Tony Soprano is one of the most intriguing and enigmatic characters in the history of television. Understanding him psychologically is a difficult proposition, although many of the shows other character’s have proffered some ideas. In one early episode, Dr. Melfi’s husband Richard refers to Tony as Alexithymic, the short definition being “the inability to talk about feelings due to a lack of emotional awareness.” This definition is definitely somewhat accurate, as Tony often reacts with rage during periods of confusion and frustration.

One classic example of this comes when Tony enters his office and sees that someone has purchased a “Big Mouth Billy Bass” and placed it on his desk. Seeing the singing fish reminds Tony of his dream about Big Pussy, and this memory floods Tony with multiple emotions that he is unable to process or understand. Tony reacts to this emotional flooding by beating Georgie, (A favorite pastime) who he learns placed the fish in his office, as this choice allows him to temporarily exorcise his uncomfortable feelings through this physically violent reaction.

At one point Dr. Melfi suggests Tony has an Anti-Social Personality Disorder. People with this disorder often show a persistent pattern of conduct disorder in their teen years which involves breaking the law, poor academic performance, disrespect for authority as well as several other more severe criteria including torturing animals and starting fires. Throughout the series we learn several things about Tony’s younger years. In Season 1, we learn from Uncle Junior and Livia that Tony and his friends stole a car, and also that Tony used to sell stolen lobsters in an effort to earn some extras cash. In another episode we see him skipping school, breaking into his father’s car, and generally being very willing to bend the rules.

Skip to Tony’s teen years and we learn that Tony has become good enough at sports to become a “varsity athlete” despite Junior’s claim that he wasn’t. He graduates from High School and attends Seton Hall for a semester and a half, before he “got into some trouble” (revealed to Meadow during the episode “College”) and goes to prison for a short while. While Tony is insisting to Dr. Melfi that he never engaged in Homosexual activities, we learn his time in prison was relatively short, and we can therefore assume his crime was relatively minor. Around this same time Tony robbed Feech Lamana’s card game, which was a major turning point in his life where he became officially respected as a gangster.

From this brief look at Tony’s adolescence we learn he probably did meet many of the characteristics for conduct disorder but possibly not enough to make a firm diagnoses. Which moves us to the diagnoses of Anti-Social personality disorder, which according to the DSM-IV, involves “a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:

(1) failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest

(2) deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure

(3) impulsivity or failure to plan ahead

(4) irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults

(5) reckless disregard for safety of self or others

(6) consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations

(7) lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another

B. The individual is at least age 18 years.

C. There is evidence of Conduct Disorder with onset before age 15 years.

D. The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia or a Manic Episode.

So, does Tony meet at least three of these criteria? The answer seems to be that yes of course he does. Although he does not seem to meet the criteria for number 6, there have been multiple examples of his actions meeting the criteria for the other 6 components. But does this diagnosis truly encapsulate Tony Soprano? It doesn’t appear to. The fact is that Tony is capable of unselfish and extremely generous acts, although often these actions have ulterior motives. Therefore to truly get a sense of the patterns of Tony Soprano’s life, it is extremely useful to use an Adlerian model to examine the patterns of his basic convictions. The Adlerian model looks at key components of a person’s life, and also at their early recollections in an attempt to examine several key determinants that Adler believed made up a person’s unique lifestyle.

Gender Role Preparation perceived through Gender Guiding Lines and Role Models

Through observing their parents and the gender patterns they adopt in their relations, a person learns to conceptualize a personal definition of what a man is and what a woman is. From watching his father, “Johnny Boy” Soprano, a respected and feared Mafioso, Tony formed several impression of what it is to be a man. First and foremost Tony learned that the man is the breadwinner in the family, and that he needs to do whatever it takes, regardless of the law, to provide for his family.

Tony also learned a great deal about conflict resolution from watching his father deal with people from around the neighborhood. One particularly important observation was watching his father handle a man named Satriale who had been avoiding him because he owed him a debt. When Tony watches his father chop off the man’s finger as a result of this dispute, Tony formed an early impression that a man goes to any lengths, despite the law, when that man owes him a debt. This impression was again confirmed when he watched his father brutally pummel a neighbor named Rocco, who also owed Johnny a debt.

Tony also learned a great deal from watching his father’s work habits throughout the years, and this affected his own adult attitude towards work. The beatings Tony witnessed in the previous situations were both over an attempt to collect a debt, and Tony saw that a great deal of Johnny’s income was simply taken by force or the threat of violence. Therefore he learned that men don’t need to work if they can take things from others, and this was a lesson that appeared to resonate.

In one notable event that occurred in Tony’s teen years, he covers for his father to his mother when she correctly assumes he’s been with another woman. In this situation, Tony, who has most likely learned through watching his father lie many times before, that it’s ok for a man to lie when confronted by an uncomfortable situation.

Through Tony’s interactions with his mother he learned that a woman, although she works in the home, holds a great deal of power and control in interpersonal relationships. One early impression came from watching his father and mother interact after his father brings home a large order of meat, and Tony observes that this was the only time his mother was ever really happy. Tony also makes the connection that when his father brought gifts it was “probably the only time he got laid” which also created the impression for Tony that a woman only provides sexual gratification to men when they are given gifts, and this was an idea that also seemed to translate to his adult life.

Interpersonal Style perceived through Experience of Family Atmosphere

The family atmosphere in the Soprano family was one of storm and strife. As Tony’s sister Janice correctly explains to her husband Bobby, “In my family it was dog eat dog.” This was an accurate description of the Soprano household, and much of this difficulty stemmed from the interactions between Livia and Johnny which were based on repetitive patterns of incessant nagging on Livia’s part and extreme deceit on Johnny’s. Livia’s tyranny over the house may have even eventually contributed to Johnny’s physical decline, as in Tony’s estimation she wore this very strong man into a “little nub.”

Livia Soprano’s love was conditional love. Livia was extremely critical of her children and she did not demonstrate encouragement and support of their endeavors which appeared to stimulate a lifelong pattern of self-doubt in both Tony as well as his sister Janice. Discouraged children often grow up to be angry and unfulfilled adults, as they begin to feel that everything they do will not live up to someone’s standards. In these situations a kind of “learned helplessness” (Seligman 1965) can take place, where kids simply give up rather than continuing to compete in a seemingly hopeless situation. This appeared to be the case with Janice Soprano, who spends a lifetime avoiding any kind of useful activity rather than have to be judged a failure as she has so many times before.

Tony on the other hand compensated for this lack of love like his father did by lashing out at others, finding temporary gratification though many sexual conquests, and finding solace in acquiring material possessions.

Livia also talked openly of killing her children when Tony was a young man, which he must have seen as a great devaluation of his importance and worth in his mother’s life. In one notable instance Livia tells Tony she could “smother him with a pillow” which terrifies Tony and makes him question how far his mother might really go in enforcing punishment in the Soprano household. Johnny Soprano on the other hand freely used corporal punishment in the house, and in Tony’s words, “the belt was his favorite child development tool.” Johnny clearly demonstrated though many of his actions in the house that violence was an appropriate response to frustration, and this was also a value that Tony seemed to inherit.

Johnny Soprano was also consistently deceitful in his dealings with his family, and his constant deceit was often the trigger that sent Livia flying into a rage. One early example of Johnny’s deceit came following his arrest at a kid’s carnival, where he tells his children the cops made a terrible mistake and arrested the wrong guys, which would be difficult for even a child to believe.

Another important event that confirms Johnny’s constant deceit occurred when Tony was a teenager and Livia was in the hospital having suffered a miscarriage where she was in dire physical danger. Johnny, who was staying overnight with his mistress, concocts an elaborate lie that hinged on Tony supporting the lie and confirming the story for his hospitalized mother. Tony does go along with the lie, and this event marked as major turning point where he embraces the deceitful lifestyle and begins to head down the path his father has paved for him.

