psych-talia – Page 3 – Ellawritesficssometimes

The more I analyze the series, the more I realize just how
deep and profound it is. When I first got into the fandom, I would have never
dreamed of finding any significance in Kumajiro, a bear of all things. However,
a psychologist would have a field day with Canada and this childhood friend.

Yes, I admit: Kumajiro is a bear on top of all else. He’s
real. Taken symbolically, however, he’s also possibly a representation of
Canada’s repressed childhood, a childhood in which he actively strives to
forget.

Most psychologists agree on the fact that your childhood has
a major impact on your personality. Genetics play a role too, but the
environment (i.e how you were raised) severely impacts how you relate to
others. For example, if you were raised in a hostile and neglectful
environment, it’s harder for you to place trust in others, let alone form
healthy relationships.

Freud believed that right from birth, we’re ridden with
anxiety = you’re in a new environment with strange sounds and bright lights as
opposed to the warmth and security your mother’s womb previously provided you
with.

To cope with and minimize this anxiety, we employ defense
mechanisms. Thus, if your childhood was so scarring that it cripples your
ability to function normally, you employ the defense mechanism of repression.
That is, you push away these traumatic memories into the back of your mind
(your unconscious) so that you’re unable to remember them.

Another concept frequently used in psychology is that of your
shadow. Your shadow represents your inferiorities and insecurities. Basically,
it’s the unwanted truth you avoid acknowledging in light of preventing yourself
from being or feeling vulnerable.

What I’ll be arguing is that Kumajiro is Canada’s shadow.
Notice how the running gag between the two of them is that Kumajiro forgets who
Canada is. That itself, could be a representation of Canada’s own psyche and the
accompanying fears of being forgotten.

Likewise, Kumajiro has been with Canada ever since he was
born. Now, consider the fact that Canada also forgets Kumajiro’s name. This can
easily be interpreted as Canada wanting to forget (repress) the childhood in
which he was forgotten. (Pretty meta, huh?)

Freud also believed that the experience of childhood has a huge impact on your personality; it helps form who you are later in adulthood. Regardless if you repress these childhood memories, they’ll still unconsciously influence your behaviour, how you perceive yourself, as well as how you relate to others.

Let’s tie this back to the strips.

As a result of being neglected in childhood, in other words
living in America’s footsteps, Canada developed a low sense of self-worth.

Fun fact: The suffix Jiro in Japanese is typically used for
the second-born son, which, if put into the context of Hetalia, could equate to
Canada being second-best to America.

A coinciding cause for Canada’s feelings of worthlessness stems
from how he was initially objectified by England and France. They took interest
in him because of his resources, and as such, first viewed him as a colony…

Here, England assumes full control over Canada. Canada expresses
joy when he perceives that England is looking at him as a person, as opposed to
the land he personifies. What’s heartbreaking is that England is actually just
analyzing the hair Canada had inherited from France. Point is, Canada doesn’t
value himself because he wasn’t valued during his childhood.

This inability to value himself hasn’t left Canada in
adulthood either.

For, example, he doesn’t think he’s good looking.

So, how does Kumajiro fit into this? Why do I think that he
emblemizes Canada’s childhood insecurities?

Because your shadow is the core of your psyche, holding your
deepest desires and insecurities, it’s also the most truthful part of yourself.

Can you think of any moments where Kumajiro speaks the unconscious
truth of what Canada is feeling but never expresses?

Because I sure can.

1) In the same strip where Canada claims that he’s
not good looking, Kumajiro notes that Canada’s “too self-deprecating.”

2) Here, Canada is left in the background as
England and America work through the difficulties in their relationship.

Things may get a bit disturbing now. Basically, Kumajiro uses
dolls to illustrate how “well-behaved baby bear” Canada is not given enough
attention, as “big bear” England is paying too much attention to “rowdy baby
bear” America.

The scene then ends with Kumajiro concluding
that “well-behaved baby bear” should be loved more.

Obviously, this role-play is metaphorical of England,
Canada, and America’s relationship to one another.

Kumajiro also openly
encourages Canada to be more assertive, something that he wants to do but is
nonetheless unable to. Again, this all falls back on repressed conflicts
guiding our behaviours without a deliberate conscious realization.

3) Kumajiro tells Canada that it’s all right to
speak up for himself in asking England to have lunch with him.

