Ali Souza
Austrian neurologist, Sigmund Freud, was the founder of psychoanalysis in the early nineteenth century. His discoveries about the unconscious mind and the uncanny are reputable facts that apply to humans within their day-to-day life; but how can these psychological concepts be depicted in literature? American novelist Caroline Kepnes published her psychological thriller YOU in 2014 and captured her readers through the dark mental processes of her protagonist: Joe Goldberg. Four years after its original publication, Netflix turned the dark trilogy into a television series. Through his psychotic mind, audiences to both the television and novel series can witness Goldberg’s neurotic behavior, but still question why Joe is the way that he is. Was he always destined to stalk and murder those he loves? Some of Frued’s discoveries within psychoanalysis of the uncanny can help readers understand the dark, twisted mind of the narrator, Joe Goldberg.
Though never directly stated by Kepnes, Joe Goldberg is an intimacy-seeking stalker. According to the research article “Study of Stalkers,” “The central purpose of the intimacy-seeking stalkers was to establish a relationship, but several were prey to jealousy, and a number became enraged at their would-be partner’s indifference to their approaches.” (Mullen, Pathé, et. al., pp. 1246.) This definition perfectly aligns with Goldberg’s behavior toward his object of desire, Guinevere Beck; a writer and MFA student whom he first meets when she’s a customer in the bookstore he owns in New York. Upon first seeing her, he is immediately infatuated with her. On the first page of Kepnes’ novel Joe’s inner monologue states, “You’ve come home to me, delivered at last, on a Tuesday, 10:06 A.M. Every day I commute to this shop on the Lower East Side from my place in Bed-Stuy. Every day I close up without finding anyone like you. Look at you, born into my world today.” (Kepnes, pp. 1.)
Immediately, before even speaking to her, Joe wants to be with Beck. And as the story continues, Joe grows to be more dangerous the longer his obsession goes on. He goes as far as to steal Beck’s old phone and stalk her whereabouts and messages. He breaks into her home multiple times, steals her belongings, and hides them in a hole in his wall behind a tapestry. Only a few weeks into their relationship, Joe realizes that Beck is still in contact with her ex-boyfriend Benji. After this discovery, Joe kidnaps him and traps him in a cage below the bookstore before inevitably killing him. Similarly, only a few months after meeting her, Joe realizes that Beck values her best friend more than him. As a result, Joe also murders her with the hopes of keeping Beck’s attention on him. Joe continuously justifies his violent behaviors by believing that he does these things to protect those he loves. In the article titled, “You (The Novel and the Television Series)” within The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the author speaks on readers possible opinions on Goldberg’s character. The authors state, “You want to analyze him or be his forensic psychologist, but then you realize that he is not mentally ill but rather has a character pathology that makes him feel justified in killing his enemies.” (Rosenbaum and Friedman, pp. 1.)
At the end of chapter 46, Beck finds a box of her stolen items hidden in the walls of Joe’s apartment. The box includes her clothes, phone, used tampons—even her high school yearbook. On the first page of chapter 47, Joe’s inner monologue states, “You’re the one who snooped in my wall yet you’re acting like I’m the only one in this apartment with problems.” (Kepnes, pp. 370.) When Joe realizes that Beck doesn’t agree with his actions, he knocks her out and traps her in his cage—attempting to change her mind. In a desperate hope to escape, Beck tells him that if he lets her go, she will leave forever and never turn him into the police. Joe says he doesn’t want to part from her. After she denies his multiple offers to continue their relationship, Joe strangles her to death.
