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.
Symbols & Motifs
The Big Bed
The large bed that Larry and Mother shared before the return of Father from the war symbolizes the battle for attention going on within the story. As a physical representation of the positive attention Larry values, Larry sees being allowed into the bed as direct proof of his mother’s love. From Larry’s perspective in the bedroom, “There was no room at Mother’s side so I had to get between her and Father” (15). To be competing for literal space with his father matches the emotional battle Larry is waging. In fact, Larry does not acknowledge Father’s right to the bed at all. He wishes for his father to leave the house or stop being married to his mother. The battles over the bed parallel fights they get into outside of sleeping. The narrator states, “[Father] was taking up more than his fair share of the bed, and I couldn’t get comfortable, so I gave him several kicks that made him grunt and stretch. He made room all right, though” (15). Within the story, neither of the two get to sleep in the bed, but both make room for the other.
Pennies
One of the most direct symbols within the story, “pennies” are how young Larry understands finances. As a way of simplifying income both literally and linguistically, O’Connor uses the stand-in phrase “pennies” to highlight Larry’s innocence. This phrase reinforces the financial struggle in Larry’s family that Larry doesn’t understand. Mother and Father talk about it in the low amount of “pennies” the family received during the war (17). Beyond the concern over finances, Larry is also shielded from his father’s struggle to find employment after leaving the army. Even though he is a practical child capable of understanding the family cannot afford certain expenses like a baby, Larry either cannot grasp or is not given the opportunity to grasp finances on any deeper level. The emphasis on pennies demonstrates the family’s dedication to preserving Larry’s peace of mind and innocence during war. They prioritize preserving his youth and innocence, even though transparency could benefit the family. Larry understanding why his father, as the provider, needs rest could have incited an empathetic response far sooner. The decision to talk about money in terms of pennies shows where this family places value while also representing the financial struggle occurring in the background of Larry’s life.
Sleep
The motif of sleep is used again and again to represent control. When the characters are kept from sleep, tensions arise in the family. When Mother prioritizes Father’s sleep over the routine Larry is used to, she is giving control over the family to Father. The anger that Larry feels is directed toward the sleeping Father rather than at his mother for changing their lives. Larry responds violently when he is frustrated by his sleeping family. He kicks his father when his mother doesn’t notice, and he even pinches baby Sonny when his mother isn’t looking. This isn’t merely a punishment but Larry actively trying to wake them up. Larry, who is struggling with control throughout the narrative, grasps for control by forcing everyone awake. His father shouts, “That damn child! Doesn’t he ever sleep?” (18). It is not until the end of the story, when his father and he both concede some control and sleep away from the big bed, that the two resolve their tension. The father saying, “Aren’t you asleep either?” as he crawls into Larry’s bed gives Larry the opportunity to be compassionate and comfort Father (22). Sleeping in this way allows them to forge a connection and illustrates that controlling—possessing—the big bed does not define familial love.
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By Frank O'Connor
