Tony's Dreams in The Sopranos
Intro
Television has always tried to provide a true representation of the human condition. This is evident in the emergence of reality shows, shows based on true stories, and very realistic fiction. The sopranos is one of the few fictional shows that faithfully simulate the situations it tries to recreate. The sopranos is a show on HBO about Tony Soprano and his life in the mob. The show, created by David chase, shows immense Freudian influence in many scenes involving psychotherapy, Freudian theories, symbolism and dreams. David chase himself studied psychology in collage and admits it’s influence on the show. This report will deal with a series of dreams Tony soprano experiences in one episode of the show (season 2, “funhouse”).
Background
Tony soprano is the main character of the show. He is the boss of the soprano crime family and his life is divided into two sections. His family life and his criminal life. Even though they are mixed, both provide a separate view of Tony soprano as a man. At home, he lives with wife Carmela, son Anthony, and daughter meadow. His family, while at times dysfunctional, manages to stick together. He constantly cheats on his wife and doesn’t spend much time with his children. Meadow leaves the family to go to collage and Anthony Jr. struggles to make it through out high school. Even thought Tony shows consistent disappointment of Anthony Jr., it doesn’t come close to the emotions he has toward his mother. She mistreated Tony as a child and provided nothing but bad memories. His experience with his mother might have let him to posses a subconscious hatred for females, which he displays by only viewing them as sex objects. Tony didn’t have a bad relationship with his father growing up, but that’s because he always blamed his mother. His uncle Jr., conspired with Tony’s mom to kill him after he was out of jail. This, and other events, let to they’re lack of communication.
Tony’s crime family consist of his cousin, Christopher, under bosses like Big Puss, Pauly walnuts, Silvio Dante and other business associates. This group is loyal, but never hesitate to kill any one for they’re own benefit. They treat each other with the illusion of respect and honor, which (the lack of) is the cause for many of the conflicts present in the show. Involve in the middle of all of this is his psychothe...
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...f by the ducks right?”. Verbal word play initiates and it eventually leads to sex.
This dream shows us that the music indeed is a sexual cue. This is true because when the sexual acts start, the music gets louder and louder. Tony shows that he is able to control a lucid dream to a certain extent. The fact that he is aware of the dream shows that he is more in touch with his sub conscious then previously thought. Again, Tony is discussing Big Puss. Tony seems to realize that Big Puss is the enemy he has being hearing about.
Sixth Dream
This dreams concludes the series of dreams that define this episode. In this dream Tony is near a fish stand and talks to a fish. The fish is the same type of fish that he eats at the Indian restaurant. The fish that talks, is talking with Big Puss’ voice. He confesses, that he has being ratting out the mafia to the FBI. Tony questions him and gets angry.
This scene displays obvious influence by the godfather. The term “sleep with the fishes” is used here by a dead fish. This forshawdoes the death of Big Puss and brings the story full circle.It is also ironic that the fish that got tony sick, gave tony the answer to solve his problem.
He takes a necklace for his Gina, who is now grown into a beautiful young women and one thousand dollars’ cash for his mother. His sister is very excited to see him, but his mother not so much. His mother knows how he is making his money and is disgusted. She refuses the money he tries to give her and throws him out. This part of the movie shows a small glimpse into Tony’s past. A conversation between him and his sister, reveals that he was in the army with the communists and that is father abandoned them. It shows his deep love and protection for his sister as well as hers for him. He is able to sneak the money to her. Manny makes small comment about how beautiful Tony’s sister has become and Tony’s rage surfaces, instructed Manny to keep his mouth shut and to stay away from his
“Wes was so confused. He loved and respected his brother. Tony was the closest thing Wes had to a role model. But the more he tried to be like his brother, the more Tony pushed back.” (72) Wes then got his girlfriend pregnant 4 times and dropped out of school to help out with her. With multiple arrests for shooting someone and drug dealing. Tony his "so called role model" helped Wes rob a jewelry store and they were convicted for murdering Sergeant Prothero along the way. Tony's motives were right but he never really got across to Wes with leading him in the right direction. Tony tried to push Wes away from the drug game but Wes was to drawn to it.
