Jessica Sede

Conscious Dreaming?

I used to think that being awake meant that you were conscious, and that being asleep meant that you were unconscious. It seemed to make sense, especially since people get "knocked unconscious." When you are sleeping, you are not aware of the world around you. It is possible to be woken up from loud sounds, people shaking you, and other annoying events, but you can't be aware of these things until you are awake. Or can you?

If the alarm clock rings, I will hear it in my sleep, or in my stage of "in-between" sleep, but can this alarm penetrate my dreams without waking me? I'm pretty sure it can. There have been many times when i've fallen asleep with the t.v on, and had dreams about things that were going on in movies or commercials. I have also been able to remember my dreams more clearly since I started keeping a dream journal. Did I make a conscious decision to be more conscious of my dreams while sleeping? Shouldn't I be unable to make that decision if sleeping really is unconsciousness?

There are also times where I dream of things that have me worried. Dreams where I can't find the classroom, or I wake up late. Isn't this a way of thinking while sleeping? Could this mean that we never really are unconscious, and that we are thinking and aware 24/7, everyday until the end of our lives?

Just thinking about it makes me tired!

"You only know the side of people that they want you to know"

I don't remember who told me this, but they did, and I believed it, and always kept it in mind when meeting new people. How much do we really know about the people who are close to us? David Lodge's novel Thinks... implies that not only may we not know things about each other, but we may not know that much about ourselves.

The structure of this novel is clever, and helps reveal a lot about the characters, and how they interact with one another. The novel functions by alternating three types of chapters:

a) Ralph Messenger's recorded diary and thoughts
b) Helen Reed's diary and thoughts
c) A third person narrator who provides the readers with the "facts."

This structure is helpful because it uses third person perspective to explain the details of a situation, and then reveals how Ralph and Helen interpreted the situation by allowing the readers inside their heads. It is fascinating to see how two people can interpret the same situation in two extremely different ways.

It is interesting to see just how much we misunderstand each other. None of the characters in this novel really know each other. Some of them don't even know themselves, and are surprised at how they behave when put in various circumstances. All of the characters have hidden desires, motives, and secrets that they must hide. To me, this is realistic, since everyone has done something that they never imagined they would do, or has had a darker side to their thoughts (although not necesarily as dark as some of these characters).

The novel also plays with our preconcieved notions about love, memories, and feelings by putting a scientific twist on them. Ralph and Helen have taken two very different life paths: one works to capture emotions and put them into words, while the other hopes to reveal emotions as mere chemical impulses...nothing special......

Thinks... is both enjoyable and thought provoking, but beware, you may begin to wonder just how well you know your family and friends....and just how many secrets have been kept from you.