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The story’s protagonist and narrator, Larry is a five-year-old boy whose father returns home after fighting in the First World War. Since his father was at war for as long as Larry remembers, Larry is very close with his mother. The two of them eat meals together, take walks, and talk at length about Larry’s interests and ideas. Larry is an imaginative, energetic, and talkative child, who names his feet Mrs. Right and Mrs. Left and treats them as confidants, inventing and narrating dramas for them when he is alone. Once his father returns, however, Larry struggles to cope with his changing household. In addition to feeling more distant from his mother, Larry grows to view his father as a stranger and rival who is stealing his mother’s attention while acting indifferent and even hostile to Larry. Due to this, Larry begins to act out, interrupting his parents’ conversations, talking back to his father, and drinking his mother’s tea. Often, Larry crawls into his parents’ bed to be close to his mother, and, in one instance, Larry brazenly tells his mother (in front of his father) that he plans to marry her. After the birth of Larry’s baby brother, Sonny, the dynamic in the household changes again; suddenly, Larry’s mother is only paying attention to the infant, leaving Larry and his father in an uneasy alliance. Throughout the story, the limitations of Larry’s youthful perspective are clear: he thinks one buys babies, for instance, and he doesn’t understand why he can’t share a bed with his mother while his father can. While Larry can be domineering and judgmental, he is largely a funny, observant, and charming child.
Larry Quotes in My Oedipus Complex
The My Oedipus Complex quotes below are all either spoken by Larry or refer to Larry. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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My Oedipus Complex Quotes
The war was the most peaceful period of my life.
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Ours was the only house in the terrace without a new baby, and Mother said we couldn’t afford one till Father came back from the war because they cost seventeen and six. That showed how simple she was.
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Father had an extraordinary capacity for amiable inattention. I sized him up and wondered would I cry, but he seemed to be too remote to be annoyed even by that.
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“It’s not God who makes wars, but bad people.”
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I was sickened by the sentimentality of her “poor Daddy.” I never liked that sort of gush; it always struck me as insincere.
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I simply longed for the warmth and depth of the big featherbed.
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“Mummy,” I said with equal firmness. “I think it would be healthier for Daddy to sleep in his own bed.”
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All his previous shouting was as nothing to these obscene words referring to my person. They really made my blood boil. “Smack your own!” I screamed hysterically. “Smack your own! Shut up! Shut up!”
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[…] but the sheer indignity of being struck at all by a stranger, a total stranger who had cajoled his way back from the war into our big bed as a result of my innocent intercession, made me completely dotty.
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“I’m going to marry you,” I said quietly. Father gave a great guffaw out of him, but he didn’t take me in. I knew it must only be pretense. And Mother, in spite of everything, was pleased. I felt she was probably relieved to know that one day Father’s hold on her would be broken.
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I couldn’t understand why the child wouldn’t sleep at the proper time, so whenever Mother’s back was turned I woke him.
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It was his turn now. After turning me out of the big bed, he had been turned out himself.
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At Christmas he went out of his way to buy me a really nice model railway.
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Larry Character Timeline in My Oedipus Complex
The timeline below shows where the character Larry appears in My Oedipus Complex. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
My Oedipus Complex
Larry’s father served in World War I, which meant that Larry didn’t see him much until...
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Wartime was peaceful for Larry. In the mornings, he would wake with the dawn, full of energy, and gossip with...
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Larry grows accustomed to moving from his bed to his mother’s in the morning. Somewhere between...
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One morning, Larry wakes up to find his father in the master bed. When Larry sees his father...
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Larry’s mother has her husband take Larry on a walk through town, and Larry’s hopes for...
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At teatime, Larry’s mother and father converse again, with his father reading aloud from the newspaper. Larry feels...
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Saying goodnight to his mother, Larry asks whether God might send his father back to war if he prayed for it....
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The next morning, Larry wakes up full of energy and eager to share his plans with his mother. He...
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Previously, Larry told his mother that the two of them sharing a bed would be more efficient,...
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Larry’s father gets out of bed and brings tea for himself and for Larry’s mother. Larry...
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Larry’s mother tucks Larry in for the night, making him promise not to disturb “poor Daddy”...
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Even though he tries, Larry can’t resist the temptation of going to his parents’ bed. Larry’s mother permits him to...
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Larry’s father shouts at his son and says that it’s time for Larry to break his...
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The aftermath of Larry’s spanking is gruesome. Larry and his father shamelessly scheme to steal the attention of Larry’s...
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Larry tries to figure out what makes his father so appealing to his mother. Even though...
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Larry proclaims in front of both parents that he is going to marry his mother. His...
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The new baby arrives. Much to Larry’s surprise and displeasure, Sonny cries constantly and rarely sleeps. Tired of hearing “Don’t-wake-Sonny!” Larry pinches...
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Larry is playing in the garden when he sees his father come home from work. Larry...
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A startled Larry wakes up one evening to find that he is not alone in his bed. He...
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Larry’s father grumpily inquires why Larry is also awake, and Larry asks his father to hug...
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