The literary exploration of this bond begins, as so many things do, with Sophocles. Oedipus Rex is the ur-text, though not in the reductive Freudian sense. The tragedy is less about a son’s carnal desire for his mother, Jocasta, and more about the catastrophic consequences of trying to escape one’s fate. Jocasta is a tragic figure herself—a mother who, to save her husband, orders her infant son’s death. Their reunion as adults is a horror of mistaken identity, not romance. Sophocles established the core tension: the mother-son bond is so powerful that violating it collapses civilization itself.

Leigh Anne Tuohy’s role showcases a different kind of maternal bond—one formed through choice and fierce protection, helping her adopted son find his path to success. Psychological Complexity and "Mommy Issues"

In film, the mother-son dynamic is frequently used to drive emotional stakes or psychological horror.

Represents overprotection or possessiveness that inhibits the son's growth. In literature, Gertrude Morel in D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers