The Oedipus complex in Galatea 2.2Hélène is in love with the Powers; Powers is in love with C.; C. just wants to forget Powers. This may sound like a soap opera, but it's actually the love triangle present in Galatea 2.2. This love triangle almost perfectly reflects Freud's Oedipal complex. According to this theory, Richard Powers would be Helen's mother. Like a mother, he created her and then taught her to think for herself. Still in this reversal of the roles of the Oedipal complex, Helen takes on the role of Power's son and C. plays the absent father. The twisted version of the Oedipal complex presented in Galatea 2.2 explains the interaction between Powers, Helen, and C. as that of a family, and throughout this depiction, the dialogic method reinforces this image. In the story of Oedipus, he kills his father and then marries his mother. Galatea 2.2 does not present Helen as having committed such a scandalous act. The absence of C. in Helen's life reflects the absence of Oedipus' father during Oedipus' marriage to his mother. Helen never has a one-on-one interaction with C. Her only knowledge of C. is in the love letters Powers reads to her. It is for this reason that Helen begins to view C. as an obstacle to her own relationship with Powers. According to Freud, the son wishes to have the father at his disposal in order to have the mother's attention solely on himself. This creates a very special relationship to say the least. Of course, Powers' relationship with Helen is anything but common. After all, it's a computer. He begins their relationship as a teacher. He has a mother's love for Helen because he sees in her something that he worked to create. Powers sounds like a parent when he talks about Helen's singing. At one point he describes his voice as "...an alien warbling, as the deaf sing" (198). It doesn't sound like a soft sound. The words "music to my ears" are not present in any description of Helen's singing. Powers knows Helen can't carry a tune, but he can't bear to give her that message. He says, “I didn’t have the heart to tell him how unbearable that music was” (235). There are very few parents who would actually inform their child about the lack of talent in a certain area..