The Dreams of the Lady of Mount Hira

A few days ago, I had a dream that I was in the kitchen of my house. I was washing dishes and cooking, and for some reason, I became very excited. My brother and older sister were in the living room talking. I became so excited that I went into my backyard and started putting up my laundry. I then see my father walking around the spring-like flower beds (which are obviously not in existence in the waking world since it is winter). My father looks pensive and somewhat depressed. I then see my past instructor’s brother, and we start to talk about my brother and his new job. My brother needs clients to interview for his new job, and so I ask my instructor’s brother if he would be willing to or if he knows someone else who would like to interview with my brother. I don’t remember his reply. I then see my instructor, and my brother comes outside and starts to talk to my instructor and her brother about his job. I then go back inside and start cooking and washing dishes again. This is all I can remember of this dream.

I am laying next to an older man on my bed, who is a stranger to me. I end up falling asleep, and I dream about losing something. I then wake up, and the man next to me says, if my memory serves me correctly, something like “you dreamt that you lost your book, didn’t you? I told you this would happen”. Confused, I get up and go to my desk. There are piles of books stacked so high, they look as if they are about to fall. I then go back to my bed and there are hundreds of books piled on my bed. They are piled so neatly and look almost like the bricks of a house. Then I walk out the door, and down the stairs. I am outside now, and it is dark. I feel as if I am in the woods and am stranded. My house in longer my house; instead it is made of wood, and is quite small. It looks like a cabin. This is all I can remember of this dream…

This is a dream from that I had seven years ago. It's from my dream journal from 1999. There was a place for me to write the day, date, and time when I would wake up and write my dreams in the journal. I recorded this dream on Sunday, October 10th, 1999 at 8:25 a.m. It's so hard to believe that this was seven years ago, and that now I am a senior in college. I wrote this entry when I was 14. It seems so long ago, but not so long, since I can still remember writing this entry. Anyway, I'm going to transcribe the dream exactly how I wrote it in my dream journal. It is a very brief dream, and my grammar isn't quite as good as most 14 year olds, but here is the dream anyway...

I am walking in a dark ally, away from a big building. I know that the building is about to explode, and it does a few seconds later. However, there is no fire or smoke when the building explodes. The layers of floors only seem to fall down onto the ground after the explosion occurs. There is no sound, at least none that I can remember. I wait for the explosive fire to come, and after a few more seconds it does come. I then start to run because I feel as if something is chasing me. It is a man whose face I cannot remember now. I believe he is the one who blew up the building. I feel that he is about to grab me, but I run near the parked cars. I am on the opposite side of the parked cars now, and then I hide underneath them. I feel the apprehension, and the anticipation of what will happen next. The man is talking to me, but I cannot remember what he says. I feel as if he is trying to offer me something; however, I am not sure if it is something pleasant or maleficent. After this, I feel a bit dizzy, and then I wake up. This is all I can remember of the dream...

This is the last dream I'll be posting for this semester! I believe I had this dream sometime during the middle of last summer. Although I haven’t written it down, I can still remember much of what occurred in the dream...

I believe that my research project is very interesting since I am looking at a different angle of surrealist literature. The process has been moderately difficult, since I have been trying to find the right books to correlate with my tentative idea for my thesis. However, with a few trips to the library and searches on JSTOR, ProjectMuse, and sites of the like, I have found plenty of information to help me with writing my tentative, but most likely permanent, idea for my thesis paper. I just need to make a connection between Freud and perhaps even Jung with my thesis.

I find The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro to be a very interesting book. After Ryder, the main character, has to come to a nameless city in Europe, his world seems very confusing. It's like he has amnesia, because there are many times in which he cannot remember if something has taken place, or if the people he comes in contact with were ever part of his life. (Such as Sophie and Boris). Also, the whole story itself is as if Ryder is in a dream, and is trying to uncover what he cannot remember. In some ways, The Unconsoled reminded me of Waking Life because in the movie, the main character is lost and doesn't know where he is or how he got there in the dream realm. I feel this sense from Ryder, that he himself is lost in a dream-like world.

By the end of The Unconsoled, the reader can see that Sophie is angry at Ryder, and she leaves him. She believes that all he ever cared about was "giving out his expertise and wisdom" (532). Boris, who is a bit confused, wants to give Ryder a second chance, but Sophie urges Boris to come with her, and leave Ryder. By the end, we can also see the genuine care that Ryder received as someone cares to listen to Ryder's problems and concerns. The electrician does this for Ryder and he also tells Ryder some information about his parents. It turns out that the electrician remembers Ryder's mother in the city, but not his father. In some ways, I thought of Ryder and Sophie as emblems of Ryder's mother and father.