Seventy-Fifth Session

Richard was waiting outside the playroom. Before entering the house he pointed to one of the hills and told Mrs K. that he had climbed up there the previous afternoon. It took him an hour and

he had been tired. In the room he continued to speak about this. He was not boastful but quietly satisfied. He added, ‘But it was not even half as difficult as climbing up Snowdon.’

Mrs K. reminded him of another attempt at climbing, which he had mentioned some time ago, and which went back to the time before his analysis; she asked whether that climb had been more difficult than the one on the previous day.

Richard said no, it had been much easier, in fact he had only gone up a little way because another boy chased him.1… He spoke again, but this time spontaneously and freely, about his difficulties in staying with the Wilsons. He did not much like Mr Wilson and he felt particularly hurt because John was not very friendly with him. He did not think that John actually disliked him, but he wished John would like him more. He went on to say that he realized his own tendency to be provocative; he liked to tease other boys but could not bear it if they teased him. He said that he had more enemies now among the girls in the village. One of them had said to him that he was ‘dopey’. Could Mrs K. cure dopey boys? He had been very unhappy the day before when John went to see a friend and would not take Richard with him. But afterwards he had gone out by himself, climbed the hill, and then felt all right; and now he was no longer unhappy.

Mrs K. interpreted that today Richard did not seem afraid of telling her his opinion of Mr Wilson; probably he was less afraid that she would dislike his criticism. In the previous session he might have felt that Mr Wilson, whom Mrs K. knew, stood for Mr K. and therefore she would resent any criticism of him. She reminded him that after speaking about his being unhappy at the Wilsons, he had explored the stove and the tank