The Interpretation of Dreams Family Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Paragraph)

Quote #4

A particularly gifted and lively girl of four, in whom this piece of child psychology is especially transparent, declared quite openly: "Mummy can go away now. Then Daddy must marry me and I'll be his wife." Such a wish occurring in a child is not in the least inconsistent with her being tenderly attached to her mother. (5.5.37)

As Freud continues to make the case for his interpretation of "dreams of the death of a parent," he offers anecdotal examples from his own observation of children. In this example, Freud is not suggesting that the four-year-old girl had anything like an adult sexual desire for her father; he's basically just arguing that the child wants to be the main focus of her father's affections.

Quote #5

If a little boy is allowed to sleep beside his mother when his father is away from home, but has to go back to the nursery and to someone of whom he is far less fond as soon as his father returns, he may easily begin to form a wish that his father should always be away, so that he himself could keep his place beside his dear, lovely Mummy. One obvious way of attaining this wish would be if his father were dead; for the child has learnt one thing by experience—namely that "dead" people, such as Grandaddy, are always away and never come back. (5.5.37)

As in his anecdote about the four-year-old girl who wanted to "marry" her father, Freud is attempting to illustrate his point that children can be ruthless when it comes to their desire for affection and attention. The little boy in this example wants literally to take his father's place, and so, Freud argues, this leads to a childish desire for his father's death.

Quote #6

In my experience, which is already extensive, the chief part in the mental lives of all children who later become psycho-neurotics is played by the parents. Being in love with the one parent and hating the other are among the essential constituents of the stock of psychical impulses which is formed at that time and which is of such importance in determining the symptoms of the later neurosis. (5.5.42)

Freud readily admits that his potentially shocking theories of family dynamics have been shaped by his work with "neurotic" and "hysterical" patients. In his view, the sexual dynamics that he has uncovered are among the primary causes of neuroses.