On Ventriloquism

Magic acts, the performance of tricks, and ventriloquism normally attract the interest of many latency-aged children and adolescents. The interest in ventriloquism, like the choice of other hobbies or professions, is multidetermined and serves both conflict-free and conflictual ends. In the case I presented, the child's interest in ventriloquism was actually encouraged and promoted by the mother, though for her own ends. He used his ventriloquial skills in the service of emancipation from his stifling attachment to her, as an aid in improving his marginal relationships with peers, as a means of coping with his conflicts over his aggressive strivings and murderous and competitive fantasies. His ventriloquial performances also were based on an identification with his parents. On the one hand, he caricatured their insincerity and dishonesty; on the other, he himself fooled people and spoke with several voices. The issues of being found out and exposed were central in his life experiences and entered into his choice of ventriloquism.

In latency when he took up magic tricks and ventriloquism, he was unable to leave his mother, was timid, was afraid of the dark, and terrified by bullies. After his first exposure to human death, some of these anxieties coalesced into a common final pathway of a fear of death. Later in his 20s his occupational choice of the mortuary industry was certainly multidetermined, but probably had a counterphobic element as one determinant. Attempts to deal with the fear of death have throughout the ages been channeled into rituals and religious practices. It is interesting to note that ventriloquism, as it was used in ancient magical rituals and religions, functioned as a means of simulating communication with the dead. If the dead can speak, death does not exist and we need fear neither object loss nor our own death wishes. In denying death, ventriloquism performs the ultimate magic.