Frank O'Connor was born in Ireland in 1903 named as Michael O'Donovan. He took the name Frank O'Connor when writing to hide his talent from his employers. As a child, O'Connor idolized his mother who worked as a maid supporting the household. His father drank a bit too much and disliked the idea that the young O'Connor preferred books to brawn. This caused O'Connor to seek understanding from his mother and resentment toward his father. A majority of O'Connor's short stories related to Irish family life and his own life experiences (www.wiu.edu). "My Oedipus Complex" is one of these short stories. The Oedipus complex is a Freudian concept that young boys desire to sleep with their mother and kill their father. This is a formative stage in psychosexual development. These primal desires are repressed but show up in dreams and in literature. Freud gives credit to the Greek legend of King Oedipus (www.sla.pudue.edu).
             Oedipus is a character in the writings of Sophocles. Oedipus the King is about a highly intelligent man who is lead through a series of events that lead him to a startling self-realization. This discovery causes him to put out his own eyes. Oedipus solved the riddle of the Sphinx and ascended the throne at Thebes. A plague had stuck the city and an oracle had been consulted on the matter. The oracle responded by saying that Laius' (the previous king) murderer must be banished from the city. Oedipus learns the story of the murder and finds that there is but one surviving witness. Oedipus decides to avenge the king and sent many curses on the murderer and anyone who is harboring him. Meanwhile, a blind prophet, Tiresias, charges Oedipus as being the curse, the murderer that he is hunting. The play unfolds itself and Oedipus realizes that it was he who killed Laius, and then married Jocasta (Laius' wife) when he took over the throne. Oedipus also come...