“Being a Caged Child”: A Psychoanalytical Study of Alicia Berenson and Theo Faber in Alex Michaelides’ The Silent Patient(2019)

Abstract

This dissertation offers an analytical examination of the concept of being a caged child covered in the Silent Patient novel. The main objective of this dissertation is to examine how the protagonists’ relationships with their parents, during childhood impact their psychological development. Therefore ,this dissertation explores the characters' relationships with the external world and their internal psychic worlds ,through qualitative methods such as content analysis and textual analysis by applying psychoanalysis of Sigmond Freud, in addition to Donald Winnicott’s concept of good enough mother and holding environment, and Wilfred Bion concept of containment under the scope of object relations theory. It investigates how early experiences and interactions influence the protagonists' psychological development, subsequent relationships, and behaviors. Similarly, the dissertation aims to unravel the reasons behind Alicia's silence following the accusation of her spouse's murder, and Theo’s criminal aspect.