Although not thoroughly discussed in class, Prof. Doane mentioned that death may be thought of as the highest form of castration anxiety. If such were the case, is Freud claiming that life is equivalent to the object of the penis and, if taken away (or castrated), is death to follow? Or is the looming fear of death cause for the boy to hold onto any symbol of life?

While death can be considered connected to the idea of castration anxiety, it can also be thought of as castration anxiety. The term "death" could have been used as another way of expressing the "trauma" the boy experiences when he discovers that women do not possess penises. However, where does this trauma stem from? Why does the boy have an inherent desire for the mother to have a penis?

I am unsure whether death precedes castration anxiety, follows it, or simply is it. Does the concept of death cause the boy to enter a state of castration anxiety, fearful of what could be taken away or does the traumatic moment act as a certain death of the child? Finally, is the trauma of castration anxiety equivalent to death subconsciously? I would like a definitive reason for such an anxiety as well as the concrete result in order to understand the implications of death in Freud's work.