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Savanah De Leon

Mr. Griffin

English 3 P.5

1 June 2018

The reasons Freud offers for the girl’s motivation for shifting her affection from the mother to the father

are one of three. A) Too little milk being given by the mother, b) the wet nurse was sent away by the

mother too soon and c) the arrival of a new baby and the breast needing to be shared. Each of these

situations indicate emotions within the child of anger, frustration, sadness, grief and jealousy and are

indicative of Mary Ainsworth and John Bowlby’s 1950 psychoanalytic attachment theory to evolve from.

In all of these situations, one thing is clear; that the withdrawal of the breast is traumatic for the

infant.According to Freud, the girl’s subsequent hostility towards her mother leads her shift in focus to the

father whom she quickly sees has a phallus far superior to her own. The penis envy which arises leads to

the castration complex in which is crucial in this shift of focus and turning towards her father. The

castration complex is according to Freud, the turning point in a girl’s sexual development. She realises

she does not have a phallus (that compares to a boy’s) and on realising this she holds the mother

responsible for putting her at a disadvantage. This is the point where passivity comes ‘like a wave’

(Freud, S. 130:1973) and subordination needs to take place to clear the path for femininity to arise.

Metaphorically speaking, the phallus is a symbol of male power and patriarchy of which takes place in

both the boy and the girl on realisation of the girls ‘lack’ of a phallus. It is within this realisation that the

debased value of the woman comes into awareness in both the boy and the girl’s perception of themselves

and their social world. In ‘healthy’ femininity the girl subsequently establishes penis envy which brings

about a losing of interest in the clitoris and a turn of attention to the vaginaand towards her father. This

abandonment of clitoral stimulation signifies her surrender to passivity, turning towards the father
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typically with “..passive instinctual impulses.” (Freud, S. 128: 1973). The course of sexual development

for the girl can go one of three ways from this crucial point. 1. Neurosis can develop in which a disgust

towards the clitoris presents and repression of sexual desire. 2. The development of a powerful

masculinity complex presents as a refusal to accept the ‘wave of passivity’ and instead remain ‘with’

attention on the clitoris. (This is where homosexuality, according to Freud develops. It is important to

note that female bisexuality is seen by Freud as a regression to the masculinity complex as a woman

fluctuates between masculine and feminine expression. Freud, somewhat vaguely calls bisexuality; the

‘enigma of women’.) The third possible development from the castration complex is into ‘normal’

femininity in which ‘the highest feminine wish’, being the desire to have a baby presents itself. The envy

for the penis needs to shift focus to the desire to reproduce and then true femininity, according to Freud is

established. The girl has now entered the Oedipus complex, as ‘a refuge’ from the complicated process of

the pre. Oedipal development with her mother. The mother is now her rival.At this point I will a recap

over the material to clearly identify the difference Freud is proposing in the sexualdevelopment of boys

and girls. In boys, the Oedipus complex presents as desire for the mother and to ‘get rid’ of the father.

This, according to Freud is a natural state of phallic sexuality and it is the ​threat ​ of castration (on the

realisation that he has the dominant phallus) which leads him to give up this attitude and from which

ultimately destroys the Oedipus complex. On the destruction of the Oedipus complex the ‘superego’

(critical and moral aspect of the psyche) is birthed, of which Freud states, is needed for the productive and

healthy involvement within society. As we have seen, the castration complex in girls is entirely the

opposite. The castration complex invokes penis envy which ​Prepares ​her for the Oedipus complex,

accepting her own ‘lack’ and focusing towards the male phallus as a symbol of patriarchal power. Freud

argues that girls can potentially stay here for a long time and the superego remains underdeveloped. The

infantile stage may be revived when the girl becomes a mother herself. Her reaction to the gender of the

infant can indicate old unresolved factors of penis envy and the biological process of bonding may be
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duly affected by a return to the pre-Oedipal and masculinity complex where by she relives her desire

through her infant.In contrast (yet taking into account that feminist theorist Jessica Benjamin is writing

over 50 years after Freud)in ​ A Desire of One’s Own ​ (1986) she challenges his fundamental concept that

femininity equating to passivity, that “women’s desire actually runs parallel to the question of power”

(Benjamin, J. 1:1986). Benjamin sees these as placing women as the object of desire and domination in

both societal and family relations. Benjamin Asserts that the Oedipus complex serves only to support and

perpetuate a patriarchal hierarchy seeing penis-envy not to be because of the lack of a phallus but because

of socio-cultural reasons and in no way a necessary and fundamental part of a girls evolvement to sexual

maturation/ femininity. Benjamin argues that Freudian psychology, focused on the ego promotes

individualisation and healthy development as separate from others. Itis precisely within the idea of

individualisation which she states is the nature of patriarchy, the male ideal of power. For Freud this

represents the process of ‘disentanglement’, for Benjamin it represents balance and mutual

interdependence. Benjamin, through referencing scientific papers which look precisely at the interaction

between mother and baby she clearly shows that babies are social beings. For infants to understand

themselves they need to understand ‘the other’, through mimicking, mirroring and knowing themselves to

be both separate yet intrinsically linked to their social surroundings. The attachment theory of the late

1950s shows that who and how you were raised has a fundamental effect on emotional, psychological and

physical development. An infant after only a few weeks out of the womb can differentiate a face from a

random pattern which proves the inbuilt imprinted blueprint each human being has for survival. The

mother is not alone in this process of neurological development and the ‘reclaiming’ of nurturance one

either did or did not receive in their own upbringing Benjamin argues, works for both parents.

