Characteristics of Dreaming / Elements of this Novel (I)
1. Time and location shifts
Long roads travelled into the countryside lead to places that are right beside the hotel, which is back in the city center and a centerpiece of the story. Scenes like an elevator ride can take longer that they should or they change instantly, as they can in dreams. When Ryder, Sophie and Boris want to leave the party that took them a long time to drive to, they leave through a door and "are now standing in the long dark corridor that led past the hotel drawing room and into the lobby"(280). In this bizarre world, they are able to step from one place to another, which would be impossible in reality.
2. Composite Identities
When Ryder meets Sophie and Boris, who are Gustav's daughter and grandson, there is a strong familiarity and they also represent or are in fact Ryder's wife and child. Sophie goes from being introduced to Ryder, a famous stranger, into a conversation with him moments later, about a house that they could buy, it "might be exactly what we have been looking for"(34). Freud defines the collective figure as "combining the actual features of two or more persons into a dream-image"(Freud 224). The controlling father and mother, the Hoffman's, who have too high expectations for their son Stephan, are collective figure because they also represent or are Ryder's father and mother. So Stephan Hoffman is a version of Ryder as a young man.
3. Insights into Memory and and the Subconscious
The reader gradually builds a clear picture of Ryder’s past and possible future because he is continually meeting people in the community that represent important people from his present and from other times in his life. His memory and subconscious are revealed to us directly often without him being as aware of it as we are, because he does not openly acknowledge his other connection to Stephan or Hoffman or Sophie. The shifting relationships he has with them in the course of the novel are all just portrayed as a normal state of being, even though it’s more like a dream reality. Ryder does recall some childhood memories during the novel, such as remembering playing in his father’s car to get aware from his parents awful fighting (Ishiguro 261). We get access to his subconscious memories when he gets inside Stephan’s head and is aware of Stepahn's thoughts. That’s how we learn the details about how the Hoffmans behave, who we must remember also represent Ryder’s parents. When Stephan who is also a young Ryder, plays the piano for them at his mother’s birthday, his playing is not up to the standard they expect and the unusually good mood of the family occasion dissolves with his mother’s “frosty expression”(Ishiguro 69). Jumping back to the present and Ryders’ visit, when it comes near to his performance, we see the effect of the past on Ryder. He has not gotten over wanting his parents approval and is still fantasizing about a moment when they will come to see him play. He asks Miss Stratmann, his schedule organizer, “Surely it wasn’t unreasonable of me to assume they would come this time?” He gets very upset and starts “to sob” when he knows it will not happen (512).
4. Miscommunication and Missed Opportunities
Miscommunication is a characteristic of dreaming and also a large part of the underlying theme - that miscommunication in personal relationships is a big factor in the problem of living life in an unsatisfactory way. One day when Gustav was younger, his little daughter Sophie was pestering him with questions while he was trying to put up a shelf. He decided to be silent with her for a few days (82). Then a stalemate of silence ensued, followed by a habit of silence, which he said had no animosity, but it persisted for years. This is a poignant example of how a relationship can become non-communicative, for no good reason. Ryder often misses the opportunity to be close to Boris, sometimes withholding affection as his own father and mother did. There is an expectation created by Ryder's conversations with Boris that he will have more time for Boris later, but with the constant rushing around, that expectation is not fulfilled.
Read more:
Writing in the Language of Dream
Dream Theory in the Novel
Characteristics of Dreaming / Elements of this Novel (I)
Characteristics of Dreaming / Elements of this Novel (II)
How Dream Elements Link to Themes
Critical Reception
Suggested Reading
About Web Site Author