My Oedipus Complex

by

Frank O’Connor

Father (Daddy, Mick) Character Analysis

For years, while fighting as a soldier in the First World War, Larry’s father is away from his wife and young son, Larry. During this period, Larry’s father returns home for brief visits, where Larry watches him smoke and shave and then digs through the trinkets he brought back from war. Once he returns home permanently, however, Larry’s father struggles to reintegrate into family life. Larry resents his father for claiming his mother’s attention, and Larry’s father seems not to know how to relate to his young son, taking no interest in Larry’s hobbies (such as trains and ships) and ignoring Larry’s attempts to converse. Furthermore, Larry’s father seems aggravated when Larry wakes him up early, seemingly having no sympathy for the natural rhythms of children. Larry describes his father’s appearance as being bony and not terribly attractive, and he criticizes his father’s manners, such as his noisy chewing. Despite this, Larry grants that his father has “a fine intelligence.” Larry sees his father as a strict parent, but he doesn’t describe his father’s personality in detail, suggesting that he and his father are not yet closely acquainted. It is only after the birth of his second son, Sonny, that Larry’s father begins to display more warmth toward Larry—with Larry’s mother busy caring for an infant, Larry and his father seemingly bond over feeling cast aside. The next Christmas he buys an expensive model railway for Larry, an act that suggests he is beginning to better understand his son.

Father (Daddy, Mick) Quotes in My Oedipus Complex

The My Oedipus Complex quotes below are all either spoken by Father (Daddy, Mick) or refer to Father (Daddy, Mick). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Father vs. Son Theme Icon
).
My Oedipus Complex Quotes

The war was the most peaceful period of my life.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy), Mrs. Left and Mrs. Right
Page Number: 283
Explanation and Analysis:

Ours was the only house in the terrace without a new baby, and Mother said we couldn’t afford one till Father came back from the war because they cost seventeen and six. That showed how simple she was.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy), The Geneys
Page Number: 283
Explanation and Analysis:

Father had an extraordinary capacity for amiable inattention. I sized him up and wondered would I cry, but he seemed to be too remote to be annoyed even by that.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Page Number: 285
Explanation and Analysis:

“It’s not God who makes wars, but bad people.”

Related Characters: Mother (Mummy) (speaker), Larry, Father (Daddy, Mick)
Page Number: 285
Explanation and Analysis:

I was sickened by the sentimentality of her “poor Daddy.” I never liked that sort of gush; it always struck me as insincere.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Page Number: 286
Explanation and Analysis:

I simply longed for the warmth and depth of the big featherbed.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Related Symbols: The Beds
Page Number: 288
Explanation and Analysis:

“Mummy,” I said with equal firmness. “I think it would be healthier for Daddy to sleep in his own bed.”

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Related Symbols: The Beds
Page Number: 288
Explanation and Analysis:

All his previous shouting was as nothing to these obscene words referring to my person. They really made my blood boil. “Smack your own!” I screamed hysterically. “Smack your own! Shut up! Shut up!”

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Page Number: 289
Explanation and Analysis:

[…] but the sheer indignity of being struck at all by a stranger, a total stranger who had cajoled his way back from the war into our big bed as a result of my innocent intercession, made me completely dotty.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Page Number: 289
Explanation and Analysis:

“I’m going to marry you,” I said quietly. Father gave a great guffaw out of him, but he didn’t take me in. I knew it must only be pretense. And Mother, in spite of everything, was pleased. I felt she was probably relieved to know that one day Father’s hold on her would be broken.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Page Number: 290
Explanation and Analysis:

I couldn’t understand why the child wouldn’t sleep at the proper time, so whenever Mother’s back was turned I woke him.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy), Sonny
Page Number: 291
Explanation and Analysis:

It was his turn now. After turning me out of the big bed, he had been turned out himself.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy), Sonny
Related Symbols: The Beds
Page Number: 292
Explanation and Analysis:

At Christmas he went out of his way to buy me a really nice model railway.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Sonny
Page Number: 292
Explanation and Analysis:
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Father (Daddy, Mick) Quotes in My Oedipus Complex

The My Oedipus Complex quotes below are all either spoken by Father (Daddy, Mick) or refer to Father (Daddy, Mick). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Father vs. Son Theme Icon
).
My Oedipus Complex Quotes

The war was the most peaceful period of my life.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy), Mrs. Left and Mrs. Right
Page Number: 283
Explanation and Analysis:

Ours was the only house in the terrace without a new baby, and Mother said we couldn’t afford one till Father came back from the war because they cost seventeen and six. That showed how simple she was.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy), The Geneys
Page Number: 283
Explanation and Analysis:

Father had an extraordinary capacity for amiable inattention. I sized him up and wondered would I cry, but he seemed to be too remote to be annoyed even by that.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Page Number: 285
Explanation and Analysis:

“It’s not God who makes wars, but bad people.”

Related Characters: Mother (Mummy) (speaker), Larry, Father (Daddy, Mick)
Page Number: 285
Explanation and Analysis:

I was sickened by the sentimentality of her “poor Daddy.” I never liked that sort of gush; it always struck me as insincere.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Page Number: 286
Explanation and Analysis:

I simply longed for the warmth and depth of the big featherbed.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Related Symbols: The Beds
Page Number: 288
Explanation and Analysis:

“Mummy,” I said with equal firmness. “I think it would be healthier for Daddy to sleep in his own bed.”

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Related Symbols: The Beds
Page Number: 288
Explanation and Analysis:

All his previous shouting was as nothing to these obscene words referring to my person. They really made my blood boil. “Smack your own!” I screamed hysterically. “Smack your own! Shut up! Shut up!”

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Page Number: 289
Explanation and Analysis:

[…] but the sheer indignity of being struck at all by a stranger, a total stranger who had cajoled his way back from the war into our big bed as a result of my innocent intercession, made me completely dotty.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Page Number: 289
Explanation and Analysis:

“I’m going to marry you,” I said quietly. Father gave a great guffaw out of him, but he didn’t take me in. I knew it must only be pretense. And Mother, in spite of everything, was pleased. I felt she was probably relieved to know that one day Father’s hold on her would be broken.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy)
Page Number: 290
Explanation and Analysis:

I couldn’t understand why the child wouldn’t sleep at the proper time, so whenever Mother’s back was turned I woke him.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy), Sonny
Page Number: 291
Explanation and Analysis:

It was his turn now. After turning me out of the big bed, he had been turned out himself.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Mother (Mummy), Sonny
Related Symbols: The Beds
Page Number: 292
Explanation and Analysis:

At Christmas he went out of his way to buy me a really nice model railway.

Related Characters: Larry (speaker), Father (Daddy, Mick), Sonny
Page Number: 292
Explanation and Analysis: