You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Budapest, June 7, 1911
Dear Professor,
I want quickly to dispel a misunderstanding.
I didn't mean that children don't understand symbolism because they don't have any yet; they have nothing else, and that is precisely why they don't feel anything special with symbolic manners of speaking. It is only with repression (latency) that symbols take on a special meaning—symbolism represents the repressed sexual.
Little Hans was already a neurotic—so he could already not only form symbols but also understand them.