26 pages • 52 minutes read
Frank O'ConnorMy Oedipus Complex
Fiction | Short Story | YA | Published in 1950A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Innocence of Children During Wartime
The flexibility of children to see what they want to see provides families and communities with hope when lives are irreversibly changed through struggles like war.
In the text, the juxtaposition of Larry’s innocence and his rage highlights the struggles his father and mother went through without him being aware of it. The way he describes his struggles with his father is through the language of war. He discusses a “series of skirmishes against one another” and dramatically states that “from that morning out my life was a hell” (19). However, this battle is for his mother’s attention. The irony of his language brings attention to how idyllic and sweet his family life can be. The biggest problem in Larry’s life is this competition, and when he finally breaks and falls into a rage against his father, “there stood Mother in her nightdress, looking as if her heart was broken between us” (19). This heartbroken quality wasn’t noticed when Larry and his mother would pray for his father’s return. It only comes to light when the family dynamic breaks down.
It is Larry who fights for daily activities like walking, nature, and rising early. Larry doesn’t see the world in terms of nations, but rather whose side of the valley they are on. When he tries to control how the family sleeps, it seems an impossible task to fix, but over time things are healed. His innocence kept information below the surface, and with time, those issues slowly resolved. When he asks whether his father would return to the war, he puts his mother in the position of affirming that there won’t be another war. Even though it is not the answer he wants to hear, he provides Mother the space to say comforting things.
By reinforcing the naivety of Larry and showing his ignorance of the family’s struggles, Larry reminds them that the stakes are not as high as they were during the war. Larry has been using the language of war to describe his daily struggles, which are now everyone’s struggles. Just like Larry could mature and become at peace with his new situation, so could his father adjust to being home. The highs and lows of his experiences, which he felt akin to war, could be overcome.
Maturity Through Compassion
Throughout the story, the narrator struggles with the new expectations that are being placed on him. Not used to having a father, Larry does not know how to act, and so he digs his heels into the habits that formed when he was younger. Childish actions like sucking his thumb or whining come through as he tries to get his own way. As Larry is expected to change, it is through compassion and imitation that he learns how to be mature.
The new rules in the house are difficult for young Larry to understand. Mother explains to him, “You mustn’t play with Daddy’s toys unless he lets you, Larry […]. Daddy doesn’t play with yours” (20). This behavior is easier to understand than when Mother explains that it isn’t “healthy” to share a bed, but Larry then doesn’t understand why Father can sleep there, too.
When childish protest does not work, Larry attempts to win his mother’s affections by imitating his father. This brings about positive things he likes about his father, like smoking. However, it isn’t until Father is equally rejected by Mother and kicked out of the big bed that those connections become true compassion. At the end of the story, when Father goes into Larry’s bed, Larry realizes that “he had been turned out himself” and chooses to show Father the affection Mother used to show him (22). By patting him and saying the same comforting phrases, Larry completes his maturity arc in the narrative.
Once Larry has shown that maturity, he is rewarded with an improved connection to his father. For example, his father goes “out of his way” to gift Larry a model train kit at Christmas (22)—trains being the toy he saw Larry playing with that weren’t the military souvenirs he brought home. The mature relationship only comes once Larry is able to empathize. Then, Larry and Father are able to make connections that are built on compassion. Given the lack of knowledge Father has of being a parent and Larry has for having a father, they have to learn through experience together, with connection and compassion.
Possession Versus Love
Larry’s adoration of his mother is depicted as an all-consuming love. Larry’s mother is the central figure in his life, and their connection is his only meaningful bond, such that he suffers whenever her attention is split. Thus, in order to mature through this conflict, Larry must separate the idea of attention and familial love, while achieving an independence outside of his relationship with Mother.
When the story starts, Larry and his mother are united, and so Larry faces very little competition for her affection. Even when Father returns for brief visits, this isn’t enough of a disruption for Larry to harbor any negative feelings toward him. Larry doesn’t feel jealous of their marriage, as Father’s presence is fleeting. From his perspective, love and attention are intertwined.
Toward the beginning of the story, Larry attempts to return to the big bed where Father and Mother sleep. Even after making the deal not to interrupt their sleep, Larry is still offered a second deal by his mother in order to appease him. She says, “Now if I let you stay will you promise not to talk?” which should have placated any need to be close to the mother (18). However, he rejects this offer, thinking to himself, “whose house was it anyway?” (18). By thinking in terms of possession, Larry shows that what he really wants isn’t this connection with his mother but a certain level of control.
This dynamic stays the same even when Father is not around. When Mother becomes pregnant with Sonny, Father stays away from the house, but Larry reflects, “it did me no particular good. She stopped taking me for walks, became as touchy as blazes, and smacked me for nothing at all” (21). Instead of seeing Mother on a deeper level or investigating the purpose behind these changes, Larry remains self-serving and cannot see past his own losses.
By the end of the story, Larry is no longer fighting to sleep in the bed with them. While he still judges his mother’s decisions, he is shown more often existing without her. Whether he is playing outside, or not going near the baby, Larry begins to have a life independent from his mother. This balance allows for a more stable foundation for Larry and allows him to have a more positive relationship with his father. He finds a future outside of fighting to possess his mother’s time and energy, and this independence creates a foundation for an empathetic relationship with his parents.
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By Frank O'Connor
