You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The thesis of this paper is based upon two early observations made by Freud. The first is that the loss of a tooth in dream or reality has the significance of castration in the unconscious of the adult male. The second, that the unconscious of the adult is derived from the repressed experiences, affects and fantasies of childhood. From these two premises, the following conclusion can be derived: When the adult male reacts to the loss of a permanent tooth (in dream or reality) as if it were a castration, perhaps he does so because when he first shed a deciduous tooth in childhood, it had this same significance at that earlier time.
Three related thoughts follow this synthesis. (i) The oedipus complex is repressed because of castration fear and is succeeded by the latency period at about the age of six. (ii) Freud (31) regarded the passing of the oedipus complex as a biological event. (iii) The shedding of the first deciduous tooth is a biological event which occurs at the same time that the oedipus complex gives way to latency.
We can now state our major hypothesis: "The shedding of the first deciduous tooth is a biological event which makes castration seem like such a reality to the male child, because part of the body falls off without external trauma, that it plays an important role in the compromise solution of the oedipus complex."