Blackjack: A Game of Rebellion?

Twenty-one, or Blackjack, is a game much used in the gambling houses of Nevada.

It seems to symbolize mostly dominance-dependency conflicts, and the attainment of full adult status without assuming adult responsibilities.

All the face cards are ranked alike as ten-ace is either one or eleven, top or bottom, according to which is most desirable at the moment.

Twenty-one, the traditional age of attaining adult status, is aimed for. But sequences are not valued at all in Twenty-one-family ties are not desired or required, simply independent adulthood with no ties.

Blackjack, the other name of this game indicates this also - the single, unattached male, doubtful, whether to be aggressive or give way to fear, is also the ace, not certain whether to be top or bottom of the pack.

Unlike most gambling house games, such as Craps, Roulette, or slot machines, the representative of the house, the dealer, also deals himself a hand in direct competition with that of the customer.

The dealer, backed by the house, represents the family figure, backed by the society or the family structure, against whom the player is in rebellion and with whom he has direct, personal conflict.

Twenty-one is played for, but if it is even more dangerous to go over this figure than to fall short of it. Independence, adult status, is aimed for, but no responsibilities.

Although the player is thus in rebellion against his family, he is basically rather conservative ( black jack, not red jack). He does not contemplate changing the social order in the slightest, only his own role in it.

He does not aspire to become a king, either - he wants the privilege of adult status, but wants to stop right there and remain a jack all his life.

There does not seem to be much direct expression of sexuality in Twenty-one, but of course dominance-dependency conflicts are by no means confined to father-son duels and, indeed, cross sex and age lines rather freely in our society.

It might be interesting to find out if people with a high degree of intersex dominance-dependency conflicts seek out dealers of the opposite sex in playing Twenty-one. This may well be the case.

Aside from the dominance-dependency conflicts that may form an important part of sexual role conflicts, only those players with an exceptionally high degree of equation between monetary loss and sexual satisfaction would seem to be able to express much sexuality through Twenty-one.

It does not lend itself to this purpose nearly as many other games.