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The author begins by recalling his theory of the clinging syndrome as being made up of a pair of opposite instincts (the instinct to cling to the old object and the instinct to go in search of a new one) and of two equally opposite defensive or reactive tendencies (the tendency to separate from the old object, as a reaction to the clinging instinct, and the tendency to keep to it, as a reaction to the seeking instinct). But he finds that the perfect symmetry of this four-fold syndrome is not quite complete in one respect. For the instinct to go in search is found, as a fact of psycho-analytical observation, to be regularly accompanied by a desire to hide oneself. This desire is the true development of the instinct to seek and thus enters into and enlarges the syndrome; whereas the tendency to hold on to is only a regression to the original instinct to cling. The tendency to hide represents a modification by projection of the instinct to seek—i.e. the subject, instead of wanting to seek, feels that he is being sought and must therefore hide himself. The original persecutor from which the subject is hiding is, phylogenetically speaking, his father; for his father is the person who first took him away, as an infant, from the mother to whom he clung. This is why the theme of the stolen child is so universal in myth and individual phantasy. This tendency is also expressed in the oldest occupations, like hunting and fishing, in which the pursuer conceals himself from his prey. And it is seen in children's games of hide and seek and of hiding and finding objects.
In the author's view, the child's desire to steal things from its mother is due not so much, as Melanie Klein maintains, to its wish to get back from her the penis which she has taken from its father, as to a feeling that when it was parted from its mother it was robbed of the gratification of its clinging instinct, and to a consequent desire to recover that gratification.
The author goes on to discuss the r