Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-05-09
EAR MISS DIX: I am soon
\ to be married to a man with
whom I am deeply in love.
He Is everything that q wom-

~ EAR MISS DIX: I am soon
to be married to a man with
whom I am deeply in love.
He Is everything that wom-
an could ask-clever, ambi-
tious, dependable, loyal and fine. But
he is a silver-cord boy, whose mother
has dominated him all Of his life and
she is still the center of his life. He
Jumps at her beck and call. Waits
on her hand and foot. Anticipates
her every desire. He Is 20, but he
is still a little boy where she is con-
cerned.
Now, what is my mental attitude
going to be toward this man after
we marry? How am ! going to like
his mother being put before me, as
and just consider myself lucky that
he isn't philanderer or drunkard
or something? Should we get this
horrid thing out in the open and
talk about it, or should be subtle
or what? I am deathly afraid this
Is going to spoil what should be an
ideal marriage. TROUBLED.
ArSwer-The old proverb says that
o good son makes q good husband,
but that Is only true when the son
isn't too good a son. Otherwise he
Is the worst husband in the world.
The greatest drawback to marriage
that man can possibly possess is
to have mother complex. For when
he has that he is joined to his idol
and no mere wife can ever separate
him from her. Always mother will
be his divinity. Always she will be
the one who can do no wrong. Always
the passion of his heart will be for
her. Always his wife will be but a
shadow in the background of his life.
Somebody to keep his house and bear
his children, but Of no Importance
compared to mother.
And the man with the mother
complex Is incurable because he &C
counts his weakness for Righteousness.
He has workmanship bred in his
bones because from his very baby
hood his mother has impressed upon
him his duty to her and told him
how much she has suffered for him
and how much he owed her and how
she loved him and all the other hokum
with which poSSeSsive mothers enslave
their poor little victims. So he feels
that he is doing nothing more than
his duty in not only sacrificing him.
self to mother, but also offering up
his wife and children on her altar.
So there you are and you had as
well face the facts honestly and
courageously before marriage. You
will never be able to wean your hus-
band away from his mother, because
If a man has not cut his mothers
apron strings before he is 90 years
old he will never cut them. She will
always be the dominant figure in his
life and his wife will play second
fiddle. He will always think that
mother knows best" on every sub
ject In the world. no matter If you
are q college graduate and mother
y Q nitwit. He viii always go to
mother for advice. She viii be his
confldante and his wife will be more
or less Of an outsider.
And, worst Of all, he win aiways
expect his wife to run her life by
his mothers theories. If mother is
old-fashioned, woe be it to wife If
she Is modern. The man himself
wouldn't care whit about the way
his wife wore her hair or the kind
Of gowns she bought or the number
Of clubs she belonged to or the color
Of the polish on her nails, but when
mother puts her taboo on these things
the gods have spoken and wife has
to change her ways, or else there is
endless friction.
There Is no way in which a wife
can combat the mother complex in
her husband, because he attributes
everything she says to jealousy. This
Is, Of course, partially true, for it
takes more humility of spirit than
many women possess to take back
seat, without protest, in their hus-
bands affections and to know that
some other woman has more influ-