral anxiety”. Razia’s personality is extremely complicated, the writer gives a lot of examples which illustrates the various defence mechanisms that Razia uses unconsciously for instance just in the first paragraph thee cook’s hatred for Razia is actually Razia’s intense dislike for the cook ,thus in actual confirming that this is “Projection” that she is doing. Similarly when Kamila mentions that Razia hates “drug addicts and sneezing in the food” might actually be that she herself is attuned to drugs and she also sneezes in food, though her conscious mind doesn’t accept that she has an inclination towards drugs or that fact that she actually does sneeze in her food. Moving on when the writer says “when Razia decided something it was hard for her to undecided it” shows another major trait of her character which is that she had strong opinions which weren’t likely to be effected by anything. This shows a strong anal retentive trait. As the story progresses we observe an obvious Thanatos when Razia expresses a strong desire to leave the burner turned on a high flame. She feels a strong surge of aggression and an inclination to destroy things when she learns that the daughter wants her no more as her Ayah. We also observe some reaction formation when Razia forces herself to like the cook overlooking the issue of not being given the biggest tomatoes. However, she changes her opinion as quickly as she had formed them when she learns that the cook had been meddling with her payer mat. Razia’s submission to religion becomes clearer when she expresses her disgust at the cook that he let the devil use her prayer mat for sucking her prayers, she justifies herself that she was praying for a good cause(her sons promotion) rather than asking God for a petty thing(the big tomatoes). She puts all the blame on the ‘cook’ when her son fails to get promoted. She is using another defence mechanism in this case “displacement” when rather than blaming her son for his failure, she puts all the blame on the cook, who to her is the easiest target for all abhorrence. Throughout the story Razia’s insecure financial position is also highlighted for instance when she sees the daughter of that family clothed in a dress which costs as much as her son’s income. Similarly when she tastes the ‘keema’ prepared by the cook she feels another taste in it, which might again be a reflection of her hatred for the wretched cook. In my opinion the taste she feels is not ‘Poison’ but an analogy for her hatred for the cook. She also has a major job security, which is depicted by the fact that she is annoyed when the daughter talks about not needing an ayah any more, similarly the night she blows prayers around the house she acknowledges the fact that even though the younger daughter of the family didn’t use lipstick at the moment, one day she would and that would mean an end to her job. This is actually a “Reality Anxiety” she admit unconscious and consciously both that she would lose her job eventually. When she talks about the son it is always the “un-promoted son” which shows her disappointment at her son’s failure and her inability to accept it is even more disturbing since she keeps on laying the blame on other factors using displacement as a defence mechanism. When ultimately she cannot bear the hatred for the cook anymore she goes to a Hakim with her son. In my opinion the hakim makes herself, makes her realize that the person she hates is herself. There are many reasons that she might hate herself the major reasons being her poor financial condition, her son’s failure and her job insecurity. The hakim makes her see her own self, that is makes her “ego” a more dominant trait of her personality. When she realizes that the “Poisoner” was no one but herself she comes in terms with her ego and superego. Now when she returns to the family’s home she doesn’t refer the cook as the “Poisoner” rather she calls him “HIM” and now the when she refers to the taste of the keema she actually smiles since now it doesn’t taste of hatred since she has resolved the issues and the internal clashes she was facing. Thus eventually through the resolution of her anxieties and internal clashes she becomes psychologically normal.