My Oedipus Complex Themes

At the center of “My Oedipus Complex” is the conflict between Larry and his father. O’Connor makes the importance of the father-son relationship clear in his title, which references Sigmund Freud’s idea of the Oedipus complex, a theory that proposes that boys desire their mothers and therefore view their fathers as competitors. Larry’s relationship to his father seems to mirror Freud’s theory, since Larry wants all of his beloved mother’s attention, and when…

In “My Oedipus Complex,” O’Connor points out what is perhaps the most painful side effect of one’s coming of age, mapping out the gradual demise of a child’s innocence and self-importance. Larry lives his first five years in a state of childhood innocence, which his father upends after returning from World War I. In order to remain the center of his mother’s universe, Larry attempts to overthrow his father by besting him in a…