psychoanalysis and family

In relation to Rivkin and Ryan’s theories of psychoanalysis, I will exemplify with my family. Before that I must admit that Rivkin and Ryan as well as their notion to Sigmund Freud’s theories regarding children struck me. They state that from the beginning, children are sexually attracted to their parents within their consciousness. Boys realize that their position when their father steps in thus when the boy gets older, his taste for women attributes to his mother’s behavior and habits. Although I disagree with the theoretical statements that say children desire their parents (which to me is a rather strange theory besides the fact that children don’t know about sexuality) the similarities and closeness of the children for their parents depend on who gave the most nurturing.

In my family, I am the oldest, the more independent one, and the only one at the moment in college. I have two younger sisters, one in high school and the youngest in junior high. My parents were teenagers when I was born and have been together ever since. Because they were young at the time of my birth, although they were very loving, I was taught to take care of myself at a young age because my parents had to work extra hard. Four years later my sister was born and my dad took care of her more while my mother worked, four years after that, my youngest sister was born, I was older, my middle sister was closer to dad and my baby sister was in my mother’s care much more. Notice that there are no males in the story except for my father. At first I questioned Rivkin’s theory. Their theory states that the female is in competition with the mother for the father’s attention. There are three females…were all of us competing for our father’s affection? Not exactly. This is the outcome at the moment. My youngest sister and I are extremely close to our mother, we are rational thinkers, and we decide for ourselves but always think about others before ourselves, my middle sister though is quite the opposite. She is much more “socially departed”, hates any type of networking/socializing, thinks for herself most of the time and at times lacks common sense. She is extremely intelligent (we all are…) student yet very short tempered. With this said I have attempted to find an answer for such diverse behaviors and so far came up with a theory of my own. Because my younger sister and I have in a sense departed a closer male bond with our father, we have established independence only with the example of our mother. My middle sister has established closeness with the only male figure of the household thus unconsciously she never bothered to build her own independent state of mind because of the reliability she has with our dad. “Girls experience themselves as castrated and grow up feeling penis envy…the girl relinquished her father and identifies with her mother “ (Rivkin 127). In our case the first half of the excerpt is for middle sister and the second for my youngest sister and me. My middle sister is always complaining about her femininity whereas my younger sister and I have in a way accepted our father as our father and built closeness with our mother. Although my dad did spoil my middle sister, my father cared for me and my youngest sister as well so although I disagree with any theory that identifies children with incest, but perhaps that little extra affection triggered the differences of my sisters and myself.


Works Cited
Ryan, Julie Rivkin and MIchael. "Strangers to Ourselves." Ryan, Julie Rivkin and Michael. Literary THeory: An Anthology. Berlin: Blackwell Publishing, 1998.