Republic of the Philippines

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

JOURNAL CRITIQUE
(Inferiority and Compensation in Palacio’s Wonder)

Submitted by:
Gamad, Mary Joyce G.

Submitted to:
Prof. Richard M. Campos, RPm, BSED

TH | 1030-0130 | W603
Title of Journal: Inferiority and Compensation in Palacio’s Wonder

Year Published: 2019

Author: Nien-Hsin Hsieh and Ya-huei Wang

Focus: Alfred Adler’s concept of Inferiority Complex

This article analyzes and discusses the phenomenon of inferiority complex using the
novel written by Raquel Jaramillo (whose penname is R.J. Palacio) entitled “Wonder”
which was published last 2012. This novel is about Auggie, a young boy whose face is
deformed due to Treacher Collin’s Syndrome. The authors talked about how Auggie’s
struggle is parallel to the experience of children who developed inferiority complex.

The parallelism made by the authors, in my opinion, helped define and clarify the
concept of inferiority complex, as well as the salient role of compensation in overcoming
this complex. It changed my perspective about how bullies are created. It is indeed true
that the ones we call bullies are those who experienced being picked-on, however this
article explained how these experiences lead to the development of inferiority complex
which causes these children to overcompensate, seek dominance and therefore resort
to bullying.

With a clear characterization of inferiority complex, this article made me want to

explore more on how to analyze inferiority complex on a sociological perspective –
meaning how inferiority complex manifests on different social interactions as well as
how people compensate for their insecurities.

On a major note, I want to give an insight on how the authors analyzed inferiority
complex using the novel Wonder (2012). In the story, Auggie who has deformed facial
features experiences feeling depressed and ashamed due to being marginalized by his
classmates at school. He describes this feeling as wanting to just disappear into a little
hole. From this, the authors describe how people, especially children, likewise feels
inferior due to their insecurities and weaknesses being pointed out by others, therefore
developing inferiority complex like Auggie. This status quo made the main character
upset and ashamed, making him displace his anger towards his family by saying how
he knows that his sister is ashamed of having a weird looking brother which is contrary
to how Via, his sister, feels about him. This kind of anger displacement in reality
manifests often times through bullying. The authors, however, justified how the main
character overcomes his inferiority complex through compensation. The story
progresses on how Auggie compensates with all the negative treatment he’s been
receiving by being good in academics. Aside from this, his family made a huge effort in
uplifting his spirits by making him feel safe and accepted at home. The feeling of
belongingness came to him when he won the science fair and everyone cheered
happily for him.

This scenario pictures how positive compensation plays a role in the development of
a child and his overcoming of the inferiority complex, as well as the importance of the
caretaker on how a child would respond on these types of situation. By diverting ones
attention towards the things he/she is good at, the child compensates for insecurities
and weaknesses he/she has. With regulation and proper guidance from the family, the
child’s way of diverting his/her attention to other things can be a positive compensation
which leads to a healthy way of acquiring superiority. However, there is such a thing
called negative compensation and it is classified into 2 types: under compensation and
over compensation. Under compensation happens when a person demands and
requires help with the majority of things he is dealing with, unable to fulfill individuation
which is a crucial step of development according to Adler. In the contrary, over
compensation is characterized by having a superiority goal, striving power and
dominance over others which, one can figure, is a dangerous phenomenon as it leads
to the child asserting his dominance by being a bully to make oneself feel superior over
others.

The importance of the role of the caregiver now comes into the scene. We must
understand that the child, growing up, leans for support on his immediate caregiver
which is family. In a family that has a hostile environment, the child will be reared into
believing that he cannot trust anyone, not even his family, therefore leading him to
either being quiet and secretive or asserting his dominance through bullying which is
overcompensation. Likewise, in a family that meddles too much and is restrictive with
the child’s activities will yield a child who is spoiled and too dependent therefore being
undercompensated. From this, we can see that both the extreme poles of child rearing
hinders the individuation of the child which is very important for his self-actualization
according to Adler.

The right way to counter inferiority complex according to the authors is to help the
child feel a sense of belongingness and build social connections. This, in my opinion, is
the right way of rearing a child and guiding him through the feeling of inferiority. This
helps a person secure his foundations not just through the validation of his peers and
family but also through a sense of achievement allowing him/her to feel fulfilled and
independent. I agree with the premise of Adler about how a person should achieve
individuation. I recognize the fact that no man is an island, however, a good sense of
independence can help a person understand the ever changing world and create his/her
own insight and solutions on different problems as he/she coexist with other individuals.

With all those reasons said, and the characterization of the authors justified, I can
say that this article gives an excellent analogy towards how the inferiority complex is
manifested in reality and the predicaments the main character in the novel experienced.
I, however, crave for more details on how inferiority complex gives rise to different
instances of negative compensation which is what I think could do more information and
explanation. Over-all, I personally find this article interesting, timely and reflective of
how people should understand inferiority complex in its entirety.