Stranger Things (Could Happen): The Enneagram of Hopper and Joyce, Part 1
Welcome to a series where FoG Staff and Horror Enneagrammarian, Asia (whose own work can be found here), will guide us all into the tragic psyches and wounded souls of the characters we know and love, using the Enneagram as a lens. Unfamiliar with the Enneagram? Asia’s got you covered. She’s written her own take on the “types” here and also recommends The Enneagram Institute as an online resource. Lastly, FoG favorite author Richard Rohr uses the Enneagram in much of his work and co-wrote this book on it. Our goal as ever is finding the holy in the horrific and the Enneagram is a helpful tool to do just that…
Oh boy, am I excited for this series!
Largely because I love Stranger Things and the central characters (Hopper and Joyce) we’re going to talk about, but also because this gets to be a bit of a case study in one of (just one?) of the most complicated types of The Enneagram, as demonstrated by these two more-than-meets-the-eye fan favorites.
Because I believe that both of them share the same type (however with different wings and in different stages of integration), I’ll spare us any attempt at suspense. There will be enough twists and turns to keep up with as it is.
Allow me to proverbially introduce you to the Enneagram Type 6.
Both of them.
(What?)
Oh, we’ll get there.
Jim Hopper is one of the most iconic characters in the entire show. He made us all want to be a cop. He made dad-bods popular again. He made us feel safe. He made us all wish he was our dad.
He’s tough. He’s melancholy. He’s brave. He’s cynical. He’s witty.
And he is by far one of the most stressed out humans you’re likely to encounter this summer.
I’m going to draw most of my inspiration for these typing’s from Season 3 of Stranger Things since that’s what is being covered for the “Those FoGgin’ 80’s” party series that Nathan and Reed are concluding. However, none of these character’s actions should be analyzed in a vacuum. It is essential that we also look at their histories and experiences from prior seasons.
Now, while we’re doing that, this is a good time to bring up what’s going to be a reoccurring caveat for my essays. There are two things that make correctly typing a person very difficult – if not impossible. Those two things are significant trauma and mental illness. And the horror genre, which ST certainly dips its toes into, is rife with both. So please be aware as we examine characters whose natural personalities may have warped to protect themselves from extreme pain – the real them may be so deeply buried that we’ll never really see them.
And that is a similar state in which we meet Hopper in the first season.
Still grieving the death of his child, the most fragile elements of him are on full display, the most obvious of which is his irritable cynicism.
It’s a thread that follows him through the whole series: Jim has intense feelings (good or bad) that he does not know what to do with. They uproot him. They turn his entire essence upside down. They rob him of a very precious commodity that he does not do well without – his sense of security.
Type 6 tends to get stereotyped (often unfairly) by one single defining characteristic.
Anxiety.
“What will happen if This…?”, “What am I going to do if That…?”, “How do I avoid x,y,z…?”
And while, yes, these are thoughts that any Type 6 is going to relate to pretty viscerally, to boil these questions down to the simple stamp of “You’re an anxious person” is a massive oversimplification.
Remember what I said about Geralt and Yennefer in The Witcher essays? The Enneagram is not about what you do or even what you feel. It’s about why you do and feel.
In season 3 of Stranger Things, we see Hopper in a state of nerves-so-frayed you could barbeque on them. Now granted, many parents of many different types can relate to a similar struggle that Hopper faces to keep his temper around the burgeoning romance between his adopted daughter and her snot-nosed boyfriend (I speak from Hopper’s perspective here).
However – there is a level of relationality to this I want to dig a little deeper into.
Type 6s are most commonly known as “The Loyalist”. This stems from their absolute canine-like ability to stick by and stand with the people they love with a voracity that often shocks those who have grown used to their standard ability to double, triple, and quadruple check any and everything that goes wrong. With regards to themselves and their own physical and emotional safety, no lock is worth leaving unbolted – no wire is left untested. But the second it becomes a question between their safety and the well-being of someone they love -
Doors get kicked down. Ropes get climbed despite the height. And words get said that can’t be taken back.
That is what I see in Hopper.
“Mornings are for coffee and contemplation” – a routine into which he seamlessly locks. As unsavory as many parts of that routine may appear to those not in a prolonged state of grief, it is that routine that keep Hopper safe. Secure. Tied to the usual. The status quo of his own un-making.
