Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Marina’s Character in Kyomuhendo’s Secrets No More

Based on the assumption that characters in a literary text are true representations of human beings, this paper intends to interpret Kyomuhendo’s characterization of Marina in Secrets No More, applying psychoanalytic theory thereby, authenticating Freud’s concept of personality in the understanding of characters’ deeds in the novel. Taking into consideration that Freud’s psychoanalysis is a wide and complex theory, this paper focuses on the basics of ‘Id’, ‘Ego’ and ‘Super-ego’ as modes of interpretation to evaluate the effectiveness of the theory in providing a deeper understanding of a character’s personality and meaningful interpretation of a text. In the same context, Freud’s psychoanalysis is also linked up with the literary trauma theory in the discussion of characters’ behaviours, particularly those associated with tragic events and memories of the past. The study reveals that Freud’s psychoanalysis and traumatic theories, as employed in Kyomuhendo’s Secrets No More, demonstrate plainly the achievement of the theories in generating knowledge about characters in literary works. Also, through psychoanalysis and traumatic theories, the study proves the role of characters in literary works on conditioning acceptable behaviour patterns in a society.