Personal Code of Conduct perceived through Acceptance / Rejection of Family Values

When Tony embraced his father’s lying ways, he was essentially accepting the Soprano family values, all of which were also modeled by Tony’s Uncle Junior. Although Tony made a brief attempt at following a different path by going to college, his robbery of Feech Lamana’s card game demonstrated an early lesson learned from his father that if someone wants something that it is easier to simply take it from others than to actually work for it. This idea was strongly reinforced when Tony was caught for this act and he was not only not punished, but in effect promoted into the “family” following this brazen and irresponsible action.

For Tony the term “family values” obviously had more than one meaning, but upon close examination the values modeled in the Sopranos household were the same that were necessary to survive and even thrive in the mafia “family” Tony was also a part of. For instance Livia used the threat of killing someone weaker than her to retain order in the house and get people to comply with her wishes. The exact same thing is used by the mafia family, as the threat of pending violence is one of the key ways the family perpetuates its wealth.

The family value of deceit in the house was also a necessary value to succeed in the larger Mafia family. The code of “Omerta” implies silence and avoidance of even discussing the organization, and this is an interesting connection to make considering the fact that Livia was so against Tony going to therapy as she felt he was there to “talk about his mother.” Livia, who preferred the family secrets stay buried, was so consumed by feelings of anger from thinking that Tony would reveal her secrets to a therapist, that she in essence convinced Junior to have him killed. Returning to the moment of the idea Tony is Alexithymic, one can speculate that this condition might stem from his mother’s absolute inability to promote the sharing of feelings in the Soprano household.

Perspective on the World perceived through Experience of Psychological Birth Order

As the second born child of three, Tony’s assumed the position of the classic middle child. The second born child often takes their cues from the oldest child, who has been in the world longer and provides a roadmap for the second child to follow. Second born children are often the rebels in the family, as the first borns tend to be responsible and can often even be like a second parent. The second child therefore often finds belonging through acting distinctively different than the first, as the first is naturally better at things because of their advanced age and physical development. This was partially true in Tony’s case, as Janis appeared to enjoy flaunting her position as the eldest, and at least in her early childhood convinced her father she was a well-behaved and accomplished child. Tony on the other hand showed immediate rebellious behavior, and found belonging through being as Junior described a “little hellion” who learned to fit in and get attention through misbehavior.

Adler made a strong point of emphasizing that birth order also had a psychological component to it, where the literal birth order may differ from the physical birth order. This can happen when the first born son usurps the first born female child and becomes the de facto leader of the children, as he comes from a culture that values males over women. This dynamic appeared to manifest itself in the Soprano household. In Tony’s case Janis, who enjoyed the power of being the first born but not the responsibility, in effect passed the torch of responsibility as the first born to Tony, who became responsible for the family as he entered into adulthood.

Range of Social Interest perceived through Other Particularities

Adler believed that the extent and degree that a person takes an interest in his or her fellow human beings was an excellent predictor of their mental health. Tony never developed this interest in others, and instead came to value others based on their personal usefulness to him. There are many examples of this in Tony’s life, one example being his relationship with Paulie, who fell out of Tony’s favor following a financial downturn in Season 4. Even in his dealings with Artie Bucco Tony often sizes up how Artie can be useful to him, and despite their imbalance of power Tony finds little ways to exploit this friendship for his personal gain.

Tony’s odd obsession with animals also demonstrates his inability to share emotions with other human beings, and again this behavior might have some its roots in the lack of love and support he received from his mother. Tony often projects feelings onto animals that he is unable to feel for human beings, and this trait shows how confusing and upset Tony gets when confronted by negative emotions.

Conclusion

In conclusion Tony Sopano’s life is one lived with little insight or mindfulness. This lack of insight has lead to an external locus of control where he views the bad things that happen to him as bad luck His statements “I can’t catch a break” and “I’m like king Midas in reverse” are example of this behavior, and these claims don’t jibe with the many, many fortuitous events in Tony’s life.

Tony also likes to present the idea that he is a “sad clown” but again the evidence in his life does not seem to support this. When Tony is angry or hurt he nearly always responds with physical violence, and occasionally with em0tional violence such as when he calls Melfi a “cunt” following her rebuke of his advances. The sad clown motif indicates the sense of pity Tony often feels for himself, and his general pessimistic attitude towards life.

Adler felt that by gaining insight into your behavior you could begin to understand the patterns and faulty thinking and logic that these patterns then created. Melfi, after many years has uncovered some of these patterns, but doesn’t seem to offer much assistance as to how to process this information. The result has been that Tony continues to repeat many of the patterns directly inherited from watching his parents, and despite his often empty promises to change his life, this is really not possible without going back to the beginning.

Adler referred to this idea as “soft” determinism, meaning a person’s patterns of behavior were firmly and deeply entrenched, and very, very difficult to change without a tremendous amount of insight. Although nearly dying was a kind of apotheosis for Tony, it is likely he will return to much of his former behavior as he falls back into these familiar patterns.

The movie Fight Club was one of those unique films that help define a generation. The movie was preceded by the novel from Chuck Palahniuk, who created such a stir with the book and later the movie that people began to treat Chuck himself like Tyler Durden, often offering to “take care of” people at his request. So what was it about his movie that struck such a cord with people? Many were simply engaged by the movies entertaining elements, but upon deeper examination the movie had a much deeper meaning that this analysis will attempt to explore. Although we start with the idea of an analysis of Tyler Durden, his alter-ego, referred to in the movie as “Jack” is also highly relevant to this discussion.

The narrator “Jack” begins the movie with a raging case of insomnia that is brought on by existential crisis. Much like the character of Meursault in Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger, who commented that “life had begun stalking him” Jack has reached a point in his life that is also utterly devoid of meaning as evidenced by his quote, “this is your life and its ending one minute at a time.” Finally Jack seems to embrace the Buddhist idea that meaning in life can be achieved by actively meditating on one’s own death. He joins a number of survivor’s groups where he can see people at the very end of life, and this seems to bring him a great deal of peace. Perhaps a part of him is taking solace in the fact that fate has been cruel to others while it continues to spare him, and this gives him a sense of peace where he can finally get some sleep.

Everything changes when Jack meets Marla who is suffering through a similar existential crisis. Marla, although every bit as lost as Jack, does not have a place in mainstream consumer America and is essentially a bottom feeder in society. All the same, Marla and Jack are kindred souls, and there is an immediate attraction that Jack is unable to act on, until his subconscious creates Tyler Durden.

So Jack’s spilt into Tyler can be partially explained by looking at the fundamentals of dissociation. This occurs when someone’s thoughts become too uncomfortable to consciously process, and they go into another state as a psychological defense against these painful feelings. The question therefore becomes what was so uncomfortable in Jack’s life that he needed to create an alter ego? The answer can be found in looking at our greater American society and how consumerism creates a sense of the empty self.

In Adam Curtis’s documentary entitled The Century of the Self, the roots of American consumerism are explored by following the trail of Sigmund Freud’s nephew named Edward Bernays. Bernays had studied his uncle’s works extensively, and became convinced that people could be manipulated into buying products based on their instinctual drives towards aggressiveness and sexuality.

To back up a second, Freud posited that our subconscious is made up of three separate functions known as the id, ego, and superego. The superego takes the function of what we consider to be the “conscience” which urges us towards moral and just behavior. The id on the other hand is our drive towards destruction and sexuality which Freud thought was inherent in human nature. The ego acts as a kind of referee between these two forces to create a balance where people can successfully function in line with the rules of the society.

Freud believed we were all inherently aggressive and that the id is the dominant force in our lives, and is only curtailed by society’s conventions. In Civilization and its Discontents, Freud stated “men are not gentle creatures, who want to be loved, who at the most can defend themselves if they are attacked; they are, on the contrary, creatures among whose instinctual endowments is to be reckoned a powerful share of aggressiveness. As a result, their neighbor is for them not only a potential helper or sexual object, but also someone who tempts them to satisfy their aggressiveness on him, to exploit his capacity for work without compensation, to use him sexually without his consent, to seize his possessions, to humiliate him, to cause him pain, to torture and to kill him.”

