Exploring Personality Disorders: A Psycho analytical Overview of Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train

— Psychoanalysis, one of the modern theories, that are employed in English literature to interpret the hidden meaning of a literary text. It also helps to examine the innate conglomerate of the writer's personality. It also helps to understand the factors that contribute to his experience from birth to the period of writing a book. Paula Hawkins represented the toxic effects of personality disorders in The Girl on the Train through Megan. Megan experienced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Histrionic Personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. Thus, Paula Hawkins had expressed it through an ambiguous style of narration by the novel The Girl on the Train.


I. INTRODUCTION
Paula Hawkins, Zimbabwe-born British author, was a financial journalist that was popular in Britain during the Recession period. She published romantic anti comedies under a pen name, Amy Silver before she could gain a reputation for her best psychological thriller, The Girl on the Train (2015). As a child, she had a curiosity about writing stories. She enjoyed writing, but never showed them to anyone. She wrote romantic comedies based on the force from the commission. She was influenced by Kate Atkinson, Margaret Atwood, Donna Tartt's and Pat Barker. While reading the work of Donna Tartt's The Secret History, her eyes opened to the possibility of the psychological thriller. To her, Margaret Atwood was an author who can write about the big, terrifying subject in an extraordinarily readable and enjoyable way. Thus, she turns to psychological thrillers by her interest. Her first psychological Thriller was The Girl on the Train. It was a novel framed under the themes of memory, unreliable narrators and an obsession with the dark and macabre. This novel is complex because of its interweaving narratives and shifting perspectives. In an interview she says that all characters in the novel have secrets to protect. Her famous work includes The Girl on the Train (2015), into the water (2017) and The Reunion (2013). SJ Watson, an English author, after analysing the novel The Girl on the Train says 'Gripping, enthralling -a top-notch thriller and a compulsive 7 read'. Silas House, Rainbow Rowell, Maria Issac and Iris Bravo and Gillian Flynn were the contemporaries of Paula Hawkins.
The Girl on the Train, a story about three women, represents the life of Megan, Rachel and Anna. Rachel had spent the last few years stumbling through life in a booze filled depression ever since her husband left her for another woman. Anna is the woman that Tom, Rachel's ex husband, cheated on Rachel. Megan is the woman whom Tom had an affair with when he was married to Anna. So, all those three women in the novel experiences traumatic events. In Theory of Literature by Rene Wellek and Austin Warren, they say that according to Freud, the artist is originally a man who turns from reality. He is originally a man who turns from reality because he cannot come to terms with the demand for the renunciation of instinctual satisfaction. In families, the stress and delays in marriages increased. In educational institutions, the graduation rates and employment of teachers got affected. The inflow of economic migrants to the US across the Mexican border has declined sharply. Old people are encouraged to take early retirement while those who lose their job find particularly hard to re-enter work. The equal pay and sex determination claims made by women have decreased during the Recession period. Critics examined the early 1980s recession in the US and concluded that the overall negative effect was relatively greater for men than for women. There was higher unemployment for white workers rather than black workers and others. Americans are justified in their anxieties regarding love and marriage. The culture of expressive individualism constructed higher expectations on marriage than in the past. It demanded the fulfilment of self-actualization goals. When it is not achieved as expected, it ultimately leads to a greater 2 sense of disappointment. People spent less time in maintaining their relationships during the Recession period. It leads to several problems in marital relationships. The cultural critic, Tom Wolfe said that the period of great economic depression was a self-expressive era. During this era the cultural shift towards consumer narcissism took place. By observing Recession period, Wolfe says that the old alchemical dream was changing base metals into gold. He says that the alchemical dream has capacity to change one's personality. It has ability to remake and remodel one's personality.

III. AMERICAN DREAM
The American Dream within consumer culture becomes elusive and an ever-changing product. This consumer narcissism worms its way into marriages by transforming the two partners into consumer subjects. It destroys the self-esteem of each partner. They constantly pitted against the hyper realities glorified by the media. This creates an internal conflict between an individual's desires to find an authentic self. The quest for individualism constructs two diverging paths for men and women. For women, the process is within the context of intimate relationships and for men, it's outside the context of intimate relationships centering on the acquisition of success in the workforce. Contemporary American media dramatized the decline of social rules. It emphasized the rise of the Individual's agency in a consumer-driven culture. The media begins to exhibit a self-centered view of relationships and how it produces a fear of compromising personal desire and emotional ties. Some relationships become deeply rooted in instant gratification without much personal sacrifice.

