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Finding his True Passion (Identity vs. Role Confusion)
When hiking through the woods to get to his grandfather's house, Cornelius took a shortcut through a mine to shorten the walk from 2 days to 5 hours. When the path was blocked by a load of stone boulders. Knowing he was going through a mine, he brought a pickaxe. After working through the boulders he made great time by making the trip only 8 hours long, cutting the trip ETA 40 hours. After making it to his grandfather's house, he wanted to go back to the mine to continue making ways of entry. -
Finding Bertha (Intimacy vs. Isolation)
On a dark winter evening, Cornelius has found himself in the mines, he hasn't seen another living being for the whole week. When exiting the mine he sees this beautiful woman leaving the hospital (her place of work). He approaches her and introduces himself, and an instant connection started. In Erikson's sixth stage, every day after he is finished in the mines, he would go spend time with Bertha. They proceeded to get married the following year. -
Reviewing Life (Ego Integrity vs. Despair)
In Erikson's Last stage, Cornelius is on bed rest, reviewing how his life has treated him. Bertha passed away 5 years before he was on bed rest. He still had the love in his heart for bertha from the day he met her. Cornelius is looking forward to meeting her in the afterlife. He wonders if there was something different in his life he could've done to make it better, but struggles to find the answer.