So to return to Edward Bernays, he felt his uncle’s ideas could be used to exploit the American public into buying things they didn’t need if he could make them feel that these things would make them more sexually powerful or perceived as more aggressive. Consider Tyler’s comment; “God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need” in this regard.

A part of Jack has begun to understand that constantly acquiring furniture and other things for his condo is a meaningless pursuit totally devoid of purpose and fulfillment, and he feels a strong impulse to act on this feeling. Much of Jack’s dissociation has to do with this empty sense of self that he realizes he has for years been filling up by buying things, i.e. “What kind of dining set defines me as a person?” Tyler also makes a comment that, “We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no great war, no great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war, and our great depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars. But we won’t. We’re slowly learning that fact, and we’re very, very pissed off.” Jack has begun to reject the consumerism he has become a kind of slave to, also evidenced by his comment that “the things you own end up owning you.”

Tyler’s comment has a great deal of validity and can be historically supported. Prior to industrialization in this country, most people lived in rural communities where there was a shared sense of community and values of hard work and self-reliance were emphasized. With the coming of industrialization people began flocking to the cities, and with this migration, many of the core values of the rural way of life were also left behind. As people began living in close proximity in the US, a desire to “keep up with the Joneses” soon developed where people wanted to acquire as many possessions as their neighbors to keep up appearances. This mentality was soon exploited by people like Bernays, who worked with business to create adverting campaigns that capitalized on this idea.

World War 2 interrupted the county however, and the “sense of purpose” Tyler refers to came from taking on Adolph Hitler and protecting the world from the spread of fascism. Following World War 2, the consumer machine kicked back in however, and we soon returned to the idea of buying newer and better things in accordance with our deeply rooted subconscious desires. The next generation partially rejected this idea however, and in the 60′s a number of social causes such as the Women’s Movement, Civil Rights, and brining an end to Vietnam War energized people, and once again created a sense of unified purpose.

The children born after this generation are Tyler’s “middle children of history”. With more media outlets than ever constantly bombarding them, and no political or social causes to get behind, “Generation X” became one of the most restless and unfulfilled in history, and this is where we pick up the story of Jack.

One interesting piece of Jack’s story comes from analyzing his ideas about women and sex. At the beginning of the movie we see him holding a catalog likes it’s a porno magazine and we see instead it’s an Ikea advertisement. Jack, through filling up his psychological desires by purchasing things, has suppressed his sexual urges and become celibate. When he does create Tyler, he is able to finally release his pent up sexual frustration and release the desires of his id. But when Jack lets this genie out of the bottle, sexual conquest is not the least of Tyler’s desires. Freud also believed our drive towards destruction would emerge when society’s conventions are stripped away, and this is exactly what happens in the case of Tyler, who wished to destroy the consumerism that has prevented Jack from acting on his natural primitive urges.

Tyler’s actions suggest that destruction can also be evolutionary, as evidenced by his comment that “only when we lose everything do we have the power do to anything.” By destroying Jack’s possessions he feels he has set him free, but it is also important to understand what Jack is now free to do. “Tyler’s advice that “self-improvement is masturbation, but self-destruction is where its at” is interesting to consider. In setting himself free has Jack found redemption? This returns us to his comment at the end of his journey, where he remarks “all of this has something to do with a woman named Marla Singer.”

So, is love Jack’s salvation? This is certainly one hypothesis. At the end of the film, when Jack destroys Tyler, we see two things. One, the towers of consumerism crumbling to the ground, and two, him joining hands with Marla in perhaps their first moment of real intimacy. Perhaps this suggests that Jack has destroyed the power of his addiction to consumerism while also understanding there was a drive in the human instinct more powerful than simply sex.

So is that the message of Fight Club? That love can be the redemptive force that sets us free from our shackles? I think this is a likely explanation. Although as a viewer I particularly enjoyed watching Tyler/Jack free themselves from the bondage of consumer addiction, we still have Jack’s comment that “all of this has something to do with a woman named Marla Singer.” The nature of the psyche is such, that the ego’s defenses aren’t stripped away without being replaced by another force to protect the ego. In Jack’s case by killing Tyler he has freed himself from his disassociation and unified the forces inside of him into a single front. Bringing down the towers exorcises the demon forces of consumerism that have been filling up Jack’s empty self, and he is now free to live through the redemptive powers of love.

Biographical Overview

Janice Joplin was born January 19, 1943 in Port Arthur Texas to Seth and Dorothy Joplin. Janice was the first born child in a family that would eventually include a sister Laura, who was born 6 years later, and a brother Michael, who was born 10 years later. Janice’s early family life was relatively normal, and as a child she was exceptionally curious and bright. Janice often made up stories as a child and began writing plays while in the first grade, and even at a very young age her creative talent seemed to be developing.

One early story recounted in Myra Friedman’s (1973) book on Janis, recounts how Seth would take the Janis and eventually her siblings down to the post office to look at the pictures of the wanted men as a form of entertainment. Given Janis’s later utter and total disregard for the law and conventionality in her life, one wonders if Janis didn’t develop some kind of sympathy for the “outlaw” from these early experiences, as she certainly began to view herself as existing outside of the bounds of normal society.

In Janis’s words, “The whole world turned on me” when she entered High School, and these years seemed to have an especially profound influence on Janis as well as her later work. Port Arthur was in many ways a rough and even violent city, and as a port town had a number of bars and houses of prostitution to service the men who came to work there. Janis witnessed extreme racism while growing up in Port Arthur, and her tolerance and acceptance of people from other races quickly earned her the nickname “nigger lover” which was one of many that she would eventually acquire in Port Arthur. During this period Janis also gained weight and developed bad skin, and she was often also called a “pig” by the other children in the school.

Following High School Janice enrolled at Lamar State College which she found was much like her High School in Port Arthur, as she again experienced a great deal of rejection here and eventually dropped out. With her parent’s blessing, Janis moved to Los Angeles to live with one of her aunts. Janis eventually moved out of her aunt’s home into a place of her own in Venice Beach and it was during this trip that she began to seriously use drugs including heroin. Having nearly died during her experiences in Venice Beach, Janice again returned to Port Arthur, and eventually decided to return to school, this time at the University of Texas in Austin.

It was during this period of her life where Janis began performing seriously as a musician. She had discovered the blues through listening to records by Odetta and Bessie Smith, and Janis showed an amazing ability to imitate these singers, which was a lifelong talent she had developed even as a young girl. Janis would often play in coffeehouses and other campus spots around Austin, and it was during these formative years where she was able to put together her blues, folk, and rock influences into her own integrated and unique sound. Janis’s favorite place to play was the legendary Threadgill’s where she became close friends with owner Ken Threadgill who was a very positive force in Janis’s life.

Although Austin included many more anti-establishment types than Port Arthur, Janis was still ridiculed and mocked at the University of Texas, and her sense of inferiority as a result of this reached its pinnacle when she was nominated for the “Ugliest Man on Campus” award while attending school in Austin. This was the final blow to Janis in Texas, and shortly after this even she packed her bags and moved to San Francisco to pursue a career as a singer.

Janis moved to Haight Ashbury in 1966 which at the time was the epicenter of the 1960′s. Bands such as the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane were also coming up at this time, and the music and freedom made the Haight in the 1960′s for many a magical time and place to be. Janis found an incredible sense of belonging with Big Brother during this time, and their early work as a band represented the raw energy and improvisational nature of rock and Roll that people were beginning to take notice of.

Janice soon began to outshine Big Brother however, and although they were a highly energetic live band, their improvisational style did not translate well in recording sessions. Janice on the other hand took a great interest in the recording sessions, and was committed to recording an album that demonstrated Big Brother’s and more importantly her own unique style. With Albert’s encouragement, Janice eventually left Big Brother, and this act was seen by many in the band, as well as many of Janice’s personal friends, as an act of selfish betrayal.

