The Great Expectations

Erikson's Stages Applied to 1996 “The Great Expectations”

[Name of the Author]



Abstract

This paper will apply Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development to the character Finnegan Finn Bell in the movie The Great Expectations by Alfonso Cuaron The purpose of this paper is to analyze 3 different stages in the life of Finn (based on Erikson's stages) by using specific observations of his life as portrayed in the film. Based on Charles Dickens 1946 novel, the movie around the events happening to the main character of the film i.e., Finn. The movie character is a marvelous example to explain several stages in Erikson's psychosocial development phases. The movie takes place during the life of the character from his childhood to adult. Finn struggles to find his self, love and relation. As he passed through different stages, he often missed balance which should be acquired from during these phases. Eventually, he revisited to attain the much need balance in life after becoming mature.



Erikson's Stages Applied to 'The Great Expectations'

The Great Expectations is a film which revolves around motifs of ambition, social difference, love, relationships and sincerity. Finnegan Finn Bell is the main character of the movie. The movie starts by a small encounter of young Finn with Arthur Lustig, a convict trying to escape, and how he helped him by providing Lustig with food and bolt cutter. Subsequently, he met with Ms. Nora Dinsmoor and her niece, Estella. They grew up together and parted during some time, met up once again in another city and again parted.

Erison's psychosocial development theory can help us to understand Finn's behavior. According to Erik Erikson, all individuals go through 8 development stages in one's life. The nature of development depends upon one's biological and maturation abilities (Maianu, 2011). During all these stages, an individual goes through certain events or crisis that affects the later development stages. Erikson believed that each stage's development upon the conflict between two opposing traits e.g., trust vs. distrust and a person should strike the balance between these two traits in order to develop an integrated personality and that should be the aim at each stage (Santrock, 2011). If there is the healthy balance during all stages of development, the individual will be able to form healthy personality. In the absence of balance between two contrary traits in any stage can result in deficiency which will appear also in later stages. However, Erikson also believed that one can revisit each stage at a later time of life to achieve the lost balance (Maianu, 2011).

While watching the movie with Erikson's stages of development in mind, we can see areas of Finn's life where he did not attain a healthy balance between the conflicts of different stages, which led him to where he is today. For the purpose of this paper, I will focus on the last 3 stages of personality development since they are predominant in the character throughout the movie: Intimacy vs. Isolation, Generatively vs. Stagnation & Integrity ...