My Oedipus Complex Summary - Frank O'Connor - Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition

At a glance:

Author: Frank O'Connor
First Published: 1950
Type of Plot: Psychological
Time of Work: 1918
Setting: Cork, Ireland
Characters: Larry Delaney, Mick Delaney, Mrs. Delaney, Sonny
Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
Subjects: Family or family life, Parents and children, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Fathers, World War I, Comedy, Sympathy
Locales: Europe, Ireland, Cork, Ireland

The Story

The story begins in retrospection. The adult Larry remembers his idyllic and blissful early childhood at home with his mother while his father was away during World War I. Larry, confident of his mother’s full attention, accompanied her throughout each day, prayed unfailingly for his father’s safe return, and urged his mother to brighten up the house by bringing home a baby. This Edenic existence is abruptly lost when his father returns home from the war. Suddenly, Larry finds that he has been demoted: His mother is attentive to his father and inattentive to him....

(The entire page is 1243 words.)

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