satisfy the demands of a mature man. He will be torn between
conflicting desires, unhappy without knowing why, unable either to
remain a child or to become a man, and impelled to gain
self-expression in indirect and unsatisfactory ways.

Since it is not possible in this space to recite specific cases which
show how often a nervous trouble points back to the father-mother
complex,[35] it may help to cite the opinions of a few of our best
authorities. Freud says of the family complex, "This is the root
complex of the neurosis." Jelliffe: "It is the foot-rule of
measurement of success in life": by which he means that just so far as
we are able at the right time to free ourselves from dependence on
parents are we able to adjust ourselves to the world at large.
Pfister: "The attitude toward parents very often determines for a
life-time the attitude toward people in general and toward life
itself." Hinkle: "The entire direction of lives is determined by
parental relationships."

[Footnote 35: This is technically known as the Oedipus Complex.]

=Too Much Hate.= Besides loving too hard, there is the danger of
hating too hard. If it sounds strange to talk of the hatreds of
childhood, we must remember that we are thinking of real life as it is
when the conventions of adult life are removed and the subconscious
gives up its secrets.

Several references have been made to the jealousy of the small child
when he has to share his love with the parent of the same sex. For
every little boy the father gets in the way. For every little girl the
mother gets in the way. At one time or other there is likely to be a
period when this is resented with all the violence of a child's
emotions. It is likely to be very soon repressed and succeeded by a
real affection which lasts through life. But underneath, unmodified by
time, there may exist simultaneously the old childish image and the
old unconscious reaction to it, unconscious but still active in
indirect ways.

Jealousy is very often united with the natural rebellion of a child
against authority. The rebellion may, of course, be directed against
either parent who is final in authority in the home. In most cases
this is the father. As the impulse of self-assertion is usually
stronger in boys than in girls, and as the boy's impulse in this
direction is reinforced by any existing jealousy toward his father, we
find a strong spirit of rebellion more often playing a subconscious
part in the