Page:The theory of psychoanalysis (IA theoryofpsychoan00jungiala).pdf/139

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  • ling; to this must be attributed a sexual undercurrent. This conception

demonstrated in our former work agrees with the next association of our little patient: "I should prefer a real child to a doll."

This most remarkable material brought by the child in connection with the phantasy of the stork, refers to typical childish attempts at the sexual theory, and betrays where we have to look for the actual phantasies of the child.

It is of interest to know, that this "motive of trampling" can be illustrated through mythology. I have brought together the proofs in my work on the libido theory. The utilization of these early infantile phantasies in the dream, the existence of the paramnesia of the bicyclist, and the expectation expressed by the motive of the Sleeping Beauty show that the interests of the child dwell chiefly on certain problems which must be solved. Probably the fact that the libido has been attracted by the problem of generation has been the reason of her lack of attention at school, through which she fell behind. This problem is very often seen in girls between the ages of twelve and thirteen. I could demonstrate this to you by some special cases published under the title of "Beitrag zur Psychologie des Gerüchtes" in the Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse. The frequent occurrence of the problem at this age is the cause of the indecent talk among all sorts of children and the attempts at mutual enlightenment, which are naturally far from beautiful, and which so very often spoil the child's imagination. Not the most careful protection can prevent children from some day discovering the great secret, and then probably in the dirtiest way. Therefore it would be much better if children could learn about certain important secrets of life in a clean way and at suitable times, so that they would not need to be enlightened by their playmates, too often in very ugly ways.

In the eighth interview the little girl began by remarking that she had understood perfectly why it was still impossible for her to have a child and therefore she had renounced all idea of it. But she does not make a good impression this time. We get to know that she has told her teacher a falsehood. She had been late to school, and told her teacher that she was late because she was obliged to accompany her father. But in reality, she had been