Then Mac became angry, and when I hinted that my remarks must have hit
the bull's-eye . . . he laughed again. He is a baffling study in
psychology.
"You don't know much about it, old chap," he said genially.
"Hardly anything at all," I said with true modesty, "only I know one
thing about you, and that is that the fault always lies in yourself.
When you flog Tom Murray, you are really chastising the Tom Murray in
yourself . . . that is, the part that your wife knows so well--the part
of you that leaves the new graip out in the rain all night, that rebels
against the authority of the School Board and the inspectorate. Tom is
being crucified for your transgressions."
Barrie, wizard as he is, failed to understand the full significance of
Shakespeare's line: "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but
in ourselves."
* * * * *
The opposite of the Sadist is the Masochist--the person who finds
sexual gratification in being beaten or bullied. When 'Arriet proudly
boasts about the black eye that 'Arry gave her on Saturday night, she
is being masochistic, and the woman who likes to be bullied by the
strong, silent man is likewise a masochist. I do not say "nothing but"
a masochist, because she is also a Sadist, for Sadism and Masochism are
complementary in the same person.
It is an understood fact that many people find joy in suffering, and I
can recollect feeling something akin to joy when the dentist, before
the days of the local anaesthetic, used to lay hold on my molars.
Hence I look back to the day when I whacked Peter Smith for cruelty to
a calf, and I acknowledge that I was wrong. I recall explaining to him
that I wanted him to realise what suffering meant, but I was completely
mistaken. If Peter were a Sadist in his cruelty, my cruelty to him was
giving unconscious gratification to the Masochistic part of him. If
his cruelty to the calf was due to his self-assertion again I did the
wrong thing, for the fear evoked by my strap merely inhibited his
desire to assert himself in cudgelling calves. I think now that there
was nothing to be done; his cruelty showed that his whole education had
been wrong. Had he been allowed to create all the way up from one week
old he would have applied his interest to making rabbit-hutches instead
of to beating calves.
I remember a questioner at one of my lectures. I had been trying to
elaborate the release theory, and had said that a boy should be
encouraged to make a noise so that he will release all his interest in
noise as power.
"If a boy liked torturing cats, would you encourage him on the theory
that suppression by an adult would cause the child to retain his
interest in torturing cats?"
"Certainly not," I said, and the lady crowed. I do dislike questioners
at any time, but when they crow . . . .! However, I tried to hide the
murder in my heart by smiling.
"What would you do?" she asked sweetly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account