Janice next formed the Kosmic Blues Band, which she spelled with a K in honor of Franz Kafka, who was one of the many novelists that Janice loved to read. The band was supposed to mark a return to Janice’s blues roots, but her first gig in Memphis, a city rich in the blues tradition, was a disaster as the new band received a very lukewarm response from the Memphis crowd. During her time with Kosmic Blues, Janice, already a regular heavy drug user became more enamored of Heroin. Janice’s Heroin use continued to increase throughout her time with the Kosmic Blues band, and by the time it came to play at Woodstock in the summer of 1969 she was most likely addicted to the drug. In one particularly disgusting story, Janice’s friend and lover Peggy Caserta (who would later go on to write “Going down with Janis” recounts how Janis snuck into the portable toilets to shoot Heroin prior to her performance at Woodstock. In any case Janice’s performance at Woodstock was not thought to be one of her best, and it was at this juncture of her career where her Heroin abuse and continued heavy drinking seemed to adversely begin affecting her music.

Realizing that the Kosmic Blues band was not working, Janice also left this band, and in the last year of her life formed her final band that was known as Full Tilt Boogie. It was also during this period that Janice formed a friendship with Kris Kristopherson who would eventually become her lover, and who also wrote Janis’s seminal hit Me and Bobby McGee which is the song she is most known for today. During this last phase of her life, Janice began referring to herself as “Pearl” which to her represented the tough- talking highly sexed festive side of her nature.

One significant event that occurred at the end of her life was Janice’s ten year High-School reunion. Janis announced her plans to attend the reunion on the Dick Cavett show while also telling the host Dick Cavett that during her time at Port Arthur that her classmates “laughed me out of class, out of town and out of the state, man”. Janis wanted to return to Port Arthur to show those that had picked on her and ostracized her that she had made it after all, while also still craving acceptance from the town that she thought her fame would bring her. Janis was drunk most of the time during the reunion, and because she had made several negative remarks about the town in the national press, her visit did not achieve what she had hoped, and once again she left Port Arthur feeling rejected and unloved.

Upon returning to San Francisco Janice’s Heroin usage had increased significantly, and it was also during this time that she met and quickly became engaged to a man named Seth Morgan who was from a wealthy east coast family. By all accounts Seth was a dishonorable man, and his stormy relationship with Janis did not appear to be based on any kind of fidelity from either party. During Janis’s last months in San Francisco she also reconnected with Peggy Caserta whose appetite for Heroin nearly matched Janis’s. Peggy and many others of Janice’s friends continued to use Heroin with her in her last month, but Janice was using the drug alone in a seedy hotel when she eventually died from an overdose on October 4th 1970.

Janis’s death deeply saddened her friends as well as her fans, but many, including Janice herself, did not expect her to live a particularly long life. Her rampant alcohol and Heroin use had set her on a collision course with death that seemed inevitable, and with this in mind, many people considered the idea that Janice Joplin’s death was not in fact an accident but rather a suicide. While a coroner’s report showed that the Heroin Janice had used that night was especially pure, one can certainly speculate that Janis Joplin contributed greatly to her own demise. Despite the fact her death was eventually ruled an accident, it is clear that Janis Joplin’s sad and unhappy life ended as a direct result of her own actions.

Analysis

Gender Role Preparation perceived through Gender Guiding Lines and Role Models

One of the ways a child makes his or her way in the world begins with an acceptance or a rejection of their gender guiding lines. In this regard, Janis Joplin’s relationship with her mother becomes fascinating to analyze, as Janice and her mother’s interactions were often characterized by a battle of wills and a great deal of turbulence. Janis’s mother, who was a Sunday school teacher, expected Janis to conform to the rules, wear dresses like the other little girls, while also making the family proud with her accomplishments. In this regard Mrs. Joplin had high expectations for her daughter concerning both conformity and accomplishment, and this seemed to send a mixed message to Janis that affected her future ambitions and desires.

Despite Janis’s rejection of the maternal guiding line, she did identify strongly with her father who was an intellectual man who enjoyed reading and was much more accepting and permissive of Janis than her mother. Janis seems to have strongly identified with her father instead of her mother, and this speaks directly to her eventual embrace of many more traditionally masculine qualities in her life.

Janis eventually almost totally and completely rejected her mother’s wishes that she be like the other girls, and therefore rejected the female guiding line in the family which also seemed to have an effect on her sexuality. Although Janis talked a few times of achieving married life with a “white picket fence” she found belonging by wearing pants and acting like one of the boys, and for Janis this included sleeping with by her own account “a couple of hundred” women throughout her life, including one in her High School years.

Much has been made of Janis’s sexuality, and one feminist writer attributed Janis’s drug use and lifelong pain as resulting from being unable to fully come out and experience life as her lesbian self. In essence she made Janis a martyr for lesbian causes, and this idea is provocative and interesting to consider with regard to Janis. It certainly must have been difficult for Janis to reject the feminine guiding line in the family without it having some affect on her sexuality, and therefore it seems highly plausible that Janis may have been predominantly attracted to other women. On the other hand Janis did also sleep with a great many more men than women in her life, but her inability to sustain lasting relationships with these men may speak directly to Janis’s confused and even tormented sexual feelings. Although she often bragged about her conquests with men, one could see this as a dramatic overcompensation for her lesbian feelings, as well as a compensation for her rejection by the boys of Port Arthur when she was young. As a star Janice spoke often about her increased access to “pretty young boys” and one wonders if her often false bravado when speaking about men may have simply been attempts to deal with feelings of childhood rejection and inferiority.

When children reject their parental guiding lines, they may often turn to role models to guide them. In Janis’s case because such a role model was not available in Port Arthur, she found this guidance through emulating and studying the music of Bessie Smith, who had died several years before Janis was born. Bessie Smith was and is one of the most influential Blues singers in American history and Janis felt a kinship with the blues where she was drawn not just to the music but also to the sadness and pathos that produced the music. Janis remarked often throughout her career that singing the blues required suffering, and Janis used this belief to justify and rationalize her Heroin abuse.

Janice did draw strength from visualizing the blues singers that had come before her however, and the anguish and pain in her voice while she was singing appeared to be a true representation of Janis’s often tortured life. Much like the Blues singers she was emulating, Janis did use music to make sense of painful feelings, and the power and influence of Blues singers like Bessie Smith provided for Janis a roadmap of how to process these feelings. Bessie Smith was in fact such a powerful influence on her, that Janis contributed half the money for Bessie Smith’s memorial so she could be properly honored and remembered.

Interpersonal Style perceived through Experience of Family Atmosphere

One thing that Janice seems to have inherited from her mother was a sense of frugality which Dorothy had developed from her experiences seeing her family farm lost to the depression. Janice was not particularly generous with money over the course of her career, and despite her blatant disregard for the rules, friends who went through Janice’s possessions (Friedman 1973) following her death found several “meticulously organized checkbooks, all balanced to the penny.” Janice also always scoured for the cheapest item when she was grocery shopping, and would spend extra time comparing differences in price on items although money was really no object in this instance. Considering Janice’s otherwise highly disruptive life, this seems almost miraculous, and certainly speaks to the fact that Janice respected at least some of her family’s established values.

Another instance where Janice seems to have rejected her mother’s guidance was in the area of spirituality, where Dorothy who was a Sunday school teacher, tried to instill in her children ideas consistent with conventional morality. Janice wildly rejected this idea, and adopted an extremely hedonistic attitude where if something felt good to her she was quick to do it. Janice often expressed this philosophy of the immediate throughout her life, and this ran directly opposed to the family’s religious convictions that there was a life after this one where we received our final rewards.

The family’s experiences with music are also important to consider with regard to Janis’s interpersonal style. At one time Dorothy was such a talented singer that she received a full scholarship for her musical abilities to Texas Christian University. Dorothy continued to sing in the church choir when Janis was little, and the family had a piano to celebrate Dorothy’s love of music. When Janis was young Dorothy had one of her vocal cords severed in an accident during a surgery, and Dorothy could no longer sing as a result of this experience. Seth then sold the piano and this seemed to convey an unusual message to Janis about music, and may have a relationship to Janis’s fear, repeated often throughout her career, that she would loose her voice and therefore her career.

