The Madness of John Brown Essay Example for Free

The Madness of John Brown Essay Historians are not the only ones that can elucidate history. History is a extensive puzzle that can be solved by anyone who has an educated diploma on certain subjects. Historians are the main disposition to solve the uncertainty of history with their useful, quality skills of making theories to conjoin loose ends of history, motivation of repeated research, and their undying love to learn new history, but a psychologist can solve history too with their forte. Even though it may seem absurd to believe that this occupation who assesses a mans personality to solve problems; a psychologist can solve an dead mans prospective in life. A letter is a common communication device in the old days and can be read by anyone. A historian would try to find key words in the letter to guesstimate the situation, but a psychologist knowing the mysteries of attitudes and behaviors of people would look at double meanings in passages. Two perceptions are better than one and knowing the true motivation of a persons mind than their careless actions can give an different outlook of a case. Other specialists can help historians find the gist of John Brown rationale of being insane in the terms of slavery and why he killed five men in the open. Although John Brown never underwent a psychological examination about his childhood, he had left a letter with important information of his childhood into a story. Psychoanalytic insight has helped to reveal some of Johns most intense personal conflicts from this letter; his ambivalence toward his fathers strict discipline, the paradox of Browns struggle to internalize and accept his fathers authority in order to become independent himself, and his main concern with property and pets as a means of defining his independence. This ambivalent father-son relationship suggests that Browns intense life-long identification with black slaves might well have sprung from the struggle he experienced with paternal discipline. Helping slaves was ultimately a means of helping himself without consciously recognizing the source of his emotions and convictions. He could have channel the repressed hostility toward his father toward the slaveholders. In conclusion, psychologist has added the tool of psychoanalysis in the study of history. This tool has helped historians to go beyond rational motives in understanding people who have changed society and history in either a good or bad way. History has somewhat gotten more clearer and truthful thanks to psychologists.