My Oedipus Complex—A Scientific Experiment of Freudianism

【Abstract】the paper is intended to interpret My Oedipus Complex from a psychoanalytical point of view. The main theory adopted is Freud’s Oedipus Complex. The story depicts the relationship between the little boy and his mother in quite direct language， leaving no room for readers to imagine. It seems that the author of the story is quite familiar with Freud’s theories and conversations between the boy and his mother contain lots of Freudian words. Thus， it is concluded that My Oedipus Complex is a scientific experiment of Freudianism.

【Key words】My Oedipus Complex; scientific experiment; freudianism

【作者簡介】金雪飞（1984.10.13-），女，满族，西安翻译学院，讲师，研究方向：英语语言文学。

My Oedipus Complex is more a scientific experiment than a work of artistic creativity. As Zhang Zhong zai says， the value of a piece of literary work lies in that it should leave much room for imagination. That is， it contains lots of vague knowledge that requires people dig them out from various aspects. But My Oedipus Complex possesses no such quality. Instead， it presents every detail in front of the readers， leaving no room for them to imagine.

According to Freud， every boy may encounter Oedipus Complex during his “sexual development.” The essence of Oedipus Complex Freud asserts is that “during the late infantile stage（somewhere between ages 3 and 6）， all infant males possess an erotic attachment to their mother. Unconsciously， the infant desires to engage in sexual union with his mother. He recognizes， however， a rival for his mother’ s affection： the father.” In this theory， the mother-son relationship and the father-son relationship are redefined by Freud. As Freud indicates， the mother-son relationship is established on the son’s sexual desire toward his mother，while the father-son relationship is the relationship of two men’s rival for the same woman.

In My Oedipus Complex， it is no doubt that the five-year-old boy nurtures an “erotic attachment” to his mother. It is important to pay attention to the age of the protagonist which belongs to the “late infantile stage.” The protagonist’s behaviors and words demonstrate both directly and indirectly that he has a sexual attachment to his mother. Firstly， he is used to climbing to his mother’s bed every morning with an abnormal feeling. The author describes his feeling like this “By this time， though I never seem to have noticed it， I was petrified in my nightshirt.” The sentence “though I never seem to have noticed it” indicates that the boy behaves so unconsciously. And the word “petrified” reveals that he is a little nervous when lies so near to an opposite sex， though she is his mother. Secondly， he views his mother from a lover’s point of view unconsciously. For instance， he dislikes his mother looking anxious， “because it destroyed[s] her good looks.” To comment a woman’s look is often the act of a male adult or her lover but not her son. Thirdly， the boy’s sexual attachment to his mother is revealed directly by her conversation with his mother： “I’m going to marry you，” “Because we’re going to have lots and lots of babies.” “To have lots and lots of babies”indicates that the boy wants to have sex with his mother， though at that time he is unconscious of it.

As for the father-son relationship in this story， the author also portrays it clearly as a relationship of rival. The author even adopts some Freudian language to depict the relationship of the father and the son. He writes that the boy always “compete with his father for the attention of his mother，” which sounds very Freudian. And the scene he openly quarrels with his father demonstrates the rival relationship of the father and the son overtly.

In conclusion， My Oedipus Complex is a piece of scientific experiment of Freudianism. The two relationships quite fit in the ones defined in Oedipus Complex， and every act of the protagonist can be explained by Freudian theory with no creative plot present which may cause the readers’ imagination.

References：

[1]Abrams，M.H.A Glossary of Literary Terms[M].Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2006.

[2]Bressler，Charles E.Literary Criticism—an Introduction to Theory and Practice[J].Prentice Hall，1999.

[3]O’Connor，Frank.My Oedipus Complex and Other Stories[M]. Penguin Books，2005.