By means of clinical vignettes, the author scrutinizes interpretation in the classical analytic setting. The analyst should include in his interpretations far-reaching criticism of the underlying forces and laws which govern society. This is necessary on the one hand because of the forming and transforming influence of the larger society upon the psychic structure, and on the other hand because of the limitations inherent in the function of reality testing, even in the case of a mature psychic apparatus governed by the reality principle. The discussion of some of the theoretical implications leads to inferences for psychoanalytic technique and to the claim that the same interpretational attitude should be adopted in training analysis.