Janice’s eventual embrace of music could be interpreted a couple of different ways. First, that she carried on the family torch passed down from Dorothy, or second, that she took to music because it was something her mother could no longer do. Considering how stormy the relationship was between Janis and her mother, and the fact that Seth sold the piano because it was too painful to have around for Dorothy, it seems possible to speculate that Janis’s music was in some ways a reaction against her mother. The kind of music Janis did go on to produce was certainly far different than the music Dorothy studied in school and perhaps Janice’s embrace of music could be interpreted as both an ode to, as well as a reaction against, Dorothy’s love of music.

Perspective on the World perceived through Experience of Psychological Birth Order

Janis was the first born child in a family of three, and this also influenced her perspective on the world. First born children are often the responsible and conservative children in the family, and can become in many ways like second parents to the other children. In Janis’s first 6 years of life she behaved much like you would expect an oldest child to behave, as her mother reports she learned to sit and cut her food and eat and talk like an adult at a very early age with amused and surprised Dorothy. Janice was also very well-behaved and had excellent manners, and her mother reports that her behavior was nearly beyond correction in these early years.

Things changed when Laura was born when Janice was six, as not only was Janis now dethroned as the only child, but Laura had health complications which took up even more of her mother’s attention. Interestingly Janis did not at this time become a jealous and overbearing sibling, but instead became very attentive to Laura and cared for as a kind of surrogate parent.

A fascinating switch in the psychological birth order perspective did happen later however, when Janis began to get jealous that Laura appeared to do things that met her mother’s high expectations whereas Janis consistently let her down. Children often find belonging in families by engaging in behaviors that are different than their siblings. In the case of the Joplin’s this happened much later when Janis was in High School, where Janis was now finding belonging as the misbehaving child where Laura assumed the role of the responsible one. Normally this dynamic is exactly reversed, but in the Joplin’s case Laura now assumed the vantage point of the first born child and Janis as the reckless and wild second born.

This pattern continued throughout the rest of their lives, as during her periods of conservative behavior Janis would often ask for Laura’s assistance picking out the proper clothes and seek her advice on style and other matters. Although Laura was six years younger, she seemed to eventually surpass Janis emotionally as well, and her story is very much intertwined with Janis’s even today. Laura eventually earned a PHD in education and became a motivational speaker. She also wrote a book called Love, Janis which provided letters Janis had written home to the family throughout her career, and this book, which was later made into a Broadway production, helped a lot of people reach a greater understanding of Janis Joplin’s inner world.

Self Assessment perceived through Genetic Possibilities

It is impossible to talk about Janis Joplin without talking about her physical appearance, as this was at the root of a great deal of Janis’s inferiority and perhaps even a partial explanation for her extreme talent. Although Janis was by all accounts an average looking girl growing up, she went through a particularly awkward stage in High School where she gained weight and also developed skin problems. In Texas in the 1950′s this must have been particularly difficult, as beauty was certainly a cherished value for women in this time and place, and a person’s self-worth could easily become tied to their appearance which seems to have happened to Janice. Rather than attempt to play a game she felt she could not succeed at, Janice instead chose to respond in the exact opposite manner, and she made her personal appearance a very low priority.

This is classic safeguarding behavior where a person creates a sense of rejection themselves before others have a chance to reject them. In Janis’s case she would put on a brave front when others would call her a “pig” in High School, but then go home and cry about this rejection. It must have particularly painful for Janis to be nominated for “Ugliest Man on Campus” while at the University of Texas, as this was a place where she had finally found some belonging and had experienced some success as a singer.

Being constantly rejected for her appearance, Janis only felt beautiful in her life when she was performing. It was on the stage where her wild sexuality and charisma finally shined, and this for Janis meant the stage became the only place where she every truly felt accepted. Janice spent the rest of her life following High School chasing the “pretty boys” and this seems to be overcompensation for the rejection she felt from the popular boys both in High School as well as at the University of Texas. She made much of her one night stand with New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath, even announcing their affair over the microphone while doing a New York concert, and also bragged about sleeping with Jim Morrison, Dick Cavett, and many other men which may have been simply further attempts to prove that she was indeed wanted by the “popular” crowd.

This certainly seemed to be a large part of her motivation to return to her High School reunion where she hoped to show those that had rejected her how she had made it. When Janis was again rejected at her High School reunion it seemed to bring all of her intense feelings of inferiority back to the surface, and have at least some relationship to her final and fatal Heroin binge.

It is also interesting to consider Janis’s engagement to Seth Morgan with regard to the timing of her reunion. Seth, whose east coast pedigree led Janis to believe that he was in fact one of the “popular” boys she had always sought after had also assured Janis he did not want any of her money, and even signed an agreement that assured this. For Janis this may have been a last grasp at fitting in and dealing with the feelings of inferiority her reunion stirred up, and a final attempt at finding the belonging that she so desperately craved.

Openings for Advancement Perceived through Environmental Opportunities

It is impossible to attempt an understanding of Janis Joplin without also understanding the times she came of age in. The 1960′s was a period of great revolution and change, and provided the perfect backdrop for Janis to unharness her raw energy and power through her music. Prior to the 60′s women had no such opportunity, and the classic model of the Rosemary Clooney type lounge singer was a paradigm that Janis helped change and recreate for many future generations. The fact that Janis came along concurrently at the height of the woman’s movement was also significant, as she became for many a symbol for women’s sexual freedom and experimentation that had previously been taboo. Had Janis come along in another era, her brazen sexuality would not have been well received, and Janis was a direct benefactor of as well as a contributor to, the women’s movement.

Range of Social Interest perceived through Other Particularities

In Adlerian psychology, a person’s mental health can be measured by examining a person’s social interest in other human beings. In Janis Joplin’s case her early inferiority produced such violent insecurity that she had a very difficult time getting close to others and maintaining intimacy in her personal relationships. Although Janis was often taken advantage of by others in her life, she relished in thinking of herself as a victim as it confirmed her existing feelings about herself.

For Janis the circumstances of her life must have contributed greatly to her confusion about other people’s motives concerning their feelings for her. Before she was famous she was mocked and ridiculed by nearly everyone she came into contact with, excepting a few select friends she made along the way. She felt inferior in her home life and that she wasn’t living up to her mother’s expectations as to what a woman should be. Then when she became famous suddenly the whole world took an intense interest in her, and it is easy to see why she would doubt the motivations behind this interest given her prior experiences.

No where was this more evident than at Janis’s reunion where she wanted to show the people who had mocked her how important she had become, while also badly seeking their acceptance. For Janis the Thomas Wolfe axiom that “You can’t go home again” seemed especially appropriate, and all of these conflicting cognitions and emotions must have created a great deal of psychic turmoil in Janis which she numbed by using Heroin.

In this regard, Janis remarked to Myra Friedman (1973) that “her only true friends were the junkies she used to hang out with” and this is a telling statement that speaks directly to the fact that drug addicts often gravitate to each other in a kind of shared misery. The fact that Janis made this remark seems to confirm her low opinion of herself, and how this low opinion affected her interactions with others. Because Janis was so in need of love from others, she surrounded herself with sycophants who would often tell her whatever she wanted to hear, which was a fact Janis was well aware of.

Although many singers from this era including Janis’s one time lover Country Joe McDonald became very involved in political causes in the 60′s, Janice’s message seemed to be more about freedom through breaking off the shackles that society imposed. Perhaps because the 60′s were such a time of freedom, many serious addictions such as Janis’s were overlooked under the guise of free living. The dream of Timothy Leary and others like him that drugs could be a mind expanding tool has not been realized, and many such as Janis developed severe and pathological addictions as a result of this idea. This was the paradox of the pairing of drugs and freedom, as, although the drugs were meant to free a person’s mind, they often made them virtual slaves to their addictions as was the case in Janis Joplin’s life.

