Rachel+Berry

=// Rachel Berry //= By: Vanessa Springer



= //Biography// = = Rachel Barbara Berry was born on December 18, 1944 in Lima, Ohio; daughter of two openly gay interracial fathers. By the tender age of three months Rachel had already won her first dance competition and soon thereafter followed winnings in many singing competitions. Because she was constantly showered with adoration and affection being an only child, as well as constantly being involved in the arts, Rachel grew up with a high sense of self worth and a love for being the center of attention. Rachel is very protective of her Jewish roots and her two fathers; she often speaks about them and her upbringing, stating that her unconventional life has given her a solid grounding and a deep seeded desire to succeed. Despite her unconditional love for her fathers, in her sophomore year of high school Rachel seeks out and finds her biological mother, Shelby Corcoran, the coach of the show choir. Against Rachel’s wishing Corcoran realizes how much she has missed in Rachel's life, and decides it is best that they not continue seeing each other, which becomes a major turning point and milestone in Berry’s life. A complete change stems inside Rachel after this moment and, for a while at least, we see new different personality of Rachel emerge, one less cocky and self-absorbed. = = Rachel often uploads videos of herself singing on to MySpace and is involved in multiple organizations throughout her high school including Glee Club, Speech Club, Mock United Nations Club, Renaissance Club, Muslim Students Club, and Black Students Union. Hyperactive, self-involved, and egotistical, Rachel frequently comes off as overbearing to those in Glee Club and all around her; therefor she is constantly bullied and ridiculed by most students of her high school. Because of this, Rachel starts off her high school journey with severe lack of friends, which only fuels her low self-esteem and insecurities. After joining the Glee Club Rachel is named co-captain for her superior singing abilities and leadership qualities, but and despite her cockiness and self-involvement. It is clear that Rachel's one true desire is to become a famous singing star, as she has spent every moment of her life obsessing over that goal. =

//The Psychoanalytic Approach//
== Using the psychoanalytical approach of psychology to evaluate the character of Rachel Berry was most insightful. While this method may be considered, by some, to be outdated or useless it still does provide, if nothing else, an entertaining explanation to the psyche behind many celebrities, including Ms. Rachel Berry. Using the information from Rachel's childhood has led to some very interesting revelations all well as many that seem to fit perfectly. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytical approach was based around three structural models of personality. Divided up into three sections: the ID, Ego, and Superego, Freud stressed that without a balance of these three entities we would develop abnormal and erratic behaviors. Freud declared that our ID operates on purely our primitive desires, drives, emotions, and only is concerned with immediate pleasures and gratification; the Super Ego, being the polar opposite of the ID, internalizes social and parental socializations and operates solely on the angelic morality of our society; lastly he affirmed that the Ego is our perfect and ideal balance between the ID and Super Ego, the part of ourselves we should all strive to access at all times, operating on the reality of the world we live in today. Freud would most definitely assert that many, if not all, of Rachel Berry's personality traits are due to her ID taking dominant and complete control. Throughout her entire high school career, Rachel exhibits countless problems with impulse control, and excitability, often acting without thought, acting on impulses for immediate satisfaction in which she later regrets; which is completely in tune with the Freudian approach. This is evident in her first year when she dramatically quits the Glee club when she is promised to be the "star" of the upcoming school production, even though she knows she will be hurting many other people, only to realize a short time later that she has made the wrong decision. This is not a one-time occurrence for Ms. Rachel Berry. With her ID completely dictating all her actions Rachel is also very easily angered and is known for her dramatic exits from Glee Club every time she does not get her own way. This impulsivity not only causes her to flip flop in and out of the Glee Club many times, it also causes her to flip flop out of relationships many times. Rachel is notorious for falling in and out of “love” in every 60-minute episode, only fueling her need for attention and love and causing her impulsive nature to increase. Rachel's romantic feelings towards certain people, like her core impulsivity, can be somewhat scary. Upon meeting and singing with Finn Hudson for the first time, she became obviously enamored, causing Finn to become somewhat fearful for his safety as she sang to him without ever having encountered him before. == == Freud might also be inclined to say that Rachel could in fact be trapped in what he called a psychosexual stage of fixation. Freud claimed that persons become trapped in these stages of dependency, ranging from Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, to Genital. He described these stages as those in which, at particular points in the developmental process, a single body part is particularly sensitive to sexual, or erotic stimulation and that a child at a given stage of development has certain needs and demands. Frustration occurs when these needs are not met while overindulgence stems from such ample meeting of these needs that the child is reluctant to progress beyond the stage. Both frustration and overindulgence lock some amount of the child's libido permanently into the stage in which they occur; both result in a fixation. I have seen many aspects of Rachel Berry's personality that point to her being stuck in the Oral stage: which results in a fixation of dependency and preoccupation. Ms. Berry is notoriously known for falling fast and falling hard in her relationships, she becomes absolutely heartbroken when these flings end, and claiming she was head over heals in love. Her dependency also becomes clearly evident when she cannot seem to let go of her fairytale notion of a mother-daughter relationship and becomes extremely preoccupied with making this fantasy and reality. == == Defense Mechanisms are a central idea of the Freudian psychoanalytical approach; these mechanisms are describes as "the Ego trying to balance the ID and Super-Ego," or "ego processes that distort reality to protect the individual from anxiety.” Out of Freud’s many defense mechanisms it is clear that Rachel has used Rationalization (which is creating logical and socially acceptable explanations for behaviors, which were actually driven by unconscious impulses), numerous times after her ID has caused her to act regrettably impulsive. This is most evident subsequent to Rachel ruining a family by disclosing that Finn is not the father, of her foe Quinn's baby. She quickly realizes she acted only for her own personal gain (hoping that Finn would love her instead). But after this realization she rationalizes to herself, and everyone around her, by explaining that she only acted out of a deep care for Finn and had his best interest in mind, which is most certainly untrue. ==

