People¡¯s insecurity leads them to intimidate others for one reason, which is to feel inferior. When a situation arises with another person, courtesy is presented out of respect, especially in the presence of authority, but not all follow this to the same degree. It is the power of conformity that breaks a person and attracts them into a web of deceit, which is sprung by the deceitful. Rules are made to control others in their actions towards one another. Out of rules, the maker of them has the power to change lives, while the follower of them is used like a pawn in a chess game. It is the power of rules that can instill fear and it is the unknown punishment that can keep that person in line. In The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood, the idea of control over others permeates this novel through the conflict between ego and external reality, the authority over the family, and the tragic effect of a lie.
             By the ego defense mechanisms of compensation, denial of reality, emotional insulation, and identification, the ego can construct a barrier in the mind of a person so that reality is seen at a distance. Through conflicting demands, mental strategies appear in the gray matter of the skull in people that attempt to challenge the id inside themselves (the id is the part of the unconscious personality that administers irrational impulses for immediate gratification). In the transformation of names, by Antonia, Karen, and Rosalind, the id inside breaks away from childhood innocence to show the disgust these characters felt from living their lives that they were born with. Antonia changes her name to Tony to forget about the way she lived as an adolescent teen in a home where her father was an alcoholic. Karen changes her name to Charis to omit the part in her life when she was molested by her uncle. Rosalind changes her name to Roz to appear as a strong independent woman in a world run by men and free from the restraint of religion. All th...