Note: This
theory will make use of Freudian theory. While I recognize that Freud’s ideas
do not bear much contemporary relevance, that shouldn’t take away from the fact
that many of his concepts (e.g., erogenous zones, childhood memory repression,
catharsis) are nonetheless employed by Hima in the series. The purpose of this
post is to give some insight into the psychologies of the characters.

Terminology I’ll go over: Psychosexual stages,
causality, regression, fixation.

Yes, that’s right. Freud’s ideas are very much prevalent in the
series. A big area of his work was analyzing the impact of childhood on
personality development. Freud believed in causality, meaning that who you are as
an adult can be directly traced back to your childhood.

How you’re parented and brought
up is the most crucial factor. I don’t need to go into this in too much detail,
but basically, we go through five stages of development titled: Oral, anal,
phallic, latency, and genital.

For this specific post, we
only need to focus on the early stages of development, which focus on sensual
(sensory) pleasure and stimulation, often for the purposes of soothing and
experiencing relief.

Each stage has corresponding needs. If these needs are not met (under-gratification) or
if they are too easily met (over-gratification), then the person develops a
fixation.

A fixation essentially means that the person is
stuck at that level of development, which causes them to develop a problematic and
unhealthy personality type.

However, it’s only when that individual is met with confrontation
or a stressful situation that they regress back to the stage in which they developed
this fixation. The stress causes them to revert back to the age where their
needs weren’t met, and as such, they engage in childish behaviours.

For example, if you get into an argument with someone and they
start behaving selfishly, like a toddler, then you have every right to poke fun
at them for having Daddy or Mommy issues. Or, there are those who bite their
nails and pick at their lips, something akin to the soothing acquired from
sucking one’s thumb as a child.

Where America Fits Into This:  

America’s tricky in that he’s fixated at two stages of
development. I’ll go over each of them separately.

Oral Fixation: 

The oral stages revolves around gratification through the mouth
and lips. Tension and stress in an infant is reduced as they feed from their
mother. It soothes them.

Over-gratification, as in the infant is fed too much or too
easily, results in an oral-incorporative
personality. In this case, it would apply not to how America was parented,
as England wasn’t present in his life for long periods of his childhood, but
rather the time that he spent in isolation.

In isolation, America only looked after himself. That’s why when
he emerged from this isolation he came across as selfish and egocentric to the
other nations. He had gotten so used to satisfying his own needs that he had
trouble putting others first. [Please note that this is not the case in modern
strips.]

Now, consider how much responsibility America
had when he became a major manufacturing power in the years leading up to WW1.

Then, consider how he evolved to the status of a superpower
following WW2. That’s a lot of responsibility for one nation to take, and as
such, you would think that it would have caused America a lot of stress.

Well, it did.

Ex: He’s visibly distressed and disappointed in himself when
the Stock Market crashes in 1939. He assumes all the blame given that it was
his economy that had propped up the global market at the time.

While he doesn’t always show it, a lot of America’s habits
help reduce this tension and stress. Not only that, but it helps him cope with
the loneliness and lingering effects of isolation that he still feels when
interacting with other nations.

Oral-incorporative personalities reduce tension through oral
activities (duh). This would include things like smoking, drinking a lot,
chewing gum, eating excessively, and being overly talkative. Hmmmm.

Doesn’t America overeat?

Isn’t America an overly-talkative person that just so
happens to get on a lot of the other nations’ nerves?

Notwithstanding that America is completely aware of the fact
that he’s not well-received in the international community?

This brings me to my next point. An oral-incorporative
personality-type also possesses a high degree of gullibility. Following Freud’s
allegory, they swallow everything they’re told.

With America, this gullibility of not being able to read the
atmosphere is an act. 

It’s nothing more than a running gag and shouldn’t be taken seriously, especially if you look closely at his interactions with the other nations.

It’s a stress-reducing mechanism that allows him to avoid
confronting reality, given how stressful his position as a superpower must have
been. Point is, he’s more than capable of reading the atmosphere as seen in the
example above. He simply chooses not to.

Similarly, America also embodies aspects of an oral-sadistic personality type. Under-gratification,
as in the infant is not fed enough, results in this personality type. It means
that they were weaned off early from their mother.

These people tend to be verbally abusive, or, in less
serious cases they use “biting” sarcasm. Note again the use of an allegorical reference to infancy.

That said, we know that the nations often get frustrated
with America for making reckless mistakes. More importantly, these mistakes are attributed to his youth and inexperience.

In that case, America being
weaned off from England too early and not learning the proper ropes of how to
conduct himself in accordance to tradition would be what is most
relevant here…

Not many people know this, but America can be verbally abrasive (it’s not quite abusive) and sarcastic.
The whole arc covering his and Canada’s childhoods are full of heated arguments
between the two of them.

Ex: America gets frustrated with Canada when the latter
refuses to let him see England following the Revolution.

The argument ends when Canada slams the front door on
America.

Ex: America explodes
at Canada upon hearing that the latter intends to gain his independence by being
on good terms with England.

It’s the softness of the approach that doesn’t sit well with
America. Canada is still fairly sheltered at this point, and hadn’t experienced/
travelled the world like America had. Put another way, Canada comes
across as too idealistic to him.

“Is your head a field of flowers?!” 

Ex: Russia gives
America a ticket to Siberia for his birthday. America blows his nose with it.

Anal Fixation:

[Yes, laugh. I didn’t come up with these terms.]

This stage of development centers around potty training. As
toddlers gain control, autonomy, over
their bodily functions, the authority that their parents assert over them
regarding how they regulate these functions is met with hostility. They want to
enjoy their newly-acquired independence and go whenever they want. The parents
are the only barrier to that. Essentially, this stage is a battle of wills between
the stubbornness of the toddler and their parents.

Sound familiar? Does the American Revolution ring a bell?

As America became increasingly sufficient, he realized that
England’s authority was too imposing; it restricted his growth and freedom as a
nation. He therefore pushed back and fought for his independence, his autonomy.

America fits best with an anal-retentive personality type. Similar
to how a toddler will sometimes refuse to relieve themselves, these individuals
tend to withhold their emotions and hoard their belongings. This also ties in
nicely with how America pretends not to read the atmosphere.

Ex: America’s been shown on a few occasions to hold his
tongue and not say what he really thinks.

Ex: He has a
problem with over-manufacturing [hoarding].

Ex: While this doesn’t apply in the present, when he first
came out of isolation, America would only do favors if it served to his own
benefit.

Notice how similar that
is to the behavior of a toddler. They lack the intellectual capacity to think
of anyone but themselves.

Lastly, in terms of stress, you’ll also notice that America
is often equated with child-like imagery.

This is especially the case when his ideas are challenged.
The stress of it causes him to revert back to childish behaviour.

Ex: When proposing a world defense plan, he crushes bundled spoons
to intimidate other nations into agreeing with him.

England berates him for this childishness too.

In sum, America’s childish behaviour is often an unconscious
reaction to stress than it is arising from selfishness. Not only that, but a
lot of his ‘obnoxious’ habits (e.g., eating excessively) can be attributed to
him relieving his stress through them.