My Oedipus Complex
“My Oedipus Complex” In “My Oedipus Complex” Frank O’Connor uses the interesting theory that infamous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud create to tell a clever story about a young boy, Larry, who grows up in his own safe world with just himself and his mother. However, when his father, which Larry often refers to as Santa Claus, returns from World War I it is a constant battle between the two for the mother’s love and attention.Father was in the army all through the war—the first war, I mean–so up to the age of five, I never saw much of him, and what I saw did not worry me. Sometimes I woke and there was a big figure in khaki peering down at me in the candlelight. Sometimes in the early morning I heard the slamming of the front door and the clatter of nailed boots down the lane.
These were Father’s entrances and exits. Like Santa Claus he came and went mysteriously. (O’Connor 262) This focus of interest is quickly established for one; the boy tells us that, while the war lasted, his father “came and went mysteriously” ( 262) and that the only disadvantages he noticed about the visits was that “it was an uncomfortable squeeze between Mother and him when I got into the big bed in the early mornings” (262). Here the “boy’s childlike egotism” (Mizener 32) makes him assume without any question that everyone exists from his pleasure and he has no reality of his own. By have this childlike egotism there in nothing more natural than for Larry to make running and getting into the bed with his mother to discuss the days plans a habit or that he is annoyed by his Father’s interuption of this routine. This leads to the shock that he will face when his father is to be coming home permanatly. Althought his mother make a suggestion that him sleeping in the same bed all night is unhealthy, take toll on his ego. In her argument she makes no mention
These were Father’s entrances and exits. Like Santa Claus he came and went mysteriously. (O’Connor 262) This focus of interest is quickly established for one; the boy tells us that, while the war lasted, his father “came and went mysteriously” ( 262) and that the only disadvantages he noticed about the visits was that “it was an uncomfortable squeeze between Mother and him when I got into the big bed in the early mornings” (262). Here the “boy’s childlike egotism” (Mizener 32) makes him assume without any question that everyone exists from his pleasure and he has no reality of his own. By have this childlike egotism there in nothing more natural than for Larry to make running and getting into the bed with his mother to discuss the days plans a habit or that he is annoyed by his Father’s interuption of this routine. This leads to the shock that he will face when his father is to be coming home permanatly. Althought his mother make a suggestion that him sleeping in the same bed all night is unhealthy, take toll on his ego. In her argument she makes no mention