Specifically in response to Freud’s concept of idealized motherhood, Benjamin argues that this

psychoanalytic framework and “…idealization of Motherhood,…can be seen as an attempt to preserve the

power of the apron strings…united by the tendency to naturalize woman’s desexualisation and lack of
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agency in the world.” (Benjamin, J.4:1986) keeping women confined to patriarchal ideology with no

agency of their own.Women, birth, motherhood and reproduction are all radically changing in

contemporary society with femininity at the core of debate. What is interesting is how the essence of

femininity seems to change with in the context of the external world. If this is so, can femininity be

defined or is it personal reflections with interdependence with the external world? Or from a Freudian

perspective, does the ‘enigma of women’, the dance between masculine and feminine expression

constitute labels of what’s not ‘quite’ feminine, or does it simply point towards the colourful array of the

discussion?

Virtual reality will one day be the norm for society. Now virtual reality is at a stage where not

everyone has access but it is getting there.In the book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline creates a whole

world based on the idea of fully submersive virtual reality, the OASIS. In the OASIS school aged kids can

attend school in this world instead of the real world. The main character Wade jumps at this opportunity.

Considering how public school have not changed much from now to 2044 when wade is going it’s easy to

see why. Students learning capability is affected by the place in which they learn, teaching styles that are

used, and the way others behave as well.

Where students learn is crucial to their education. Students who learn in rundown overcrowded

public schools would rather spend time elsewhere than getting an education. When students no longer

want to come to school because they do not feel like it’s a positive environment things need to change. I

read one new book in the entirety of my four years in high school. Wade faces the same struggle when he

attended public school. He says, “The real public school system there run by the government, had been

underfunded, overcrowded trainwrecks for decades”(Cline 31). The whole point of going to school is to

get an education not play sports.

Unlike the real world the OASIS stresses the importance of education. Everything that is done is

meant to help students learn. Wade describes OASIS schools as, “…a grand palace of learning, with
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polished marble hallways”(Cline 31). Who would not want to go to a school like that. If public schools

actually maintained a decent paint job it would be an improvement. Many public school face problems

with lead paint and lead pipes and do not fix them until people have already been exposed. Schools should

look presentable and lie people care.They should not be run down and have people questioning if it is an

actual school anymore. The spaces in which students learn are crucial to them achieving and caring about

their education.The environment in which students are given to learn will not only affect them but also

affect the teachers. Teachers can only do so much for their students in public schools. With the use of

virtual reality in the OASIS anything they ever dreamed of is possible. Students are now in a way almost

forced into their education. They are transported in time back to egypt, or into the human body. The

OASIS is like the Magic School Bus in a way, offering field trips students will never forget.

In public schools students are distracted by everything imaginable. If someone really does not want to

be in a class they can be distracted by a pencil if it means they do not have to pay attention to the teacher.

Keeping students attention is tricky for teachers. This problem is kept to a minimum in the OASIS. Wade

acknowledges the problem on page 47,“It was a lot easier for online teachers to hold their students

attention, because here in the OASIS, classrooms were like holodecks”(Cline). With this new found

ability students can no longer browse social media instead of listening to a lecture. In return teachers are

also less distracted. When a majority of a class is on their phones it can distract a teacher from what they

are trying to teach.

Keeping students engaged it tough to do in public school. Curriculum os strict with little deviation

other than electives. When a student has no interest in math and has to take three years of it they have

little care for what they are actually learning. Teachers struggle to find new ways to entertains students

with their limited budgets. In the OASIS however teachers have access to

things public school teachers could only dream of. Its stated that “Teachers could take their students on a

virtual field trip every day, without ever leaving the school grounds”(Cline 47). Students no longer have
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to sit and read textbooks that are older than themselves. The OASIS allows for new ways to teach.

Virtual reality is the new textbook. Anything you could dream of could be right in front of you. For

someone who does not enjoy science it can be brought to life. Even for students who enjoy science they

can know understand in more detail than ever thought possible what they are learning. Wade talks about

his biology class as saying “…we traveled through the human heart and watched it pumping from the

inside”(Cline 48). No place is unreachable now. Right in front of students the subjects they are learning

about are brought to life.

With different teachers and teaching styles comes different ways of student behavior and control. How

a teacher teaches however directly impacts how a student behaves. If student do not like a teaching style

they rebel against the teachers. There needs to be a happy medium between how teachers teach and

student being respectful in learning.

High schools have class sizes with upwards of 30 or more students. When class sizes reach those

numbers it is harder for an individual to ignore distractions. Wade states that n the OASIS “He was about

to reply, but I muted him first, so I didn’t hear what he had to say”(Cline 30). This means students do not

have to worry about what other people are doing. They can focus solely on their learning. If you’ve ever

been in a public school classroom you know this is a student’s dream come true.

When I was a freshman in high school my grade thought it was fun to try and fight upperclassmen. I

never understood why a fourteen year old thought they could fight someone four years older than them

but they did. Fights were almost constant in my school of over 3,000 students. Kids fought over

everything. If someone wanted to fight you they did not need a reason to. Much like in my town Wade

faces the same struggles where he lives.

It is unsafe for Wade to even be in his house let alone travel to public school. One way to keep

students safe in the OASIS is the elimination of fighting. Wade says “There was never any fighting on

school grounds. The simulation didn’t allow it”(Cline 30). Wade does not have to face the potential to be
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beaten by other classmates. In the real world attending public school would leave Wade vulnerable to

other students. Education in the OASIS allows for a more welcoming educational environment through

the use of techniques used to control the behaviour of students.

Students learning capability is affected by the place in which they learn, teaching styles that are used,

and the way others behave as well. Wade jumping at this opportunity to attend school in the OASIS

shows just how rough public school is. Considering how public school have not changed much from now

to 2044 when wade is going it’s easy to see why. The OASIS offers more for a student than public school

in the real world can. Public schools lack sufficient ways to actually help and educate a student properly.

The OASIS is the better option for education in the year 2044.