Splitting can be defined as the division or polarization of beliefs, actions, objects, or persons into good and bad by focussing selectively on their positive or negative attributes. This is often seen in politics, for example, Left-wing politicians think right-wing as narrow-minded and self-interested, and Right-wing politicians think left-wing as self-righteous hypocrites—or some such. Other examples of splitting are The hospital patient who sees the physicians as intelligent and hardworking but the nurses as lazy and incompetent, The religious zealot (fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit) who classifies everyone as either blessed or damned, and The child of divorcees who idolizes one parent while locking out the other.

1. Compiled by Col Mukteshwar Prasad(Retd),
Mtech(IITD),CE(I),FIE(I),FIETE,FISLE,FInstOD,AMCSI
Contact -9007224278, e-mail –
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for book ”Decoding Services Selection Board” and SSB
guidance and training at Shivnandani Edu and Defence
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Ego Defense Mechnism/
Self-Deception Part 7:
Splitting

2. Splitting
 Splitting can be defined as the division or polarization of beliefs,
actions, objects, or persons into good and bad by focussing selectively
on their positive or negative attributes.
 This is often seen in politics, for example,
 Left-wing politicians think right-wing as narrow-minded and self-interested,
and
 Right-wing politicians think left-wing as self-righteous hypocrites—or some
such.
 Other examples of splitting are
 The hospital patient who sees the physicians as intelligent and hardworking
but the nurses as lazy and incompetent,
 The religious zealot (fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit) who classifies
everyone as either blessed or damned, and
 The child of divorcees who idolizes one parent while locking out the other.

3. Example of splitting in literature: JD Salinger’s Catcher in
the Rye.
 The main protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is mystified by adulthood.
 To cope with his fear of becoming an adult, he thinks of
 Adulthood as a world of entirely bad things such as
 Superficiality and
 Hypocrisy (‘phoniness’), and
 Childhood as a world of entirely good things such as
 Innocence,
 Curiosity, and
 Honesty.
 He tells his younger sister Phoebe that he imagines childhood as an
idyllic field of rye in which children romp and play, and himself as
the ‘catcher in the rye’ who stands on the edge of a cliff, catching
the children as they threaten to fall (and presumably die/become
adults).

4. Example of splitting in literature: JD Salinger’s Catcher in
the Rye.
 Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big
field of rye and all.
 Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except
me.
 And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.
 What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I
mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going
 I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.
 That's all I'd do all day.
 I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.
 I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.

5. Example of splitting in literature: Miguel de Cervantes uses
splitting to great comical effect in Don Quixote.
 In this novel, the self-appointed and self-styled knight-errant Don Quixote de
la Mancha guides us through a world that he has repopulated with
 Heroes and Villains,(the heroes being the greatest, the villains the
cruellest)
 Princesses and Harlots-Protitutes,(the Princess the fairest and most
virtuous and Halots the Opposite),
 Giants and Dwarves…
 “Take care, your worship,” cries Sancho Panza, Don Quixote’s peasant-
turned-squire, “those things over there are not giants but windmills.”

6. Analysis of splitting
 Splitting diffuses the anxiety that arises from our inability to grasp the
nuances and complexities of a given situation or state of affairs by
simplifying and schematizing it.
 It reinforces our idea of ourselves as good and virtuous by effectively
discounting and even demonizing all those who do not share in our
views and values.
 On the other hand, such a compartmentalization of opposites leaves us with
a distinctly
 Distorted picture of reality, and
 A restricted range of thoughts and emotions.
 It also affects our ability to attract and maintain relationships,
 First, because it is tedious and unbecoming, and,
 Second, because it can easily flip,
 Friends and lovers being thought of
 As personified virtue and then,
 As personified Vice whenever it becomes more convenient

7. Conclusion
 It is worth noting that fairy tales and children’s stories feature a number of
sharp splits,
 For example,
 Good and Evil,
 Heroes and Villains,
 Fairies and Monsters;
 Religion with splits are
 Heaven and Hell,
 Angels and Demons,
 Saints and Sinners…
 In contrast, some of the most compelling characters in adult literature, such
as the Achilles or the Odysseus of Homer and the Cleopatra of Shakespeare,
contain large measures of both good and bad, with the one being
intimately connected to the other.