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The Monster of the Psyche: Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls and the Embodiment of Freud’s Id
and Superego
Katelyn Gill

Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls illustrates the importance of effectively navigating the
grieving process during adolescence. Ness accomplishes this by using his protagonist’s
nightmares to create a physical representation of the psyche, as outlined through Sigmund
Freud’s structural model of the unconscious mind. Unable to process the severity of his mother’s
illness, Conor O’Malley inadvertently calls the monster of the yew tree to aid him during the
grieving process. Ness’s monster acts as a catalyst for Conor’s psychological and emotional
development, embodying qualities of both the id and superego to help Conor achieve
psychological balance. Ness’s monster embodies the qualities of Freud’s id and superego to
reflect Conor’s transition through grief.

Through his interactions with Conor leading up to and immediately following the first
tale, the monster embodies the parental nature of the superego. According to Sigmund Freud’s
An Outline of Psycho-Analysis, “the long period of childhood, during which the growing human
being lives in dependence on his parents, leaves behind it as a precipitate the formation in his ego
of a special agency in which parental influence is prolonged” (15). The superego builds itself on
the parental guidance of the formative years between infancy and adolescence, allowing the
individual to navigate between right and wrong without the consultation of parental figures. The
monster of the yew tree assumes the role of the superego by aiding Conor through the grieving
process. With an absentee father and terminally ill mother, Conor lacks the parental guidance
needed to process his fear and grief. The monster uses the first tale to advise Conor through his
fear and anger, illustrating the nature of injustice by reminding him that “there is not always a

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