Conclusion

Janis Joplin’s life was clearly very sad, and demonstrates the pathology and sadness that exists in someone who, despite achieving considerable wealth and fame, never learns to overcome feelings of inferiority towards the self. Alfred Adler’s quote “The greater the feeling of inferiority that has been experienced, the more powerful is the urge to conquest and the more violent the emotional agitation” seems especially relevant to Janis’s life. In many ways Janis positively channeled and compensated for her feelings of inferiority through her work on the stage, but when the music was over Janis was always left with the same uncomfortable feelings. Several of the books on Janis’s life describe how despondent she would be following a performance, and this may be because the stage was the only place she truly found the love and acceptance she so desperately craved.

Many factors contributed to Janis’s inferiority, and the stars all aligned in a very unique way to create the life that was Janis Joplin’s. Her early and continued rejection by the other children, particularly in High School created a lifetime of negative feelings about her physical appearance, and these feelings were probably exacerbated through her interactions with her mother who wanted her to be more like the other children. Because Janis was not like the other girls, she assumed many masculine traits, and somewhere along the way her feelings about sexuality became very confused. Although there is significant evidence to demonstrate a genetic link to homosexuality, there are also almost certainly environmental factors which can contribute to this, and Janis Joplin’s life seemed to be an excellent example.

Despite Janis’s sexually ambivalent feelings, she many times remarked about a mythical “white picket fence” kind of life that she longed for that would bring her some consistency and stability. But Janice was also terrified of giving up her stardom, as this was also the only thing she had to cling to that gave her a sense of accomplishment in life. She had created the “Pearl” image and now she had to consistently live up to it, and this required a pace that no one could possibly maintain.

Janice was also a product of her times, as more than any other decade before or since, the 1960′s were a time of great change, paradigm shifts, and revolution, and Janis helped define these times while also being swept away by them. The music of the 60′s reflected a large break in society where kids were expected to “never trust anyone over 30″ that never quite considered what happened when they reached 30. For Janis, her reckless lifestyle, intense feelings of self-loathing, and raging feelings of inferiority eventually overwhelmed her, and her death at the age of 27 was truly tragic considering the further contributions she may have gone on to make.

Biographical Overview

If ever there was a guitar player who redefined this instrument for anyone who has ever played it before or since, it would be Jimi Hendrix. Jimi’s exceptionally creative, powerful, psychedelic licks helped him reach a musical standard that has never been duplicated, and in his four short years as a recording star he established himself as a musical legend without equal. His performances at the Monterrey Pop Festival which established him as a star, and later at Woodstock were some of the most awe-inspiring in the history of live music, and history will remember Jimi Hendrix as one of the most influential albeit enigmatic and mysterious musicians who ever graced the stage.

Jimi Hendrix was born John Allen Hendrix on November 29, 1942 to James (Al) Hendrix and Lucille Jeter in Seattle, Washington. Jimmy’s father Al, who would be his primary parental force throughout Jimi’s life, was in the Army when Jimi was born. Fearing that Al would go AWOL to go see his newborn son, the army placed Al in the stockade on “general principle” where he stayed for over a month until the army saw fit to release him.

Back in Seattle Jimi’s mother Lucille quickly grew tired of being a single parent and virtually abandoned Jimi during his first few years of life. Jimi, then known as Johnny, first lived with Lucille’s family, but was then placed with a woman named Mrs. Walls who took Johnny in and cared for him.

Al was finally released from the Army in 1945 when Jimi was three years old. Upon arriving back in the United States, Al regained custody of Johnny and promptly named him James after himself. Originally Jimi was known as “Buster” by his family, but at the age of 6 everyone began calling young James “Jimi” which would stick with him for the rest of his short life. Between the ages of 3 and 6 Al raised Jimi with the assistance of Lucille’s Sister Dolores, and Jimi became very close to her children who were being raised in the same home.

When Jimi was 6, his mother briefly came back into Jimi’s life when Al and Lucille attempted a reconciliation. Because there was little work in Seattle at the time, Al joined the Merchant Marines, and while he was away Lucille returned to her old carefree lifestyle, and was kicked out of the housing the Hendrix’s were residing in for having inappropriate male visitors. Upon his return from the Merchant Marines, Al and the family reunited, and Lucille eventually had another son Leon in 1948, who had Asian features and was clearly not Al Hendrix’s son. Lucille eventually had another son Joey by still a different father, and Al eventually divorced Lucille in 1950 as a result of her lack of stability.

Over the next few years Al raised Jimi and Leon with the help of his relatives, and Jimi briefly had another maternal figure “Edna” enter his life, who he grew close to but who was eventually forced to leave the Hendrix home to make room for other relatives. Lucille popped in and out of Jimi’s life during his formative years, and would make extravagant promises to Jimi that she would not follow through on. On February 2, 1958, following many years of hard drinking and frivolity, Lucille passed away at the age of 32 which deeply saddened Jimi.

In his teen years Al Hendrix bought Jimi his first electric guitar which Jimi became so attached to that he slept with it on a nightly basis. Jimi was eventually recruited by a man named James Thomas, and Jimi then became a member of James Thomas and the Tomcats. During this same time frame, Jimi, who had grown disinterested in school, dropped out of Garfield High, and also got in trouble for being in a stolen car. Jimi eventually joined the Army during this period, and decided he wanted to be a paratrooper in the Screaming Eagles like his father before him.

Jimi met Billy Cox while in the Army and the two of them had a great deal in common including musical tastes. While in the army they begin to play a little together, and they formed a friendship and partnership that would later be rekindled when Jimi formed the band Band Of Gypsies.

Following his stint in the Army, Jimi moved down south and began playing the “Chitlin” circuit where he used the stage names “Maurice James” and “Jimmie James” and had some success as a guitar player. Jimi would even play backup on a Supremes record, and in 1964 he played with the Isley Brothers who were also very popular at the time. It was during this period when Jimi met Little Richard, who was a bit of a narcissist, and felt that Jimi’s guitar playing upstaged him and took the focus off him which he felt was a necessary component of the act.

Jimi eventually split with Little Richard and moved to New York City where he at first had little success. After spending some time in Harlem, Jimi settled into the Greenwich Village neighborhood, where he formed a new band called Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. Jimi’s unique improvisational style alienated a number of his fans, while others thought they were witnessing the birth of a genius. One of these people was Chas Chandler, who formerly played base for a band called the Animals who knew when he saw Jimi that he had discovered an amazing new talent. Chas convinced Jimi that he would have more success in England than in the United States, and in 1966 Jimi packed his bags and left the US to live in London.

While in London Jimi met Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, and the three of them formed the band The Jimi Hendrix Experience and begin touring around England. Jimi dazzled the English crowd, who were alternately shocked and amazed by Jimi, and he was described in the English papers as “The Wild Man of Borneo” which was a kind of racial slur against Jimi’s heritage. The group was very successful, and their first album Are You Experienced produced the songs Hey Joe and Purple Haze which were both big hits on the English rock charts.

Jimi’s breakthrough performance came upon his return to the Unites States at the Monterrey Pop Festival where his use of distortion and feedback on the guitar helped him create a sound previously unheard by American audiences. With the crowd already in a frenzy over his performance, Jimi set his guitar on fire at the end of his set, which further electrified the crowd and created a buzz about Jimi Hendrix that would propel him to the top of the music world.

One important ally Jimi made during this time was Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones, who introduced Jimi at Monterrey and was one of Jim’s first important fans in the world of music. Following his performance at Monterrey, Brian introduced to Jimi to a lot of important people in California, which culminated in The Jimi Hendrix Experience being signed to go on tour with the Monkees who were one of the top drawing bands in the world at this time.

Jimi’s wild style and sexually explicit actions on stage were not well suited to the Monkees crowd, and soon this tour dissolved and The Jimi Hendrix Experience began touring on their own. Over the next two years the band became hugely successful, and in addition to Hey Joe and Purple Haze, produced songs such as Castles Made of Sand, and Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower, which were all big hits for the band. The band eventually produced three hit albums, Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland which all were huge successes. The band was not without its difficulties however, as Jimi and Noel Redding had difficulties agreeing on several issues related to the band, and in the summer of 1969 the band broke up despite the fact that they were at the peak of their commercial success.

