It doesn’t always have to be sexually possessive urges and it also doesn’t also have to be parents. Sometimes, it can even be objects. Some examples are Marcus in “Head Cook at Weddings and Funerals”, and Winston Smith in “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. In “Head Cook at Weddings and Funerals” Marcus is the daughter of Aunt Florence and one of the main characters.
In the story, her wedding is coming up and Marcus chose to buy a wedding dress out of a catalogue instead of a traditional one made by her mother. For this example, Aunt Florence represents the father and the dress represents the mother. She feels “attracted” to the dress and stubbornly wants to wear it to her wedding because it’s she wants to make her own choices and be independent. Even though she knows that she probably cannot win the ‘fight” against the father (Aunt Florence) she still tries to fight back. Because she doesn’t succeed the “father” wins the “mother” and Marcus still had to wear the tradition dress.
Another example is Winston Smith in “Nineteen Eighty-Four. For this example, Julia represents the mother and Big Brother represents the father. Winston Smith lives in a world where everybody is watched and controlled and sexual activities are limited to only the purpose of reproducing. In the story, Winston meets Julia and begins having illegal sexual activities with her. Julia represents the mother because she is the one that Winston feels sexually attracted to and Big Brother represents the father because he is the one that is in the way of him and Julia. Even though he knows that he can’t win against Big Brother he still tries.
Another person that can represent the father is Mr.. Charioting. This is because he is also in the way of Winston since it is his room that they want to use. They know that it is extremely risky to use that room but they do it anyways. The Oedipus complex does not always have to be about the exact same things; the child sexually desiring the opposite parent while they hate the other parent and knowing that physically, they cannot compete. It can also be about many different things, even inanimate things such as Maraca’s dress. Although most of the time the case is not as severe as the actual story of Oedipus the theory and ideas are the same.
