Previews • 15picture of superheroes, like the Green Lantern and the Green Arrow, perhaps triggered by
his feelings of vulnerability in the group. This same sense of helplessness seemed evident in
his spontaneous dramatizations; no matter how his role began, he almost always ended up
as a victim, hurt and injured (M).
As a dental patient, for example, Jim was so passive and wobbly that he kept tumbling
to the floor, as though—like a baby—he could not sit up without support. He had actually
begun as the dentist in that drama, but was unable to maintain the assertive role and soon
switched to the weak patient, who finally had to be tied in the chair to keep him from falling
on the floor.
In the same way, he volunteered to be a tough cop, driving his police car, when all of a
sudden he changed the script, and was hurt and injured in an accident. Rescued by a doc-
tor, he seemed to enjoy the idea of being a passive patient, even when put on the table for an
operation. Without a whimper, he masochistically submitted to the doctor’s primitive brand
of anesthesia—a bop on the head with a wooden spoon.
In a later drama, he played a boss who was able to give orders and to be a big shot with his
secretary, but could not confront the angry male employee he was supposed to fire, cowering
and able to gesture assertively only after the man left the room.
As he was taking these first tentative steps to express anger in dramas, however, his draw-
ings began to change. More often, the athletes were complete figures, with few, if any body
parts missing (Fig u re 1.11). Trying other media, he made a tall (phallic) three-dimensional
plastic construction, and later a huge sword and a clay dagger.
One day he playfully pretended to be superpowerful and slowly lifted up a “heavy” chair,
said to weigh “at least fifty thousand pounds.” Becoming more comfortable with this aggres-
sion, Jim played the role of a domineering husband, bossing his wife around. He demanded
special food, insisting that she slavishly follow his commands, and indeed was quite author-
itarian (N).
Figure 1.10 An early athlete by Jim.