Some speculated that Jimi broke up The Jimi Hendrix Experience because both of his bandmates were white, and that he was receiving pressure from the Black Panthers to make a statement about Black solidarity. Although Jimi did have an association with the Panthers in the 1960′s, he used the standard “creative differences” approach to explain the band’s breakup. But in any case it was apparent that he was hurt by all of the negative press he received following this incident.

Following the breakup of The Jimi Hendrix Experience Jimi began heavily using drugs, and a major turning point came in his life when he was arrested on May 3, 1969 at the Toronto airport for possession of Heroin and Marijuana. Jimi adamantly claimed the drugs were not his, but was rightfully disturbed at the prospect of facing seven years in prison, and thought a great deal about his legacy following his arrest. Jimi was eventually cleared of these charges, but still faced a great deal of inner turmoil as a result of this experience.

In the summer of that year, Jimi put together a group of musicians to play with him at Woodstock, and his performance there was one that helped cement his legend as one of the truly inspired live performers in the history of music. His Star-Spangled Banner on guitar was a huge hit with the fans, and would later become one of the featured scenes in the Woodstock film recordings that were produced at the festival. Later that year Jimi would also play at England’s answer to Woodstock, called The Isle of White Festival, where he also dazzled and amazed his English fans, many of who had been with him from the beginning.

At the end of his life, Jimi reunited with his old army buddy Billy Cox, and they formed the Band of Gypsies, which would be Jimi’s final group. This group had some success, but Jimi was beginning to become fatigued from years of working almost constantly, his continuing drug use, and the anxiety he felt arising from battles with his management, and earnings in the millions that he could not account for.

In September of that year, as the group was touring Europe, Jimi Hendrix was found dead on his hotel room floor as a result of an overdose of sleeping pills that caused him to choke on his own vomit. Jimi’s death was highly controversial however, as some claim he was mishandled by paramedics which caused him to eventually suffocate on the way to the hospital. Jimi’s death has been thoroughly investigated and researched, and despite all of the claims, a coroner’s report confirms that Jimi had been dead for some time when he was eventually found on the morning of September 18th.

The legacy of Jimi Hendrix endures, and many still consider him to be the most unique guitar player that ever lived. His estate has made millions of dollars following his death, most of which was originally hidden from his father by unscrupulous managers of Jimi’s affairs. Al Hendrix and his family eventually won back Jimi’s legacy with the help of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and Allen would eventually go on to build a Jimi Hendrix museum called the Experience Music project, which is a major tourist attraction in Seattle Washington.
Analysis
Gender Role Preparation perceived through Gender Guiding Lines and Role Models

Though his interactions with his father, Jimi learned the values of hard work and perseverance that would guide him throughout his life and career. Although Jimi was occasionally portrayed as a spaced-out wild man under the influence of LSD, he was in fact an extremely hard worker who produced an amazing amount of material in his short career.

Jimi’s father also instilled in Jimi the value of perseverance. Through all of his struggles with his wife Lucille, job difficulties, prejudice, etc, Al Hendrix continued to soldier on and raise his boy Jimi, and this lesson was not lost on his young son. This value of perseverance was so strong in Jimi that he practiced his guitar so often and so much that he eventually became a virtuoso. With no ability to read music and no real training, Jimi still managed to teach himself to play the guitar with his right hand despite the fact that he was born left-handed. All of these obstacles must have made the guitar very difficult for Jimi to learn, but through watching his father Jimi learned a man never gives up, and he therefore continued to work tirelessly at learning to play his guitar.

Jimi’s female gender guiding line was much more complex. Although Jimi loved his mother, she disappeared often in his life, and Jimi was well aware of her infidelities towards his father. Later in his life Jimi’s interactions with women appeared to be unstable, and his fear of commitment with women may very well have arisen from watching his mother’s irresponsible behavior.

Jimi’s mistrust of women is interesting to consider with regard to one of the women he was the closest to named Devon Wilson. Devon was a former prostitute, heavy drug user, and party girl who had also been romantically linked to Mick Jagger during the late 1960′s. Devon lived with Jimi at his New Your apartment, handled many of Jimi’s affairs, and was even the subject of one of Jimi’s songs called Dolly Dagger. Like Jimi’s mother Lucille, Devon would often disappear for days at a time and then come back when she was done with her extended binge. The fact that, despite Jimi’s access to so many women, he trusted a clearly irresponsible woman like Devon Wilson to get closest to him, seems to suggest that he may have chosen her because her behavior was so much like his mother’s growing up.
Interpersonal Style perceived through Experience of Family Atmosphere

On the subject of Jimi’s mother, she and Al fought often while Jimi was growing up, and the Hendrix household was often filled with storm and strife when Lucille was around. Watching his mother and father fight so often appeared to affect Jimi’s own relationships with women, as he was on several occasions verbally and even physically violent with women during periods of confrontation.

Jimi also lived in a number of different homes and places growing up, and in this capacity learned not to get too close to people as they may abandon you at any time. One poignant story Jimi himself related involved meeting his father for the first time at the age of three and taking the train from Berkeley to Seattle. Jimi recalled how much he wanted to return to the only “family” he had ever really known, and how odd it was to be taken on a train by some strange man he had never met. This sense of instability was reinforced often throughout Jimi’s life, as a number of people would be significant in his life for a couple of years and then simply disappear, and this appears to have affected Jimi’s ability to trust and get close to people.

Because Jimi was unable to achieve a sense of stability, he developed a shy and introverted personality that caused him a great deal of loneliness. Jimi dealt with painful feelings through artistic expression, and the ultimate capacity of his talent may have been a reflection of the intensity of his painful feelings.
Personal Code of Conduct Perceived through Acceptance / Rejection of Family Values

The family values in the Hendrix household involved obedience to authority and a healthy respect for one’s elders, and although Jimi had respect for his father, he came to distrust authority in his own life. There are many different versions of Jimi’s life with Al Hendrix, many of which paint a picture of a very unhappy home life where Al constantly reminded his children of the sacrifices he had to make for his children. In Al’s own autobiography My Son Jimmy (1999) he talked about how Jimi used to escape responsibility for his actions by blaming misdeeds on an imaginary friend named “Sessy” who Jimmy would evoke when he felt he had disappointed Al. It certainly must have been difficult for Al to raise Jimi by himself, and given the economic climate in Seattle at that time, there’s no doubt that Al must have had to make some great sacrifices for Jimi. Perhaps Jimi’s creation of an imaginary friend was a psychological defense against Al’s disappointment, which seemed to be yet another factor in Jimi’s unhappy childhood.

Another family value that Jimi seemed to reject concerned the family’s views on religion. Although Jimi was raised by a church-going family who believed in worship, Jimi came to believe that his music was a form of great spiritual expression. Jimi rejected the stifling versions of Christianity he learned as a young man, and instead felt music was the way he could connect to the mystical and spiritual side of life.

Music also offered an escape for Jimi from his problems, and was certainly a positive adaptation for him to an unhappy childhood. Jimi often described how music would compose itself in his head, and his unparalleled talent in music may have been a result of this intense desire to escape his emotionally painful cognitions.
Perspective on the World perceived through Experience of Psychological Birth Order

As the first born son in the Hendrix household and the only son sired by his father Al, Jimi developed a sense that he was particularly special when he was a young man. Although Jimi’s younger brother Leon spent a great deal of time with Jimi and his father growing up, he was also often shipped to another family during difficult times. The fact that Jimi was always the one that remained with his father must have made him feel like the “chosen” one much of the time, and he appeared to develop a sense that he was something special. This is not an uncommon reaction from a first born child, as they often receive more attention than their siblings do when they are born, as they become literally the center of their parent’s universe.

For Jimi this situation did not unfold exactly like this, as his first three years were filled with a great deal of moving around that must have confused and frightened him at such a fragile age. The two women that adopted Jimi in these years both referred to his “specialness” however, so one can assume this was something he felt that was further reinforced when Al eventually came and got him following his release from the Army.

