A
Psychoanalytical Perspective on Alexander Portnoy: His Dyadic Relationship with His Mother
Bayo Elizabeth Cary
June 9, 2008
AML 4311
Dr. Peter Rudnytsky
“Now vee may perhaps to begin. Yes? (Roth 274)”
Alexander
Portnoy went in search of a cure for his
ailment:
Portnoy’s Complaint: . . . [After
Alexander Portnoy (1933- )] A disorder in which
strongly felt ethical and altruistic
impulses are perpetually warring with extreme
sexual longings, often of a perverse
nature. It is believed by
Spielvogel that many of the symptoms
can be traced to the bonds obtaining in
the mother-child relationship. (Roth 1)
Portnoy’s
diagnosis stems from the degree of intimacy which he shares with his
mother. Therefore, it is necessary to
examine how Portnoy perceives his mother and how his perception of his mother
impacts his personality.
The bond between Portnoy and his
mother may have been established in the womb or closely following his birth
when he was alone with his mother, most likely suckling at her breast. Developmental psychologists argue that the
strongest bonds between mother and child may emerge immediately after
delivery. This is my best conjecture for
the nascent development of Portnoy’s mistaken beliefs about his mother.
Portnoy sees his mother as a magical being who
is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.
His earliest recollections of his mother were described thus: “She was
so deeply embedded in my consciousness that for the first year of school I seem
to have believed that each of my teachers was my mother in disguise” (Roth 3). This delusion reflects Portnoy’s belief in
his mother’s ability to be omnipresent. A
“delusion is a persistent false belief that is a symptom of a mental illness” (Unlisted
101). A delusion can lead to paranoia. When a patient believes that he is being
observed at all times by someone other than a spiritual being (God), that
individual develops paranoid symptoms.
“Paranoia manifests as a form of insanity characterized by fixed
delusions, especially of grandeur or persecution” (Unlisted 266). Portnoy did suffer from both delusions
of grandeur and of persecution. Portnoy’s
delusions of grandeur were an outgrowth of the love and attention his mother
bestowed upon him. Portnoy’s mother
viewed Portnoy as unique, talented, and intelligent beyond his years. The relationship shared between Portnoy and
his mother was less like that of mother and child and more like that of
equals—husband and wife.
There is
certainly and element of the Oedipal attraction in the relationship between
Portnoy and his mother. Portnoy’s mother
first built and then reinforced Portnoy’s vision of himself, as “gifted” and
exceptionally bright. Portnoy’s mother
placed Portnoy upon a pedestal from which he never came down. She told him that he was “special.” Portnoy interpreted this to mean that he was
destined to achieve great things. Portnoy
believed that he was child with unlimited potential, and a high enough I.Q. to
back his mother’s claim. Later in life
Portnoy’s ingrained belief in his “specialness” led to the development of
narcissistic personality disorder.
Does this mean that Portnoy was
mentally ill as a child? No, I do not
believe so, as his symptoms were mild. Mental illness is merely an extreme of
an otherwise normal state of being. According
to the study of abnormal psychology, the occurrence of extreme symptoms related
to ones mental status is what is abnormal and what therefore constitutes a
mental illness. “Symptoms” exist on a
continuum and they are considered normal according to the bell curve. In other words, most people have some mild
symptoms of mental illness but these individuals are not diagnosed as mentally ill
because they remain close enough to the center of the bell curve.
Portnoy’s delusions grew exponentially
as he aged and therefore affected him more later in life. As an adult he was
unable, in his personal life, to circumscribe a boundary which others, his
mother in particular, were not permitted to cross. The relationship between Portnoy and his
mother became enmeshed. Portnoy’s mother
viewed him as an extension of herself to be controlled, limited, and punished. During the initial stages of the study of
schizophrenia, the relationship that Portnoy and his mother had, that of being
inseparable, was described as a basis for the development for schizophrenia (R.D.Laing).
The extent to which Portnoy functioned
in relation to his mother’s wishes and desires is apparent in his reaction to
his self-indulgent avocation of masturbation and to his sexual promiscuity
later in life. Because of the extent to
which Portnoy’s mother intertwined her destiny with his, Portnoy is unable to
exist as a separate individual. His
superego develops into an unduly harsh and punishing mechanism of his mind,
constantly berating and admonishing him during the most intimate moments of his
life. There are times when his mother is
physically nowhere near, yet close at hand—encompassed in his ever-vigilant
consciousness. For instance, after a
ménage a trois with “The Monkey” and a Roman prostitute, Portnoy recalls:
It could be that I wound up fucking
some dank odoriferous
combination of sopping Italian
public hair, greasy American buttock, and absolutely
rank bedsheet [sic.]. Then I got
up, went into the bathroom, and you’ll be happy
to know
regurgitated my dinner. My kiskas,
mother—threw them right into the
toilet
bowl. (Roth 138)
It
is particularly disturbing that Portnoy felt it was necessary to defer to his
mother during a moment of such adult and individualistic behavior. While it is clear to the observer that Portnoy’s
mother had no idea what taboo sexual acts he was participating in, there was
something in Portnoy that caused him to believe that his mother knew and,
therefore, he felt guilt, regret, and self-loathing.
The self–hate that Portnoy
experiences post-ejaculation is a constant characteristic in his life. Portnoy is unable to enjoy intimacy with any
other woman than his mother and he experiences no sexual satisfaction although
he is able, in most situations, to maintain and erection and to reach a climax. Considering all the emotional self-battering
he then suffers, the situation presents itself as though he is impotent.
