Adler’s Theory of Personality as Explained in the Movie Children of a Lesser God

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Journal 3: Children of a Lesser God
One of the psychological aspects we have learned in this course is Adler’s theory of personality, which stresses the need to understand individuals from their social context. The theory can be used to explain the proceedings of a movie titled Children of a Lesser God. The theory states that every individual has feelings of guilt and inadequacy, which he terms inferiority complex. He suggests that the inferiority complex develops from childhood into adulthood, and overcoming this complex is crucial for optimal personality complex ‌ (Adler and Walter 25). According to the theory, people struggle to overcome the feeling of inferiority. Adler also introduced a principle of compensation and overcompensation which essentially means that individuals try to overcome feelings of inferiority by engaging in defensive behavior. Adler also believed that each individual creates a unique approach or sense of living and has personal goals that act as their constant source of motivation (Adler and Walter 25). Such goals provide individuals with security and help them overcome the feeling of inferiority. While watching the moving Children of a Lesser God, where the main character is deaf (Sarah Norman) and a normal individual (James Leeds), I believe that Sarah, as suggested by Adler, is struggling with an inferiority complex (Super Summary). Sarah’s inferiority complex is demonstrated by the fact that although she refuses to learn how to speak, she is jealous of the deaf people who learned a new form of communication, meaning that deep down, she has a feeling of inadequacy.
In the film, James, a speech instructor at a school for the deaf, falls in love with Sarah, who is deaf and working in her former school as a custodial staff (Super Summary). James, on several occasion...