The section of Freud’s reading that interested me the most was towards the end of chapter two when he started speaking about child play. He stayed for a few weeks and did field work in the house of an 18 months old boy and his parents. In the end he found that the child repeatedly kept playing the same games, and arranging his toys in the same order whenever his mother left the house for the day. Freud came to conclusion that the child found pleasure in playing with his toys, in the same order, whenever his mother was not present.

I found this to be an interesting way to look at pain and pleasure together. Usually when a person is in pain the only way to get over the feeling is by finding something that comforts them. However, I never really think of children experiencing “pain”, although it does happen, in the way adults do. Seeing that this child possibly found comfort in his toys is interesting. Thinking back to my childhood days when I played with my toys, I can definitely say that my toys comforted me. Overall, I had a happy childhood, not too many sad moments, so I can not say that I played with toys to “ease my pain”. However, I can say that during my junior high school days I found comfort in my stuffed animals whenever I had sad days. It is interesting to see how pleasure changes over the years for us, from playing with toys whenever mom leaves home to hitting the bar whenever you’re too overwhelmed with school work.

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