On Portnoy’s trip to Isreal, after he
has ended his relationship with the “The Monkey,” he does find himself in a
position where he is unable to maintain an erection-- that that situation
arises out of the residue of his guilt about the ménage a trois in Rome. Portnoy begins to have the same thoughts as a
hypochondriac has: “a morbid anxiety about health, often with imaginary
illnesses” (Unlisted 184).
These extraneous thoughts are present
earlier in Portnoy’s life as well: a pattern of sexual gratification whether it
be masturbation, or intimate relations with others, then guilt and punishment
by the harsh superego, and then finally the perceived “illness” which does not
exist. When Portnoy was in his teens, he
mistakenly believed that he had given himself cancer because he masturbated so
frequently and there was a freckle on his penis.
In addition, Alexander’s reaction
to the ménage a trios reflects his ever increasing paranoia derived from the
belief that his mother is omniscience: What if my mother knew what I did, what
would she say? Maybe I should tell my
mother what I did, maybe that would resolve some of the guilt and anguish I
feel? What if my mother already knows
what I have done? Will she ever forgive
me? I am so sorry mother. I love you.
You love me to. It’s your perfect
boy, Portnoy.
Portnoy also believed that his mother
was omnipotent: “It was my mother who could accomplish anything, who herself
had to admit that it might be that she was actually too good. And could a small child with my intelligence,
with my powers of observation, doubt that this was so” (Roth 11). Portnoy, as a child, imagined that obtaining
kosher hamburger and cleaning the bathroom floor were extraordinary
achievements. He believed that his
mother’s ability to complete these tasks in a timely manner and with grace made
her a kind of super woman, like her unique talent for floating fruit in
congealed Jello.
Portnoys’s mother seeks to control
him emotionally, by causing him to be dependent on her alone for love and
affection. His mother says: “I don’t
love you anymore, not a little boy who behaves like you do. I’ll live alone here with Daddy and Hannah, .
. . ( [She was] a master really at phrasing things just the right way to kill
you)” (Roth 15). The father and the sister are
side-lined. Portnoy does what he can to
bend to his mother’s whims without breaking, but her parenting tactics are
unusual at best. When Portnoy misbehaves
his mother dresses him in his galoshes, packs him a lunch, and then puts him
out of the house:
“I hate you!” I holler, kicking a
galosh at the door; “you stink!” To this
filth,
to this heresy booming through
the corridors of the apartment building where
she is vying with twenty other
Jewish women to be the patron saint of self-sacrifice,
my mother has no choice but to
throw the double-lock on our door. (Roth 15)
Who
locks a small child out of the house?
What if something should happen to him in the hall and he walks away
with a stranger? What if Portnoy had
called her bluff and left the building of his own volition?
The element of love withheld by his
mother is responded to by Portnoy as hate and fear. He believes that his mother is
“almighty.” When his mother treats him as though he were repugnant and
despicable, Portnoy and his mother then
begin a fight to the death. This
struggle is the full embodiment of the master/slave relationship, the oppressor
and the oppressed. In this duel to the
death, Portnoy views his mother as the master oppressor whom he must rise
above. It is a reversed Oedipal complex,
where instead of competing with his father for power and independence, Portnoy
has his mother to overcome.
The competition between Alexander and
his mother plays out on many levels of both subtle and overt confrontation: “Then
there are the nights I will not eat. My
sister, who is four years my senior, assures me that what I remember is
fact: I would refuse to eat, and my
mother would find herself unable to submit to such willfulness--and such idiocy”
(Roth 15). How would you expect a mother to react to
such a departure in roles--from the loving obedient son to the incorrigible
individualist? Portnoy’s mother
threatens to kill him.
So my mother sits down in a
chair beside me with a long bread knife in her hand.
It is made of stainless
steel, and has little saw like teeth.
Which do I want to be,
weak or strong, a man or a
mouse? (Roth 16)
In
classical Freudian terms this scene between Portnoy and his mother invokes
castration anxiety in Portnoy. It makes
since then, that later in life, on his trip to Isreal, his fear of disobeying
his mother materializes in his inability to achieve an erection. Portnoy unconsciously believes that if he is
sexually promiscuous and thereby enacts behaviors that go against his mother’s
standards of decorum, that she will castrate him. To save his life and to maintain an intact
physique Portnoy does the symbolic castration for his mother and becomes
impotent.
Portnoy’s “ethical and altruistic
impulses” (Roth 1) exist because of his
mother’s impact of his life and on his consciousness, his superego in
particular. His mother has instilled a
harsh superego which ensures that his mother’s etiquette-of-behavior demands
are met. Portnoy’s “extreme sexual
longings” (Roth 1) are in part
biological—testosterone. They are also a
result of his inability to achieve sexual fulfillment. Unconsciously, Portnoy is in love with his
mother, the Oedipus complex, and would hypothetically be able to achieve sexual
satisfaction if his mother were his life partner. However, due to incest taboo, this is not
possible. Portnoy will need to bring to
light his unconscious desires for his mother to light through treatment and
free association. Then perhaps he can
alter his needs.
Works Cited
R.D.Laing. The Divided Self. Middlesex:
Penguin, 1990.
Roth, Philip. Portnoy's
Complaint. New York: Vintage Books, 1994.
Unlisted, Editor. Webster's
Dictionary and Thesaurus. New Lanark: Geddes & Grosset, 2002.
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