Dream World

The humankind throughout history has tried to learn and figure out the meaning of dreaming. The interpretations and true meanings of dreams has expanded and has varied over centuries and cultures. Many of the earlier studies were based on culture’s and the interpretation of dreams, but also used as a form of prophecy, inspiration, and guidance. Many people still believe this such, people today beliefs and theories have opened up to a more vast interpretation, they are made up of; dreams are rare brain activity, dreams allow people to reflect on themselves, or that dreams are too massive to be correctly interpret. Although, not a single theory has been proven to this day, science as of why dreams occur is still a mystery.

Most pieces of art have a deeper meaning than what is simply expressed on the surface. Through emotions, symbols, and motifs, an artist can portray a unique story; however, despite the use of creative symbols, distinct stories can show a similar theme. Two such examples are the short film Destino by Salvador Dali and Walt Disney and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which share the common theme of “the struggle of obtaining dreams”. Based on what is shown in these works of art, it is a challenge to attain dreams.

A series of thoughts, images, and sensations that occur during a person’s mind during the time that they sleep is known as a dream. Dreams go way back until the beginning of mankind, even to the BC era during the time that Egyptians and Greeks were the leading force! The Egyptians examined the meanings behind the dreams we have and analyzed the symbols. There are a numerous amount of reasons behind our dreams. People must ask all the time, what is the reasoning behind dreaming? Why do we dream? What is the meaning behind the dream I had? In an average lifetime, approximately six years is spent dreaming. Every single person on this planet dreams and just because one might not remember doing so, it was still done. One might have several dreams occur throughout a normal night of sleep that lasts from about seven to eight hours. Everyone has dreams and each experience is distinctive and personal. Some can contain vivid pictures or memorable illustrations of reality and others can be unreal or abstract. In a way, they all have certain meanings to them and there can be messages hidden that are trying to tell someone something. An abundant amount of people are always curious as to why they dreamed what they did and spend time looking for those answers.

“An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.”

Ronald Britton is the writer and editorial manager of the article: Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein: What Made the Monster Monstrous. Throughout this article Britton will talk about the genesis of the renowned story of Frankenstein, which emerged from a fantasy experienced by Mary Shelley while on an occasion imparted to her spouse and her stride sister. The creator talked upon Shelley expressing that “She emphasizes that she was not confined to her own identity in these daydreams, she became others and so peopled them with creatures far more interesting than her own sensations” (Britton 2). As a kid Shelley composed stories that were sensible, fabulous, and pleasing; they were her shelter when irritated and her most profound joy when free. One night as Shelley is asleep, she has a striking dream. In the fantasy she sees a revolting apparition of a man extended and after that, on the working of some capable motor, hint at life. Shelley portrays how she is controlled by her wild creative energy. She expresses that “This clearly was no daydream. I would call it a night terrors a sleep-induced visual hallucination that persists on waking” (Britton 3). Shelley then builds up the thought that what frightened her will frighten others. She needs to depict the apparition which frequents her midnight pad, so the next day she started to recount to her story.

“The notion that human beings are motivated, even driven, by desires, fears, needs, and conflicts of which they are unaware” (Tyson 12). Life is driven by desires, fears, needs, and conflicts that are stored in the unconscious. The unconscious is the control center of the mind, and it decides whether or not certain memories can be tolerated. If the unconscious determines that a memory can't be handled, two things can happen: repression of memories or modification of memories. Whereas memory is the storage of events, perception is the live viewing of those events. Selective perception is “hearing and seeing only what we feel we can handle” (Tyson 15). These tactics of the unconscious mind can be found in Shelley’s Frankenstein. Victor’s unconscious mind alters or represses memories and perceptions changing the way his mind functions, throughout the novel. While creating both monsters, Victor’s unconscious mind feels that he can’t handle death; he is still not over the death of his mother. His inability to move on from the death of his mother, is the reason for the creation of the monster.

Imagination can be just as powerful in an adult as it is in a child, just in a different way. It is because of this that an imagination can be a scary thing for some. Overly active imaginations can cause people to hallucinate

     An individual’s unconscious mind combines bits and pieces of information and places them together. Dreams are almost always visual. “Forty to fifty percent of dreams have some form of communication present in them and a very small percentage of dreams give the dreamer the ability to use his or her five senses”(Encarta). Dreams allow one to take a closer look into their mind in a quest for self-discovery. In ancient Greece dreams were believed to be messages from the gods. Hippocrates and Aristotle believed that dreams contained physiological information that may be cause of future illnesses. Dreams can be used to solve a number of different types of problems. In The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund Freud he states “As regards the dream, all the troubles of waking life are transferred by it to the sleeping

A great point of the story is Owaki dreams. He dreams about very vivid past lives. The most important of these being his prehistoric dream. In the dreams he usually takes a three turn step. The first step is an observation. One dream was of him in a prehistoric era where he was a criminal, who committed an unspecified crime. The crime is rumored to be horrific, it was gruesome enough that the punishment was not just death but torture. The method was by taking them to the fault were a new hole was formed after the crime was committed. They then would leave them there to which they you walk on their own to the hole and get in. This is where he seems to try and make reason for the unreasonable compulsion that they are all feeling.

imagination. It exists in the mind in virtue of the nature of the human mind.

Ideas, thoughts, and past experiences that bring images are dreams. Edgar Allan Poe wrote, “They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream by night.” When Poe says this he is trying to tell you that some who day dream might be living in a whimsical fantasy where they are stronger than in reality. They live better in their dreams because that’s what they want in reality. Most of the people who day dream are often faced with grim characters in nightmares. Poe portrays these elements in both of these literary pieces. In their “day dreaming” lives, the prosperous characters act as if they do not know what is going on because they feel a false sense of strength . The other characters that go about life day dreaming are psychologically traumatized. It is evident in Poe’s stories “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Black Cat” that day dreaming masks the true evils and causes one to horrifyingly unwise in reality.

A dominant aspect behind any artists’ personal work is the conceptual meaning depicted within it. It’s their chosen concepts and influences that drive them to create their work and imbue it with a particular intention or idea. My own concept that revolves around my work is the theme of Certainty and Uncertainty. This is a personal theme to me as it applies to many decisions and paths I have taken in my life, which have either been performed in certainty or uncertainty. Going through stages of certainty and uncertainty is natural for progressing through life, but at some points they can hold back an individual from either making what would be considered “right” choices, or making any decisions at all.

In the novel, Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M Coetzee, the magistrate’s progressive, non-linear dreams are a parallel to his growing involvement with the barbarians and his growing distaste for the empire. The great psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud said, “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious.” In every dream there is a hidden meaning and when the reader starts analyzing the magistrate’s dreams he reveals that he is oddly attracted to the barbarians and knows he should not get involved and it will be a trial to get close to them.

Most pieces of art has a deeper meaning than what is simply expressed on the surface. Through emotions, symbols, and motifs, an artist can show or tell a unique story; however, despite the usage of creative symbols, distinct stories can show a similar theme. Two such examples are the short film Destino by Salvador Dali and Walt Disney and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald which share the common theme of “the struggle of obtaining dreams”. Based on what is shown in these works of art, it is a challenge to attain dreams.

Humanity has searched for their significance and meanings, from the Old Testament dreams of Pharaoh and of Jacob’s dream of the ladder, to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks as being messages from the gods. These vivid images that arise in the unconscious mind contain elements of our personal identity, segments of our daily lives, as well as the bizarre.