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S.4Ep1 Analysis

Bart's dream begins this episode, and lays out one clear wish which the dream seeks to fulfill; he wants a C average so that he can go to Kamp Krusty. This wish is fulfilled through aspects of secondary revision. His dream begins with the knowledge that he doesn't have a C average and that the teacher is unlikely to change his grade because it wouldn't be fair to the other students. This fact is revised, as she changes his grade for him anyway. This part of the dream is filled with daily residue-- the classroom setting and Bart's father's demand that he get good grades are both parts of Bart's everyday that have seeped into his dream. The fact that Bart will probably not get to go to Kamp Krusty is repressed, and distorted by the secondary revision.
However, there are more wish-fulfillments to be interpreted from this dream. Bart also slaps his teacher's buttocks and wins her affection. This is the fulfillment of a wish for affection and sexual attention, specifically from an older, female authority figure. Immediately after the directly sexual content of the dream, there are aspects of the destruction of the school that function as an act of both aggressive and symbolically sexual release. Bart caves in the school walls using a wrecking ball, which might represent the sex act. Bart is fulfilling the wish of destroying the school, which is obviously an unpleasant place for him. This urge for destruction is exemplary of Thanatos. At the same time, though, he is destroying the setting which gave rise to a sexual fantasy involving his teacher. This can be interpreted as a repressed sexual desire, either for his teacher or for a displacement of a maternal figure. The school functions as a condensation of both itself and the object of Bart's sexual fantasy.
Conclusions