Freud’s discoveries in 1914 about the uncanny can help readers understand Goldberg’s mind. “You did not fulfill a dream in your youth? A feeling of frustration and yearning in that regard may continue to drive you later in life. And often, you will have no clue where it’s coming from. It just happens. Such, according to Freud, is the uncanny work of the unconscious.” (Frued, Rivkin, et. al., pp. 592.) Joe’s unfulfilled dream for unconditional love within his youth serves as the catalyst for his behaviors in relationships during adulthood. Joe and his mother withstood his father’s abuse until Joe shot his father to try and save his mother’s life. After his father’s death, child protective services separated Joe and his mother when he was only nine years old. In a flashback to his childhood, the audience can see that Joe never gave up on reuniting with his mother. Later, Joe breaks out of his group home to find her, and when he does, he discovers that she has started a new family and has put Joe in the past. I believe that it is Joe’s issues with his biological parents that originated his delusions about what love should and should not be. Joe committed his first murder to help his mother. When she resented Joe for it, he subconsciously gained a desire to rewrite the end of he and his mother’s story. Throughout his life, Joe repeats this cycle, hoping to find someone who will appreciate the lengths he’ll go to for love. Through the uncanny work of his subconscious, Joe correlates murder with protection.
In the start of the television series second season (which is loosely inspired by Kepnes’s novel: HIDDEN BODIES) Joe feels remorse for Guinevere’s death. He is sympathetic toward it, but ultimately does not regret his decision. He decides he needs to take a break from love, but he cannot control his obsessive desires. He moves across the country to Los Angeles, California, in attempts to start over. After an interview in a grocery store, both Joe and the audience is introduced to Love Quinn as she shops. Immediately upon looking at her, Joe has a similar reaction to that he did to Guinevere. He thinks to himself, “Hello, you. No, fuck, no. I’m not doing that. I’m not going to try and figure out who you are… I won’t say hello. I’ll accidentally bump into you. You’ll never even know I was here.” (YOU, “A Fresh Start.” season one, episode two.) As he draws himself closer to her, Love engages in conversation with him. He finds out that she, too, works at the store. As she walks away after flirting with him, Joe thinks to himself, “No. Not biting. I’m not that guy anymore. And I don’t think I ever will be again. I can’t be.” (YOU, “A Fresh Start.” season one, episode two.) Despite his best efforts to stay away from her, Joe can’t help himself. He thinks he’s pulling away from her, but instead, he still preys on her. The two form a close friendship very quickly, and as Love develops romantic feelings for him, Joe can’t bring himself to hold back. The reasoning behind this can be explained within Freud’s studies of the unconscious mind. Editors Rivkin and Ryan state, “…Freud attempts to account for strange coincidences in life… These “uncanny” moments, he argues, are in fact manifestations of the work of our unconscious minds. We are two people – our conscious self and the “other” self that prompts and inspires us to actions that often seem against our better, more rational will.” (Frued, Rivkin, et. al., pp. 592.)
I believe that Joe’s conscious self is a sensitive, loyal man who’s dedicated to helping those around him. His “other” self, however, is a violent control freak who will stop at nothing to find his soulmate. Freud’s discovery about the uncanny works of our subconscious mind can help readers understand Joe Goldberg’s decisions. Though twisted and neurotic, Goldberg’s mind is fascinating and derives from good intentions. It is because of what he’s learned from the influential people in his past that affects the decisions in his present, but that doesn’t mean he is one to defend. Joe Goldberg is an intimacy-seeking stalker who manipulates women and alters their lives to his own personal liking and attempts to justify his actions behind his delusional belief that he is protecting them.
Works Cited:
Freud, Sigmund, et al. “Part Five, Chapter Three: The Uncanny.” Literary Theory: An Anthology, 3rd ed., Blackwell Publishing, 2017, pp. 592–614.
Kepnes, Caroline. YOU. Simon & Schuster, New York, 2014.
Developed by Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble. YOU. Warner Horizon Television, 2018, Netflix, www.netflix.com
Mullen, Paul E., et al. “Study of Stalkers.” American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 156, no. 8, 1 Aug. 1999, pp. 1244–1249, https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.156.8.1244.
Rosenbaum, Karen B., Friedman, Susan H. “You (The Novel and the Television Series).” The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, vol. 47, no. 2, June 2019, pp. 267 & 268, https://jaapl.org/content/47/2/267
Sprockets and Springes 