In sum…

Kumajiro is a representation of Canada’s childhood
inferiorities. He forgets Canada because Canada still perceives himself as not
important enough to be remembered. On the same note, Canada forgets Kumajiro in
an attempt to repress memories related to the childhood neglect he experienced.

Perhaps Canada doesn’t know who he is himself.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Canada…[?]”

But…what exactly does that mean if you lack a solid self-concept?

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 (i.e erogenous zones, child-hood 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
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, adopt 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.

England appears to be fixated
at the anal stage of development, yes anal – ahem, moving on. During this
stage, children from 18 months to about 3-4 years undergo a struggle for
autonomy. This is the first point at a child’s life that they have control and
awareness over the body, and what Freud specifically focused on was bowel
movements; a biological need.

Potty training, for most
toddlers, threatens to impinge on the control they’ve only just recently gained
over their body. Some toddlers refuse to let themselves be potty trained and
just go whenever they want, as if they were an infant. Others, through the
encouragement and praise of supportive parents, learn to regulate themselves
when they go to the bathroom.

How a child is parented during this phase is crucial to the type
of personality they’ll develop later in adulthood. Children who are shamed and
ridiculed if they have “accidents” develop an anal-explosive personality type. A
child who is over-gratified, then, doesn’t just have accidents, but rather they
do it intentionally.

For the purposes of Hetalia,
we’ll only be focusing on the shame and ridicule that England experienced
during his childhood, as his personality neatly falls in line with the characteristics
of this personality type.

England was ostracized, shamed, and ridiculed by his older brothers, who
would send curses or arrows his way if he ever tried to approach them. This, in
turn, relinquished him a larger sense of autonomy and more freedom to do whatever he wanted, when he wanted.

France too shamed young
England, although it was more in a sense of teasing. Regardless, England still
took France’s criticisms of his appearance to heart…

Essentially, a person who has
an anal-explosive personality type is cruel, messy, and destructive. They can
also be classified as kind, generous, and creative.

Cruel: We all know how scathing England can be towards America.

Messy:
He’s also quite scatterbrained, and frequently loses things.

Destructive: Because
of his poor treatment of them, England is often isolated from the other
nations.

Now, for the more benevolent
aspects of his character.

Kind: A perfectly hospitable butler if you ask me. (He’s role-playing, by the way.)

Generous:
Believe it or not, he’s not always an asshole to France.

Creative: He’s
fairly decent at art too.

That
said, Hima’s characterization of the nations fits in scarily well with Freud’s
personality chart. It would be hard to believe that he hasn’t included some
of these concepts into his writing.

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 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 analyzed 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 psychosexual 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, not sexual) 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 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, adopt 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.

The stage that the Italy brothers appear to be fixated on is
the first stage: Oral.

The Oral stage involves the stimulation and pleasure of the
mouth. It’s where babies get their nourishment. The feeding phase within the oral stage of development is labelled
as Incorporative.

Thus, if the baby is given too much nourishment, they’ll
develop an Oral Incorporative personality type.

An Oral Incorporative personality type is someone who’s fixated
on activities that involve the use of the mouth. This can include being
extremely talkative, as well as excessive drinking, smoking, and chewing. In a figurative sense, they’re also
extremely gullible as they will “swallow” anything they’re told.

Sound familiar? If you thought of Italy, then you’d be
correct. Because Ancient Rome coddled and spoiled him, Italy’s needs were overgratified.

Italy’s extremely talkative and social, flirting with girls
left and right.

He’s also quite gullible.

Lastly, he absolutely loves to eat.

Romano, on the other hand, is the product of what happens to
a child that’s been weened off prematurely, meaning that the baby stops drinking
its mother’s milk too early. This second phase within the oral stage of
development entails teething, merely titled as Sadistic.

In the context of Hetalia this weening and subsequent
teething would be better fitted to parental neglect. Romano’s needs weren’t met
by Ancient Rome, as the latter focused most of his attention on Italy.

It’s this lack of nourishment/ care that results in an Oral Sadistic
Personality type.

An Oral Sadistic Personality type is someone that is
verbally abusive. They use “biting” sarcasm.

I mean, come on. That’s literally Romano. Cue montage.

That said, there can also be a mix of these personality
types. It isn’t just one or the other. I think we all know by now that the
characters in the series are extremely fleshed out. They remain likeable
despite bearing so many flaws.

Still, using Freud’s terminology, isn’t it uncanny how well
the Italy brother’s personality/ childhood experiences fit into this chart?

Note: This theory
makes the assumption that Germany was reincarnated from Holy Rome.

