My Oedipus Complex by Frank O’Connor

“My Oedipus Complex” by Frank O’Connor “My Oedipus Complex” is a story about a young boy of 5, Larry, who grows up in his own safe world with just himself and his mother. He is attached to his mother and wants her to belong only to him and considers his father a rival ? for her attention. However, when his father returns from WWI, a man whom Larry hardly knows, it is a constant battle between the two for the mother’s love and attention.
Larry is jealous of losing his mother’s undivided attention, and finds himself in a constant struggle to win back her affections. There are tree main characters in the story: Larry, his mother and father. Larry is a creative and imaginative boy. He gives his legs names Mrs. Right and Mrs. Left and invent „dramatic situations for them in which they discussed the problems of the day. “ They discuss what mother and he „should do during the day and what presents Santa Claus should give a fellow for Christmas.
He is full of joy, “feeling rather like the sun, ready to illuminate and rejoice. ” He is a kind-hearted boy, thinking about his mo…. The novel My Oedipus Complex written by the famous Irish short storywriter Frank O’Conner, in my opinion, is more a spiritual exploration of the problems of youth and growing-up than just a simple story told by a little kid. The dramatic experience of Larry (both the narrator and the protagonist of the novel) seems to be the representation of part of our childhood stories.

So let me have a brief analysis of the theme of the passage by looking into Larry’s character and what Larry went through in his heart in this story. While his father was fighting in the WW1 and rarely went back home, Larry was enjoying himself and relishing all of his mother’s attention and care, just as what he said in the third paragraph—“the war was the most peaceful period of my life”.
However, things started to turn bad when his father came back and stayed at home: his mum’s love for him was shared by a “stranger”, he was told to shut up when the “stranger” was either talking or sleeping, and perhaps worst of all, he forfeited the right of climbing into the big bed and sharing his schemes with his mum every morning. These changes so upset and saddened him that, eventually, the boy became rebellious and declare an “open and avowed” war against his father, in which the two just contended for the mother’s attentions and care.
As we know, to Larry’s disappointment, however hard he tried or whatever he did, he proved to be always on the disadvantaged side in the “war”. Then the author depicted an interesting dialogue between Larry and his mother, which may be construed as a reflection of the title “My Oedipus Complex”, but, according to me, it also perfectly reveals a change and maturation of Larry’s inner heart, for to be a husband means loads of responsibilities. What brought about the next big change in this family as well as the climax of the story was the birth of little sonny.