Jerry and Molly and Sam

This was one of the choices for my first essay in my English 102 class this summer. The prompt was:
"In Raymond Carver's "Jerry and Molly and Sam," Al sees the dog as a part, at least of what's wrong with his life. What do you see as what's wrong with his life and why?"

In Raymond Carver's "Jerry and Molly and Sam" the main character, Al, is having a wretched year. Unfortunately for Al, he does not approach his many problems in a healthy or even logical way. Instead, Al becomes not only self destructive, but goes on to ruin the lives of those who care for him. Al believes his major problem is Suzy, the family's dog, but in actuality, Al is merely displacing his anger and resentment from his seemingly out of control life onto the dog. From a psychological standpoint, Al classically demonstrates many of Sigmund Freud's various defense mechanisms, and from this point of view, it becomes easy to identify, and possibly fix, Al's problems.

From the beginning of the story the reader is introduced to Al's troubled life: Aerojet where he works is laying workers off, his wife forced him to move into an overpriced home, his fidelity wavers as he suddenly finds himself in an affair, his body is starting to show signs of old age, and, to top it all off, his wife's younger sister, Sandy, keeps popping in and adding financial burden to his life. On top of the financial burden, Sandy is the one responsible for giving Suzy to Al's family. All are classic signs of a midlife crisis with one minor problem: Al is only 31. What is a man to do in such a situation? Blame the dog of course! Carver eloquently opens the story proving this point: "As Al saw it, there was only one solution. He had to get rid of the dog without Betty or the kids finding out…He felt relieved making the decision" (690). In addition to all of Al's problems, it seems that he also has a minor issue with anger management. Carver illustrates this through the tone of the story and the graphic nature of Al's thoughts: "He wished he'd never seen that dog. Or Sandy, either, for that matter. That bitch! … The mere thought of all the twenty-five- or fifty-buck checks, and the one just a few months ago for eighty-five to make her car payment—her car payment, for God's Sake … made him want to kill the goddamn dog" (691). Here the reader gets a glimpse of Al's obsessive aggravation with Suzy that eventually leads him on a downward spiral of destruction and pain to himself and those around him.

Sigmund Freud, whom many consider the father of modern psychology, believed that the mind is made up of three conflicting personas: the id, pleasure based; the ego, self preservation; and the super-ego, values and beliefs. Simply put, the conflict between these three personas in an individual's sub-conscience produces anxiety. According to Freud, humans have what are called defense mechanisms to help deal with this anxiety. Two mechanisms that have become somewhat more common are denial and repression, both of which fall into a category referred to as the Level One Defense Mechanisms. In total there are four categories, each with its own various mechanisms, ranging from the least psychologically detrimental which are in Level One, to the most harmful in Level Four. There are upwards of 20 different mechanisms total, but Al's character best represents the following three: displacement, rationalization, and reaction formation. Sadly all of them come from the Level Three category and are commonly referred to as the neurotic defense mechanisms. Such mechanisms interfere mainly with a person's work and love life, both of which are problems for Al.

Displacement, in the simplest terms, is the act of displacing the aggression one feels for something or someone onto something less threatening. Al is subconsciously displacing all of his anger and resentment caused by his job, his wife, and his body onto the innocent dog. Because Al believes he is losing control of his life, he has to find a safe outlet in which to discharge his overwhelming anxiety. He cannot take it out on his boss for fear of losing his job, he cannot take it out on his wife for fear of breaking up his family, and he cannot he take it out on himself because he truly believes that none of the problems are his fault. In the end, Suzy is the perfect scapegoat, and she is the only thing he can safely release his frustrations on. After she misbehaves a few times Al suddenly justifies the irrational action of getting rid of her because "he had enough to contend with without having to worry about a stinking dog" (Carver 691). This in and of itself is another Level Three defense mechanism called rationalization. By convincing himself that Suzy is the root of all his stress, Al makes his extreme actions justifiable, which, in the end, only lead to heartbreak. In combination, displacement and rationalization can cause terrible heartbreak, and ultimately, cause more anxiety than they save, as the reader sees later in the story. When Al returns home after getting rid of Suzy, he finds his family in uproar; the children screaming for their lost dog, a hysterical wife, and a guilty conscience. Carver expresses the psychological horror as Al begins to realize the magnitude of what he has done: "He kicked the door shut. Everything was going to hell. While he was shaving, he stopped once and held the razor in his hand and looked at himself in the mirror: his face doughy, characterless—immoral, that was the word … I believe I have made the gravest mistake this time. I believe I have made the gravest mistake of all" (697). Actions that were once meant to lower Al's stress level suddenly multiply his anxiety to a point where he truly is out of control. This comprehension leads to an even more horrifying realization for Al and sets him up for reaction formation, the third defense mechanism.

Reaction formation is when a thought or belief causes so much anxiety that the person believes, in an almost manic way, the very opposite of the truth. A common example is with love: one person is flaunting her love in an extremely over the top manner, gushing over her partner, making emotionally intense claims, and, in most cases, smothering the relationship. This is because the person realizes that she actually does not care for her partner and even hates him, so instead of breaking up and moving on, she smothers him in fake affection. In Al's case, when he returns home to his distraught family, he realizes that without the dog he no longer has a scapegoat. In actuality, Al lost the only thing, at least in his mind, that might have actually cared for him. Al begins to see his whole life crashing down around him as he rushes to find Suzy again, "He saw his whole life a ruin from her on in. If he lived another fifty years—hardly likely—he felt he'd never get over it, abandoning the dog. He felt he was finished if he didn't find the dog. A man who would get rid of a little dog wasn't worth a damn. That kind of man would do anything, would stop at nothing" (Carver 697). Then Carver delivers the biggest bombshell of all for Al: Suzy no longer wants him, "Al got out of the car…calling, 'Suzy, Suzy, Suzy.' The dog stopped when she saw him. He sat down on his heels, reached out his arms, waiting. They looked at each other. She moved her tail in greeting. She lay down with her head between her front legs and regarded him. He waited. She got up. She went around the fence and out of sight" (699). Just when Al is about to overcome his reaction formation he falls victim to it again as he tries to cope with Suzy walking away: "The thought he didn't feel so bad, all things considered…Some dogs you just couldn't do anything with" (Carver 699). Instead of overcoming and accepting his love of Suzy Al, once again, traps himself in this psychological pitfall.

Although Al has many problems aside from the psychological, ones including a drinking problem, an anger problem, and marital problems the psychological distress only intensifies his problems and makes his life that much worse. Al foolishly believes that Suzy is to blame for all the wrong in his life and that if he gets rid of her, his problems will suddenly become manageable. Instead, however, by using the subconscious defense mechanisms of displacement, rationalization, and reaction formation, he makes an already bad situation that much worse. That is often the problem with relying upon defense mechanisms; in the end, they cause more harm than good.