IV. EXPLORING PERSONALITY DISORDERS
The plot and characters in the novel represents the psyche of the writer of the novel Paula Hawkins. Sleep difficulty or insomnia is another symptom of Posttraumatic stress disorder. Because of her past traumatic memories, she feels a need to shave her head. It seems as if she is experiencing an unusual weight in her head. This condition occurs because of her excessive cross-examination of past life incidents.
Obsessive compulsive disorder is an another form of personality disorder in which the person gives much importance to rules and orderliness. They would show distress if they could not achieve the perfection that they had expected. They would show extreme commitment to work or project by neglecting friends and enjoying activities. They are inflexible about values, ethics and morality. They control their budget and spend money in unwanted situations." I'll wait until the summer is over, then I'll look for work. It seems like a shame to waste these long summer days"(27).
Excessive commitment to work is a symptom of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Even though Dr Kamal had told Megan to take a rest, she keeps on thinking about doing work. She is not ready to waste time. Health is mandatory for human beings while they are suffering from mental unrest, but Megan is not ready to do so. 2021, 6(3), (ISSN: 2456-7620 According to social norms, death is a natural process. Usually, when a person's relative dies, he/she will mourn for a certain period of time and he /she will attain emotional stability after that. But the death of Ben is still torturing her even though the accident had happened years before. To Megan, the days with Ben were a sweet memory. They planned to spend time on a road trip and beach. As one of the last sisters that he has, Ben had given Megan attention and protection, especially from the men. But unfortunately, Ben died in a motor accident. Megan had deep sadness because she never expected that her brother will met such a tragic death. Moreover, she saw by herself how the tragic accident happened. From what she experienced, she gets the trauma and stress disorder from the accident. Anhedonia is one of the main symptoms of major depression. Another character in the novel is Rachel Wilson, she experiences this condition. It is the loss of interest in previously rewarding or enjoyable activities. Because of over experience of grief, the person will confront a lack of interest in hobbies, friends, work, food and sex. It's as if the brain's pleasure circuits shut down or short out. Rachel had a habit of reading newspapers. She holds it in her hand as her daily routine. But now she lost interest because of depression caused by an unsatisfied married relationship. Depression reduces the hedonic capacity of the body. This can be tracked from her voice.

IJELS-
The person with Histrionic Personality Disorder is excessively dramatic, emotional and sexually provocative. They speak dramatically the strong opinions. Because of their rapid changing emotions, they demonstrate the unpredictable behaviour. Megan had desired to get the attention of men. She sought care and love from them. But unfortunately, she didn't get what she expected from them. Mac was the boyfriend of Megan before she got married to Scott. Scott usually goes to work leaving Megan. When  IJELS-2021, 6(3), (ISSN: 2456-7620 Mac was the boyfriend of Megan. The accidental death of Megan's child with Mac by her carelessness destroyed the relationship between them. Mac deserted her for this reason. They had drifted apart years before. But when Megan encounters the lack of attention from Scott, she tried to contact Mac. From this, it is evident that Megan has no emotional stability to face rejection or criticism. The fear of disapproval, rejection and ridicule are the symptoms of Histrionic personality disorder. Hence, we can conclude that Megan had a Histrionic personality disorder. The person with antisocial personality behaviour disregarded for others needs or feeling. They would create a recurrent problem with the law. The main characteristic feature of them is the consistent irresponsibility. Even though these kinds of people know they are not giving importance to others feelings, they lack remorse. Megan drifted apart from laws and orders in society. She feels as if she is trapped in a flawed society. Hence, she was consistently irresponsible as a daughter and wife. She violated civil law by committing theft. She disappointed her parents and transgressed the ordinary family. "She ran away from home three days after his funeral. She was arrested twice-once for theft and once for splitting" (92).
Megan destroyed the sacred relationship with her parents because of her emotional instability. an abortion. But Megan was not ready to do so. She pleaded before him. But Tom dismissed her brutally. It caused her to tell him. Out of rage, she tells him that she is not going away and makes him pay for this. Hearing these words, Tom attacked Megan and killed her. When Tom rejected her, it was too much for her to bear, she continued to plead before a cruel man. She feels that without him, she cannot exist anymore. Because of her dependent personality disorder, Megan's life ends up in the hands of Tom.

V. CONCLUSION
In this novel, we could see how the conflict between Id, Ego and Superego affected Megan and Rachel. Megan's actions were motivated by Id. she gives much importance to sexual pleasures. She created an illogical relationship with several men. The unbridled passion reigned her heart than reason. If finally leads to her death. She suppressed her Ego. She ignored the messages that she gets from her inner conscience and it eventually leads to her death.
Rachel was under the control of a Superego, her head was equipped with justice and moral ideas related to a perfect married relationship. When Rachel witness Tom's illegal affair with Anna, it creates rage in her heart. When she realizes that Megan was killed by Tom, she was not ready to pardon Tom no more. Hence, she killed him. Therefore, It can be understand that the personality disorder happens due to the constant conflict of Id, Ego and Superego. The novels which exhibit psychic disorders was common in the