Freud observed his grandson invent a game on his own, before the age that one may learn to talk, known as Fort/Da, which translates to gone and here respectfully. This game, he theorized was a way for the child to cope with his his mother being gone. The small boy would through an object away from him and yell sadly o-o-o, and soon after would reel it back in and happily yell “da”. Freud came up with the conclusion that this was a way for the boy to cope with his mother being gone.
This all relates back to Freud’s idea that we as humans always dwell on certain painful moments in our lives as a means for us to learn how to cope with them. No matter what that certain moment is, whether it be pleasant or painful, we as humans constantly reminisce these moments and cope with them in a positive or negative way.
The “allegory of the cave” by Plato similarly relates to the Freud’s observation because it is also about how we go from being immature and naive to having a better understanding of how the world really works. In all four stages that people went through in the cave, they learned about the way the world really works and therefore became more mature in doing so.
In freud’s observation, we see that this way of coping brought on a certain sense of happiness in the boy. Through his unique way of reminiscence of his mother being gone, he was able to relieve his pain about his mother being gone and was therefore happy.
from Aleksandr Poltilov
