This paper presents clinical material from the analysis of a late adolescent whose father died when he was just 9 years old. It emphasizes the impact of his father's death upon subsequent identifications. It was through a reactivation of certain critical issues in the transference that the patient was enabled to mourn the loss of his father and to achieve a wider and more mature range of selective identifications.

Relevant information is presented to demonstrate how his primordial development influenced his reaction to his father's death. His later identifications were affected by his mother, brother and especially his stepfather. The influence of the death upon the analysis and his selective identifications with the analyst are explored.