Jimi’s biographers (Hendrix 1999) discuss how it was clear to Jimi that his younger brother Leon had a different father than him, and although Al certainly loved and cared for Leon, he must have felt some resentment from having to raise another man’s child. Jimi therefore was the “favorite” growing up, and developed a sense of his own uniqueness that instilled in him a great deal of confidence in his abilities. This confidence was especially relevant in the early stages of Jimi’s career, where audiences often disliked and were unable to understand his unique style of music. Although many artists would have become discouraged in this situation, Jimi was convinced of his own talent, and much of this resolve appears to have its roots in Jimi’s early childhood experiences.
Self Assessment Perceived through Genetic Possibilities

Jimi Hendrix came from a talented family with a long history of performing in front of groups. Jimi’s grandmother was an entertainer who traveled and worked as a singer and performer before her son Al was born, and even prior to this generation music was a strong part of the Hendrix tradition. Jimi’s father Al and his uncle Leon both showed musical talent at a very young age, and both of them could play the piano, sing, and also dance at a young age, and often did so growing up. Jimi therefore appeared to have a predisposition to music that was inherited from the talented Hendrix family.

Jimi developed a stutter at a young age however, and was not confident as a singer and a dancer like the rest of his family. Therefore when Jimi did find a musical instrument to play, it appears that he compensated for his stutter by practicing a great deal on the guitar in an attempt to belong with his otherwise musical family.

Jimi also felt a strong identification with his family’s Cherokee heritage. The extent of Jimi’s Indian blood has been misrepresented often in several biographies that mention the subject. Jimi’s father Al (Hendrix 1999) eventually clarified that Jimi’s great grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee, but Jimi did feel a strong identification with this portion of his ancestry. Al Hendrix explained that when Jimi and the other children played games like Cowboys and Indians when Jimi was a kid, Jimi always wanted to be the Indian as it helped link him with a part of his Heritage. Jimi created a great deal of art as a child that depicted the Indians conquering the cavalry, and he even discussed later as an adult how he felt a sense of power that came from his Indian blood.

In considering this idea it is fascinating to examine the lyrics from one of Jimi’s big hits, Castles Made of Sand-

“A little Indian brave who before he was ten, played war games in The woods with his Indian friends, and he built a dream that when he Grew up, he would be a fearless warrior Indian Chief. Many moons passed and more the dream grew strong, until tomorrow He would sing his first war song,
And fight his first battle, but something went wrong,
Surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night”

Reading the lyrics to this song which Jimi wrote, one can’t help but wonder how much it reflected both Jimi’s dreams as well as his disappointments. In many ways this song demonstrated the conditions of Jimi’s life, as, despite having “conquered” the music world, he still was very anxious about his life circumstances as a result of his arrest and also the large amounts of money he was missing. Much like the little Indian in the story, Jimi had been blindsided by events in his life, and this song seems to reveal the depths of his unhappiness.
Openings for Advancement perceived through Environmental Opportunities

One important adaptation Jimi made as a young man concerned the first guitar he ever received which Al purchased for Jimi for the price of 5 dollars. Jimi, who was born left-handed but learned to do most things right-handed, changed the strings around on this right-handed guitar and instead played it left-handed which was an adaptation that would eventually have a direct impact on his future musical genius. Jimi learned that by manipulating the instrument like this he could get different sounds out of it, and later as an adult he played his guitars both upside down and backwards which helped him carve out his own unique sound that no one else was readily able to replicate. Because Jimi made this adaptation at such a young age and practiced so excessively, his technique became something that was uniquely his.

Another early experience that shaped the young Jimi Hendrix was seeing an Elvis Presley concert while he was growing up in Seattle. Jimi became fascinated by Elvis’s showmanship, and much of his early artwork produced flattering pictures of the King. Although Jimi was somewhat shy throughout his life, on stage he truly had no inhibitions, and at least some of this he learned from watching Elvis when he was a young man. The impact of seeing Elvis live seemed to awaken in Jimi a sense of the heights a person could reach through playing music, and this rare opportunity was for Jimi a tipping point that helped give birth to his eventual persona as a stage performer.
Range of Social Interest perceived through Other Particularities

One barometer of a person’s mental health can be observed by examining their relationships and interest in the welfare of other human beings. Jimi Hendrix, who appeared to have abandonment issues related to his childhood, and who had also been betrayed by several business associates, therefore seemed to have trouble developing a profound sense of social interest. Although Jimi was often approached about social causes, he seemed to be most comfortable letting his music do his talking for him, and didn’t feel as comfortable as an advocate and leader to promote social change as many of his 60′s counterparts.

In this capacity it is interesting to consider Jimi’s relationship with the Black Panthers as well as the larger issue of racism in the life of Jimi Hendrix. Growing up Jimi watched his father experience a great deal of racism related to finding jobs, etc. and this must have affected the young Jimi a great deal, as a lot of his early artwork depicts struggles for equality and justice. Jimi also experienced racism following his release from the Army when he went to play the “Chitlin” circuit in the Southern United States, where there was clearly different treatment for white and black musicians.

Jimi was eventually discovered a white man Chas Chandler, and found fame and acceptance with two white musicians who were of course Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell. Although Jimi found success in the UK with these two men, he was still mocked by the British papers as “the wild man of Borneo” and with other racial epitaphs that appeared to alternatively mock and praise Jimi. Jimi eventually became known for playing “white” music by some of the more extremist black national groups in the United States, and many speculate it was the Black Panthers who pushed Jimi into eventually disbanding the Jimi Hendrix experience to form an all-Black band. Although there are widely varying accounts as to Jimi’s relationship with the Panthers, it seems clear that Jimi was heavily conflicted about the issue of race.

In terms of social interest, Jimi’s use of escapism through music is also interesting to examine. Music appeared to be the one thing that let him escape painful thoughts and feelings, and it was only when he had to quit playing and deal with other human beings when he seemed to be unhappy. People certainly took terrible advantage of Jimi throughout his life, as he died with only 21,000 thousand dollars in his banking account as a result of people pilfering millions from him over the course of his career. Jimi’s lack of social interest therefore appeared to be based on very real experiences with people in the world, as his early home life and professional career were filled with repeated abandonment, disappointments, and betrayals from those that he thought he could depend on.

Jimi also had a great deal of narcissism, much of which contributed to the development of his music, which was also a defining characteristic of his personality. Many people who had experienced the kind of rejection Jimi had at the beginning of his career would have simply returned to playing mainstream music, but Jimi truly believed that his music was something special despite the negative reinforcement he had received from the New York crowds. A narcissist will often believe his or her own way is not only special and unique, but also better than the way anyone else is doing it, and this was very much demonstrated by Jimi’s creation of his own music.

Although narcissism is often malignant, many exceptionally talented people demonstrate high levels of this trait in their dealings with others, which was certainly true in the case of Jimi Hendrix. When someone disagrees with or challenges someone who is malignantly narcissistic, their reaction may be extreme irritation, and Jimi’s interpersonal relationships seemed to represent this idea. His habitually abusive behavior towards women showed Jimi had a very low tolerance for frustration, and when others, and particularly women disagreed with him, his response to this frustration was very often physical violence.

Jimi’s violence towards women may have also arisen in part from his interactions with his mother Lucille, as Jimi never seemed to develop a healthy respect for women throughout his life. His lack of a consistent feminine presence and maternal gender guiding line growing up must have created some anger in Jimi, and hearing his father’s descriptions of his mother’s life may have also contributed to this dynamic.

Jimi’s life was therefore empty of the kind of social interest in others that many felt was a larger part of the idealism of the 1960′s. Although Jimi participated in some of the causes and issues of his times, his involvement was often at the recommendation of those around him. Jimi’s lack of trust in other people, which had its roots in childhood patterns, was reinforced often throughout his life, and Jimi overcompensated for his lack of interest in others by developing a truly awe-striking ability that allowed him to escape from the world. Although this talent was extraordinary, it seemed to be in part created through the sublimation of his personal pain, and this left Jimi without a path other than music in which to actively experience joy in his life. Jimi’s gift of music to the world was and is a lasting contribution that influenced thousands of musicians both before and after him, but was also in many ways a reaction to a troubled history, and this was the sadness and irony of this truly unique musician.