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The mother's answer again shows whither the child's question was really directed. Apparently
Anna, too, would like to have a child to "nurse" just as the nurse has. Where the nurse got the
little child is quite clear. Anna, too, could get a child in the same way if she were big. Why did
not the mother become such a plain nurse, that is to say, how did she get a child if not in the
same way as the nurse? Like the nurse, Anna, too, could get a child, but how that fact might be
changed in the future or how she might come to resemble her mother in respect to getting
children is not clear to her. From this resulted the thoughtful question, "Indeed, shall I be a
different woman from you? Shall I be different in every respect?" The stork theory evidently had
come to naught, the dying theory met a similar fate; hence she now thinks one may get a child in
the same way, as, for example, the nurse got hers. She, too, could get one in this natural way, but
how about the mother who is no nurse and still has children? Looking at the matter at this point
of view, Anna asks: "Why did you not become a nurse?" namely, "why have you not got your
child in the natural way?" This peculiar indirect [p. 257] manner of questioning is typical, and
evidently corresponds with the child's hazy grasp of the problem, unless we assume a certain
diplomatic uncertainty prompted by a desire to evade direct questioning. We shall later find an
illustration of this possibility. Anna is evidently confronted with the question "where does the
child come from?" The stork did not bring it; mother did not die; nor did mother get it in the
same way as the nurse. She has, however, asked this question before and received the
information from her father that the stork brings children; this is positively untrue, she can never
be deceived on this point. Accordingly, papa and mama and all the others lie. This readily
explains her suspicion at the childbirth and her discrediting of her mother. But is also explains
another point, namely, the elegiac reveries which we have attributed to a partial introversion. We
know now from what real object love had to be taken and introverted to no purpose, namely, it
had to be taken from the parents who deceived her and refused to tell her the truth. (What must
this be which cannot be uttered? What else is going on here?) Such were the parenthetic
questions of the child, and the answer was: Evidently this must be something to be concealed,
perhaps something dangerous. Attempts to make her talk and to draw out the truth by means of
(insidious) questions were futile, she exerted resistance against resistance, and the introversion
of love began. It is evident that the capacity for sublimation in a 4-year-old child is still too
slightly developed to be capable of performing more than symptomatic services. The mind,
therefore, depends on another compensation, namely, it resorts to one of the relinquished
infantile devices for securing love by force, the most preferred is that of crying and calling the
mother at night. This has been diligently practised and exhausted during her first year. It now
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THE ASSOCIATION METHOD
35
returns and corresponding to the period of life it has become well determined and equipped with
recent impressions. It was just after the earthquakes in Messina, and this event was discussed at
the table. Anna was extremely interested in everything, she repeatedly asked her grandma to
relate to her how the earth shook, how the houses were demolished and many people lost their
lives. After this she had nocturnal fears, she could not remain alone, her mother was forced to go
to her and stay with her; otherwise she feared that an earthquake would appear, that the house
would fall and kill her. During the day, too, she was much occupied with such thoughts. While
walking with her mother she annoyed her with such questions as, "Will the house be standing
when we return home? Are you sure there is no earthquake at home? Will papa still be living?
About every stone lying in the road she asked whether it was from an [p. 258] earthquake. A new
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