Grinch’s personality and behavior can be explained using Freud’s psychoanalytic approach because of its ability to identify various traits that defined his identity in the contemporary world. Using Freudian concepts, Grinch’s behavior is inclined towards destruction and a high level of aggression, which undermines his role at a time when the world needs love. His death instincts lead him to destroy the Whos and interfere with their overall Christmas experience. Likewise, Grinch manifests his feelings of despair and disappointment towards the Whos, which makes him believe they would experience sad memories after discovering their missing gifts. Besides, Grinch’s sadistic approach and overall aggressive tendencies push him towards hostility, which can be seen during his interaction with the young girl. Unlike many people who might be unaware of their personality, Freud would indicate that Grinch’s hostility was intentional as it helped him accomplish his strong desire for destruction.
Alfred Adler’s individual psychology approach can also be used to define Grinch’s personality and behavior by using its numerous concepts that enable individuals understand his approach. Importantly, Grinch’s mean behavior is a result of his inferiority complex, caused by the small size of his heart. From this realization, he compensates his vulnerabilities by adopting a superiority complex that allowed him to demonstrate his dominance over the Whos by destroying their mood during the Christmas period. Over the years, Grinch’s lonely experience at the mountain were his way of avoiding social relations with the Whos, which would have changed his perspective towards life. Even though Grinch returns all the presents to their rightful recipients, his actions created a rift between him and Whos. Therefore, Grinch’s brief encounter with the Whos changed his perspective towards life, eliminating the cause of his inferiority complex.