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I took this class based on the course name “Dreams.”  There was no course description, so I had no idea of what to expect, except that since it was after all and English class, it would have to involve reading literature that somehow dealt with dreams.  I almost wish that there had been a course description because it would have excited me about the course.  This course quickly became my favorite by far, of all of my English courses throughout my college career.  I mean, I’ve taken some that I really liked and a lot that I couldn’t stand, but this definitely topped it for me.  I feel that combining literature with actual dream theories was such a refreshing way to look at it.  Who would have though to do that?  I certainly would not have. 

There is a lot of work in this course and I didn’t mind doing the readings and the blogs each week.  I even participated a lot, which says something to me because I’m generally one of those students who never participates.  That is how much I enjoyed the class.  Towards the end, it got a little difficult to juggle the readings and blogs with the work on the research project, but overall, I really have loved this class so much and I’m sad to see that it is over.

While I have not written as much of a draft by now as I would have liked, our class still helped me to realize what I need to do going forward.  First and foremost, I need to establish a motive.  Although I feel like I have an adequate thesis statement (which could always use revision) I do not have a clear motive.  I am actually not sure of where to begin on that.  I guess I sort of felt like it would come to me while I sat and wrote, but that is clearly not the case for two reasons.  The main reason being that I don’t have a lot written and the other is that I’m not sure if that will actually work.  I also need to incorporate more evidence into my paper.  Again, my lack of evidence has nothing to do with lack of sources, but lack of paper actually written.  This will be mended when I finally sit down and write more.  Other then that I feel that seeing as how I haven’t had time to write a lot yet, there are no other major actions that I need to take EXCEPT to keep on writing.

I feel that the whole idea of lucid dreaming is kind of eery.  I am one of those people who most of the time does not remember my dreams.  In fact, until I took this class, I was convinced that I just didn’t dream at all…which clearly is not the case.  I’m skeptical though, as to how one can be able to control their dreams and be conscious of their dreams while they are experiencing them.  To me, the whole thing seems really far f etched and impossible, but that is also coming from a cynic who doesn’t often remember her dreams.  Perhaps if I was one to frequently remember my dreams then this idea would seem plausible, but, sadly that is not the case.  I also did not understand the film Waking Life at all.  The way that it was draw actually started to give me a headache at one point and I had to look away.  But, while watching, I was very confused as to what parts were the main character dreaming and what parts were him in “waking life.”  I guess, overall, I’m just not convinced by the theory of lucid dreaming.

I find Dali’s ideas to be very interesting and innovative.  I feel that he brought new ideas and there really hasn’t been anyone like him since.  In his Dream of Venus, it really is amazing to see what was there.  I would have loved to have been able to go inside his head because, if I remember correctly, he wasn’t actually happy with the outcome of it…to think about what he actually wanted to do with it as opposed to what he did is unimaginable.  I wonder what Freud would have said about him…I’m sure that he would have found him to be an interesting patient.  It’s a shame that the Dream of Venus can only be seen through pictures now because there’s no comparison for what it would have been like to really experience it.  I could be wrong, but wasn’t the short film we saw in the beginning of the semester by Dali?  He was famous for the slicing of the eye.  I just think that he was brilliant and original in everything that he did and worth learning more about.

I see a spider coming down from the ceiling.  I watch it as it comes closer and closer to me.  I start to scream.  I wake up screaming, sweating, jumping out of bed and turn on the lights.

I’m not exactly sure about what dreams were thought of during the Renaissance, however, if they were anything like this Shakespeare play, then I would not find them interesting at all.  I, for all intensive purposes, am a Shakespeare fan, but I have to say that aside from the history plays, this is my least favorite.  I feel like there are too many characters and the plots are interwoven way too much; although, that is my opinion.  I know that a lot of people enjoy this play, but I am not one of them.  Also, the play is fantasy-like and I have never been a fan of stuff like that.  I feel like it is unbelievable and for me that constitutes un-enjoyable.  I feel like that’s how dreams were perceived in the Renaissance…as over-the-top and completely fantastical.  Not to discourage people from reading this play, but unless fantasy is your thing, I would not recommend it.  Also, you need to be able to understand Shakespeare.  I actually feel like Shakespeare isn’t difficult at all and cannot see why people have trouble understanding him…perhaps they are just not giving him the full concentration that he deserves.

I’m with a friend that I haven’t seen in about a year.  I’m close to this friend but for some reason he’s been distant and I don’t understand why.  Him and I are on two islands in the middle of an ocean.  We are so close that if we reach out we can almost touch each other.  ALMOST.  My friend gets the idea that one of us can jump to the other island and though he is the thrill seeker, for some reason I’m the one who is going to jump.  I’m scared and he convinces me that it’ll be alright and that I can do it.  I motivate myself to do it. I jump…and then I wake up.

As we all know, Jekyll & Hyde is the story of a doctor who discovers a different side of himself through the use of drug experimentation.  He is not physically dreaming in the novel, but while under the influence of drugs, he is in a dream-like state.  Ordinarily, I would not think a theorist like Blechner would hold any substantiality in this novel, but under closer examination, I would say that I was wrong.  Basically, Blechner feels that dreams have a purpose and that they produce thoughts that integrate themselves in our minds and “pop up” during waking like as needed.  This can be seen in Jekyll & Hyde through the character of Jekyll.  After he would change back from being Hyde, he would remember things that happened, things that he experienced.  We know this to be true because in his confession, Jekyll states that he liked transforming into Hyde.  Clearly, if he like it, then he would have had to remember things.  Seeing as how his experience as Hyde was a dream-like experience, Blechner’s dream theory would hold up.

I had a dream that the downstairs of our office was a zoo and there was an empty tank with no fish, but there were monkeys in the same area (kinda like a penguin exhibit, but shallower.  There were a bunch of monkey and lemur cages around.  It seemed perfectly normal to me.  After I had lunch downstairs, I got in a big glass elevator to come upstairs and a coworker was in it.  He was bragging that he was the architect responsible for the entire thing to some other lady.  Then the dream ended.

Reading Jane Eyre in conjunction with the Victorian Dream Theories can actually be quite interesting.  A lot of what Jane “dreams” or rather, thinks that she dreams can be connected to the dream theories of that time.  It makes sense, after all, Jane Eyre was written during that era.  One good example would be when Bertha comes into the room while Jane is “sleeping” and tears Jane’s wedding veil.  This can sort of be read through Robert Macnish’s dream theory when he discusses how ghosts can appear in your dreams and tell you about something that you had been missing.  While Jane wasn’t really missing anything, we find out later that she really was.  She was missing the existence of Bertha.  Jane’s description of Bertha is definitely ghostlike and we as the reader believe her because up until then we don’t know that the character of Bertha exists either and therefore really do think that she is a ghost.  Afterwards, of course we realize that Bertha does exist as does Jane; of which the whole situation dealing with Bertha is kind of odd.  But her presence in Jane’s “dream” is also significant because it is this that ultimately leads to Jane’s decision not to marry Rochester.  I think that that is the best example of a Victorian Dream Theory in Jane Eyre.  Aside from that there are ghostlike references throughout the entire novel.

I am not a huge fan of the novel, mainly because of the supernaturalness in it.  I feel like because of that, it doesn’t make the story plausible in my mind and therefore I cannot enjoy it.  I prefer stories that I can imagine myself in (even if they are from a different era), things that are realistic, things without a supernatural element.  Not to say that I don’t think that Jane Eyre is worth reading.  I think that it is definitely something that literature lovers should read once, but it is not something that I would open up again on my owntime.