Psychologist Harry Stack Sullivan theorized that anxiety and personality traits were not a conflict between the ID and Super Ego but rather existing only as a result of social interactions and our environmental situations, he believes that our personality is not as stable as many previously believed, but that it is a constantly changing element of us: This theory is known as the ‘Person by Situation Interactive Perceptive.” This theory fits especially well with Rachel Berry - for although many of the times we see her she is overbearing, self centered, and self-involved, there are various situations in which we see a whole different side of her. When others are hurting or feeling rejected, Rachel often is willing to come to their side and offer them help, such as offering Quinn her support and friendship after she found out she was pregnant and was kicked off the cheerleading team. Despite all the years of emotional torment Rachel was willing to forgive and acted out of pure kindness towards Quinn – Sullivan would claim that we see Berry act an in exceptionally different manner because of the severity of the situation she is in. Another example of this is when Rachel offers to suffer complete social humiliation in order to protect Quinn and Finn from the heartbreak of the entire school finding out they are expecting a child. In this emotional situation Rachel acts on empathy and puts others before her own well being, something we rarely see, again because of the heightened situation. In both these situations the environmental factors take over Rachel's primitive personality qualities. Sullivan also talks about the "Illusion of Individuality" and how persons accordingly dictate our personalities to alter how those around us will think of us. This is especially true of Rachel, although she may not always perceive the thoughts of others correctly - Berry continuously tries to impress those around her by changing who she is in order to gain recognition and acceptance from her peers. For example Rachel is, in many senses of the words, a very prudish, innocent, and naive young girl; yet on countless occasions we watch her change the most basic qualities of herself. When she wishes for Finn to desire her, she changes into what she believes he wants, a more promiscuous version of herself, and when she wants to be one of the "popular" students she begins to drink alcohol, something she is normally adherently against. In both these situations Rachel is changing her personality in according to what she believes others want from her, whether her assumptions are wrong or right. Theorist Henry Murray, on the other hand, believed that our personality was shaped by situations throughout our lifetime and that personality is a combination of our unconscious behaviors and environmental situations, rather than shaped solely by one. Murray would look at the many experiences Rachel has dealt with throughout her life that have made her the woman she is today. For example, never having a mother figure may have been the cause for developing her dependency issues as well as contributing to her instability in relationships. Rachel was also bullied and neglected throughout most of her school years; these countless incidents may have lead her to be so self-involved and standoffish. Murray's theory also states that persons seek out situations and people that reinforce their thoughts on their own personality. Murray would see this most evident in Rachel in the fact that she is unable to maintain healthy relationships with men. She sees herself as insecure and imperfect and therefore continuously seeks out men whom she cannot be with for one reason or another, only reinforcing her beliefs that she is unworthy of love.

Both the psychoanalytical approach as well as the person by situation perspective have left me with very enlightening views on Ms. Rachel Berry's personality. If Freud were the one to analyze Rachel he would probably find that her ID was very much in control of her personality, leaving the Super Ego and Ego with very little to no control. He would also attribute Berry's dependency in relationships to her fixation in the Oral stage of psychosexual development. Sullivan and Murray and their person by situation perspective gave an entirely different view by allowing for an emphasis and attribution on interpersonal situations. By attributing Rachel's rapidly changing personality to the situations she has dealt with allows for an interesting and dynamic view on such a young woman. It seems that all in all, Berry's personality is very situation dependent and is ever changing due to her surroundings and environment. Together these two approaches to personality give a widespread and thorough assessment of Rachel Berry's persona.

**//References//**

Gaskins, J. (2011, February 3). Chapter 3: Psychoanalytic Aspects of Personality. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online. Website: http://www.huskyct.uconn.edu.

Gaskins, J. (2011, February 3). Chapter 10: Person-Situation Interactionist Aspects of Personality. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online. Website: http://www.huskyct.uconn.edu.

Starr, Michael (October 19, 2009). "'Glee' song bird". // New York Post //. Retrieved 2011-04-11.

Ghosh, Korbi (December 2, 2009). "'Glee's' high and low notes: Lea Michele's Rachel". Zap2it. Retrieved 2011-04-11.