A lot of people seem to be confused about why it is that
Germany can be seemingly emotionless at times, or rather, too logical and
rational. This is especially true in Buon San Valentino, as Germany is noted to
experience emotions like shame, confusion, and heartbeat (presumably love) for the first time.

From the point of a psychoanalyst, however, they would understand
this perfectly, as Hima consistently adopts Freud’s ideas into his craft. It’s
not so much that Germany is emotionless; it’s more like he’s repressed traumatic
memories where these emotions have been experienced.

This puts the person in an emotionally-stunted and subdued
state. The emotions are subdued because experiencing them can trigger the
recollection of these traumatic memories.

Now, it’s not directly said that Freud’s ideas are used, but
both Germany and Austria have been shown to read psychology books. As the most
famous psychologist and being an Austrian himself, it wouldn’t be a farfetched
guess to assume that Germany and Austria have read some of Freud’s work.

Terminology I’ll go
over: Defense mechanisms, repression, the unconscious mind, catharsis.

Bear with me here. I’m slowly going to go through some
concepts before tying this all back to the strips.

For Freud, anxiety is something that we all experience the
moment you exit the womb. You’re in an unfamiliar environment, and anxiety is
there to warn you of impending danger. Basically, because it’s so uncomfortable
to experience, anxiety controls your behaviour by causing you to avoid
threatening environments or situations.

However, if it’s a certain reality you can’t cope with, a
person will employ defense mechanisms to
avoid confronting it.

Repression is one
of those mechanisms, whereby the person is either unable to reflect upon or
remember an event in their conscious mind. The memories are no longer accessible
to them, hence repression; the burying away of emotions.

The unconscious part
of our mind extends beyond our conscious awareness. It’s where all our
repressed memories, emotions, instincts, and biological urges are stored.

All right, not so bad I hope? Let’s tie this all together.

Holy Rome’s dissolution ended a brutal series of wars. That
said, if Germany is his reincarnate, wouldn’t it make sense to repress these
memories? How nice would it be
to be born, only to have a wave of pain and heartbreak immediately hit you?

It would be too hard for the recently-born nation to handle.
That’s why I believe Holy Rome’s memories were repressed before Germany was
even born. Again, it acted as a safe guard to protect him from the trauma Holy
Rome endured beforehand.

There’s even a small hint that Germany has amnesia and has
possibly repressed his memories. Once born, Prussia reminds Germany that it’s
okay to refer to him as a brother several hundred times. To me, that seems like
Prussia may be attempting to trigger Germany’s memory, only to realize that
Germany doesn’t remember anything from his past.

Last term, I promise.

The job of a psychoanalyst is to bring these unconscious
memories or thoughts to their patient’s conscious mind. In this case, it would
allow Germany to remember the past he’s repressed. The goal of psychotherapy is
to achieve catharsis – emotional relief.
When a patient goes through catharsis and their unconscious conflicts are
resolved, they’re able to healthily experience all emotions again.

As I’ve said before, patients who have repressed traumatic memories
to their unconscious minds are subdued emotionally. Because they are unable to
confront these emotions, they have trouble expressing them, or in the most
extreme cases, don’t express them at all.

You see this with Germany too. He’s emotionally-stunted, not
only from his past, but also as a result of his early life. He was immediately
thrust into wars and likely missed out on learning how to form healthy
relationships with the other nations.

For Freud, what you experience in childhood determines your
personality. So, basically, Germany not being good at socializing and
expressing his emotions is a product of his childhood. Now combine that with
repressed memories from a previous life and you have some serious emotional stunting
at play here.

Repeatedly throughout the series, he’s stated to have trouble
smiling.

Likewise, he also has a habit of improperly expressing his
emotions, coming off as angry and scary to other people.

In summary…

The reason Germany has trouble with his emotions is that he’s
likely repressing memories that prevent him from expressing these emotions
freely. If he does, then it puts him at risk of remembering the trauma from his
past. It’s not a conscious decision to not remember things either, it’s something
he can’t control.

In other words, Germany does experience emotions, but some
of them he may not experience fully or properly. He’s emotionally stuck from
this repression, and his troubled childhood only adds more fuel to the fire.

For Freud, if Germany wanted to be able to smile and express
his emotions more freely, then he would have to confront his past. Until Germany
goes through the emotional relief brought on by catharsis, then he won’t be
able to overcome the present hurdles he faces in forming healthy relationships
with the other nations.