His security is his isolated life – roped off – strand by reinforced strand from strangers and nuisances like the yellow tape he so authoritatively wields in his own profession.
Fast forward two years, and now he has a teenage daughter to somehow protect and a woman to (somehow!) romance.
Of course, Jim Hopper wants to keep the enthusiastic Mike away from Eleven because he loves her, as any good parent does. Her well-being is everything to him. However, when we really drill down, we may realize that his motives involve protecting himself just as much as her – demonstrated by the fiery, reactionary ways in which he handles Mike. To enforce boundaries and make sure that rules are followed is to protect Eleven.
To manhandle and threaten the budding relationship with… literal threats, is to protect Hopper.
How can his sense of security ever remain intact when the thought of Eleven getting taken advantage of in any way is a possibility? How can he rest peacefully at night, when he has no control over what they do when he can’t watch them?
The only reasonable solution? Root out the threat itself. Mike.
Mike = problem = unsafe. / No Mike = no problem = safe.
All is right with the world.
It is this absolute need to find a critical solution to the things that cause him stress that I also would further clarify Hopper’s type as a 6w5. He’s not so much just avoidant of his feelings so much as he is disconnected from them. He certainly feels them, but very often from a place of believing he can command them by controlling his external environment. Rather than avoid the feelings altogether like an unhealthy w7, Hopper’s overcompensation of choice is reducing people’s lives to a problem to be solved.
And don’t even get him started about the sleep he’s losing over Hawkins’ resident crazy lady who has managed to worm her 5’2” self into his oversized heart. Joyce Byers is a wonderful woman – but let’s be honest, it’s going to take all the patience, the loyalty, or the sheer pig-headed tenacity of a type 2, 6, or 8, to white-knuckle their way through the mind-melting level of drama that manages to follow that woman wherever she seems to take her adorable self.
And after 2 seasons of absolute peril, Hopper and his rising cortisol levels are still here for the ride – eager for more.
It’s easy to take a step back when looking at the tapestry of a 6’s life-choices and go,
“Huh???”
It’s doesn’t seem to make sense. Intuition tells us – “If you’re afraid or anxious about something, you avoid risks. You don’t ride that scary train for so long. Or you don’t get on at all.”
And many 6s in a very bad season will behave exactly that way. However – remember it’s not about them.
The Loyalist checks the locks so that no one gets in. But that knife they keep in the bedside table isn’t so that they can run and hide in the closet.
As anxiety-induced as those gloomy preparations may seem – they are set so strategically in place, so that bravery may be more easily accessible – to protect you.
If I know where my weapon is, I am better able to use it.
If I know how to use a fire extinguisher, I am more likely to rush into a fire.
If I had that ladder installed on the side of my house, I am the one who knows how to climb out a 3-story building.
If I’m friends with a crazy, doomsday conspiracy obsessed person, I’m likely to know what to do when I believe the Russians are plotting a giant doomsday conspiracy in my hometown in Spielbergsville, Indiana... Also, when I definitely capture a Russian agent with my bare hands… It’s… just good to be prepared, you know?
One talent that Type 6s cultivate better than just about anyone is preparing to be courageous.
For many of us, the daily tasks of life do not fill us with a certain level of dread, so we adapt to those moments as they come to us, accepting that life has a certain level of, well, certainty.
But for the Type 6 that sees potential threats around many corners, those days of massive upset can arise like the battle-cry a warrior has been lying in wait for.
“I’ve prepared for this.”
Hopper can barely cope with the idea that his precious Eleven could be making out with a boy in the next room. He has no patience for people who do not take credible threats seriously enough. Get your own damn cherry slushy.
Yet it is Hopper himself, who, in an act of total selflessness locks himself away from safety, shielding the people he loves from danger.
We see the Phobic 6 – a term used to loosely describe those Type 6s who tend to take the more pessimistic view of their safety, step outside of his yellow tape and choose bravery.
Which may leave some of you wondering: If Hopper is a so-called “Phobic 6”, then what does a not phobic (“Counter Phobic”) 6 look like?
I’m glad you asked.
Because we are going to talk about Joyce Byers in the next essay.
But until then, remember, the next time the Type 6 in your life asks whether or not you brought the supplies. Or whether or not you turned off the stove. Or makes sure the car is functioning property – as prosaic as these persistent check-ins may feel – each and every little one is a way for one of the most surprisingly courageous types in the world to subtly say, “I love you”.
