The boy was unable to compete with him successfully. Notice the shading in the drawing, particularly the shading below the boy's waist. Father is cutting and has very obvious castration threats for this boy. Also significant is the shape of the father's tool and the shape of the object being cut.

In figure 173, we see the action in a drawing of an eight-year-old boy, who is very competitive, however attempts to be the dominant person in the household.

It is noted the two boys are in airplanes fighting, and both competing with the father for the attention of the females in the family. Note that the father is on a ladder and falling, with the feeling of tension. Father is also carrying a lamp, which in many drawings is a symbol of love, warmth or sex. This drawing reemphasizes the not yet resolved oedipal situation and the conflicting ambivalence of the feeling for father, who while threatening, is also loving.

Figure 174, was produced by a nine-year-old boy with a history of emotional deprivation.

Note the prominence of the lights in the center of the picture, reflecting the boy’s need for warmth and love.

Perhaps the drawing of Mike, the ten-year-old boy seen because of numerous anxieties, more clearly depicts the light theme. Mike was a boy who lived with his mother, a known prostitute; his KFD is seen in figure 175.

Mother had numerous men in the house and sexual activity was prominent and open, and the boy saw much of this. The prominence of the three lights in the drawing reflects the intensity of this preoccupation in this home and family setting. The fact that the father was in prison and that the dog is protecting the boy from the ominous father is also part of the theme.

The very significant underpinning in the drawing with the crosshatching and the x-ing at the bottom is characteristic of a style in children, where there is a great deal of instability in the family, and the lining of the bottom of the page often reflects this yearning for stability. The low hanging bright lamps on their chains are indicative of the tremendous disturbance within this family and also suggest that much of this disturbance has sexual overtones.

The intensity of the light theme and its relationship to the opposite sex is clearly depicted in figure 176.

Bill is a ten-year-old boy whose father was killed two years previously. Bill is an only child and a very intense relationship between mother and son is reflected in the boy's drawing of the mother, who is encapsulated with the light above her. The heat in the kitchen is intense and seen in the steam and lights, surrounding the encapsulated mother. Over and above this of course, is the fact that the bulbs and the "masculine" shapes of the lamps with the boy holding on to them continue the sexual theme.

Lanny, a fourteen-year-old boy with a history of being placed in three foster homes and a great need for love, produced the drawing in figure 177.

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