80 CASE HISTORIES 



it was an unworthy thing to do, and his remorse over this act 

 followed him all his life. An exaggerated recoil from incest can 

 cause a certain amount of resistance toward the whole sex, and he 

 found little satisfaction in heterosexual intercourse, usually pre- 

 ferring males, though he rationalized this tendency as due to fear 

 of venereal disease. In marriage he had little pleasure, and said 

 there had been only one real "love" coitus. Something spoiled 

 the others. Finally he became somewhat impotent and stopped 

 relations entirely. The widow attracted him in spite of being 

 "homely as sin," because she was a devoted mother, and he 

 likened her to his own mother and resented insinuations that 

 there was anything erotic in their companionship. Later when he 

 gave way to his erotic impulses he found himself suddenly im- 

 potent at the moment of opportunity. In the hospital he had 

 fantasies of his mother's having been raped while emigrating to 

 America. 



In homosexual matters he rationalized the male role as per- 

 missible. His cravings to take the female role were sometimes 

 recognized and resisted, and sometimes repressed and projected. 



QUITNER 



History: He was a petty officer in the navy thirty-eight 

 years old, and was serving his fourth enlistment when sent to 

 hospital. He was one of eight children and was born in Hungary. 

 When still a little child the family emigrated to America, and 

 he spent his boyhood and youth in a great city. He attended 

 school from the ages of six to eleven and reached only the fourth 

 grade. He didn't do well in his studies and felt humiliated when 

 other children surpassed him. He nearly cried with shame. Not 

 only in mind but also in body he felt inferior and was much 

 ashamed of his small frame and delicate bones. 



After leaving school he worked for two years as a cash boy 

 in a big store, but quit because people teased him. Other jobs 

 didn't last long. He couldn't adjust and gave them up. He tried 

 night school but couldn't get on there either. At nineteen he left 

 home and wandered west to see the world. After he tired of a 

 job or a city he moved on to another. He reached San Francisco 



