My Sweet Orange Tree

In analyzing Zeze based on psychological theories formulated by Jung and Freud he can be interpreted as follows: first is when Zeze a little boy describe as precocious and adorable starts to change his character after his father lose his employment plunging the boy to the deprivation and the psychological trauma of poverty (Whitmont, 1979). The boy becomes exposed o a diversified kinds of relationships arising from the father's unemployment and increased mother's stretches away from home in search of financial footing for the entire family. Zeze becomes unique child from other four children becoming more precocious and very curious and extremely sensitive and use his imagination to escape from the harshness of the prevailing reality in his life.

He sees this behavior as a positive characteristic while his family sees it vas a deviant behavior leading to severe punishment and sever scorning of his intellectual growth affecting his personality. He fails into the habit of pranking people and this habit becomes unique and highly individualized as theorized by Jung. Zeze's behavior is explained by Jung who believes that single dream or imagination is unique and highly personalized, tailored to specific individual and the situation undergone by that person and these are attributed to the background and the history of the boy which is filled with cruelty which makes him seek alternatives of satisfaction which he is deprived by his family (O'Connor, 1985).

Moreover Freud theorized that imagination is characterized by use of symbols which serve as the plot of the individual imagination and Jung referred it to as amplification and this is evident through the relations between Zeze and Sweet lemon tree in the back yard which he found to be friendly, understanding and more loving as compared to his family and friend. Zeze idolizes the lemon tree to take the place of the missing attention and appreciation in his real life. Zeze constantly went back to the lemon tree whenever he got things to let to of his chest and thus is explained by Jung 's theory which considers that imagination encourages the dreamer to consider all possible connections fro m amplification and also encourages him to return constantly to such elements of his imagination which in this case is the sweet lemon tree.

Furthermore Zeze can be analyzed based on the Freud's analytical theory on dreams which he believed that symbolism is represented during dreams and that the individual uses them without his understanding and to the rule which he offers no associations. This is witnessed when Zeze changes his behavior into one that heavily relies on doing pranks both to his family and even to outsiders like the Portuguese man who later becomes his friend. The habit of Zeze's pranks started when his father became jobless pushing the family to the effects of financial tantrums consequently affecting the little boy Zeze psychologically (Jose, 1971).

Another symbol used in the story is when the Portuguese man had become zeze's friend and since that their friendship was based on their crave for attention and appreciation the man gives the boy a pen and paper that he inherited from his father and these represents their hard-won respect for difference and loneliness leading to peaceful feelings. More over Zeze undergoes a struggle between the conscious and the ordinarily repressed trends in life forcing him to strive for satisfaction and the satisfaction to the boy is through the association with the Portuguese man and the Sweet lemon tree in his imagery creation of a wonderful and precious world that filed with appreciation, peace and understanding ( Sulloway, 1979).

Finally Jung's theory on sates that imagination and dreams contributes to the self-regulation of the psyche through automatic bringing up of everything that is often neglected, repressed or even unknown and their compensatory significance is not immediately apparent due to lack of complete knowledge. This is theory is interpreted in Zeze when he tries to self regulate through the creation of imaginary word devoid of the daily hustles of life. He be-friends the innate lemon tree making it a true friend who is able to understand him and this creates some peace in him contrary to his family members who didn't understand him at all and in doing this he represses the lost family love thus self regulating himself.