Maria had no authority over her restless family. The source of the conflict between Antonio and Maria originates from her oldest sons taking to going where they please and not caring about their parent’s wishes. The burden of pleasing their parents passes from the eldest sons to the youngest one. With the sole duty of pleasing his parents, Tony internally rebels against their wishes instead seeking to set to rest his churning mind by seeking his own beliefs. His brothers console themselves about abandoning their family by saying that “Tony will be her priest” (Anaya 36) and not knowing that the “dreams of their father and mother [haunt] them” (Anaya 36) also haunted Antonio. Having the responsibilities of his brothers and his family shape the way he grows and thinks. He isn’t just thinking about himself he also has the problems of redeeming his family on his head. Through the story and through Ultima Tony realizes that he is not bound by obligations and can instead shape his own
insight and very wise advice from his elders. The story shadows Tony as he seeks
Tony also stands up against a mob for Florence; everyone wants to punish Florence for "not believing in God" (214) and Tony pushes the crowd away and refuses to give Florence the penance that Florence does not deserve. Although Tony knows that he will be given the "Indian torture" (214), he still speaks up for his friend. Anaya often presents Tony as a dependent character, never wanting to "be away from the protection of [his] mother" (51); in fact, he's so close to his mother that it seems that he's going through Oedipus's Complex. Anaya actually does this to increase the impact of Tony's bravery. One might expect Tony to stay in his undercover bushes when Tenorio is standing so close; however, when Tony hears that Tenorio knows the way to kill Ultima, the thought to warn Ultima supercedes his fear and encourages his legs to pick up and run home (255).
Tony would ask him so many questions why didn’t he believe and florence would tell him “I don’t know...My mother died when I was three, my old man drank himself to death, and...And my sisters are whores working at Rosie’s place-”(Anaya 195). Tony’s friends didn’t want Florence to be pardoned for his sins, but either way Tony pardoned him and that caused Tony’s friends to beat him up. This caused Antonio to question god and go to confessional to be pardon for his sins but he had no answers. After this Florence’s death came about, he drowned in the river while he was swimming and Tony was there to see him already dead. Tony would ask himself, why didn’t Florence confess, he would have been pardoned for all his sins. Antonio would question god because he didn’t understand why there was so much evil in the
A fisherman sits in his boat on the open sea, alone save for the fish below the water’s surface. The calmness of the ocean is disrupted by something underneath, something big. Fear seeps through the fisherman’s heart as he sees the shiny gray dorsal fin pierce the sun-glinted surface of the ocean. The creature stops its ritual and pulls its head out of the water, revealing the face of a great white: scars from countless battles in the ocean’s depths, a mouth full of lethal daggers, and dark, savage eyes.
The real definition of diversity includes different elements of the identity and culture of each person. Diversity involves cultural differences, such as origins, religious or political affiliation, race, and gender, and other more profound differences, such as experiences and personality. As Banks argues in her research, the real definition involves several elements of our identity (149). Therefore, the way in which we define and conceptualize diversity affects the way in which we interact with people of others culture, race, and affiliations.
Whilst discussing the basics of moral philosophy, every philosopher will undoubtedly come across the works of Immanuel Kant and David Hume. As they progress into the thoughts of these two famous philosophers they will notice the stark contrast between the pair. Quite simply put, Kant’s works emphasizes that reason is the main source of human being’s morality, while Hume’s work depicts human desire as the driving source of morality. Obviously these two points of view are very different, but it is difficult to say which of these philosophers are more correct than the other.
In Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya defends the assertion, “for in much wisdom there is much grief, and increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow,” from Ecclesiastes. Tony endures many trials throughout the novel, therefore increasing his knowledge of life but also increasing his grief and sorrow. After witnessing Lupito’s death, Tony realizes that people are not always what they appear to be. Tony also begins to question his religion because of trials in the novel, some of which include Lucas’ cure and the sighting of the golden carp. In his trek during the blizzard, Tony learns of his brother’s sinful doings and he witnesses the death of a good man. Tony gains much knowledge in these scenes, but, unfortunately, with this knowledge comes grief.
The first step in Tony?s spiritual journey is when he questions his family?s long-standing belief in the Catholic religion and his own destiny to follow their dreams of him becoming a priest. Tony doubts his abilities as a priest, even though he is not one, because his mother dreams for him to become a priest. Subsequently, he believes that he should have been able to save Lupito?s soul from wandering the river, because he will one day be required to. Whereas, ?A priest could have saved Lupito.'; (23), Tony feels guilty that he wasn?t able to fulfill his duty even though it wasn?t his. This shows that the destiny at first laid out by Catholicism may not be the one that is best suited to Tony. By not saving Lupito or his soul, the town Tony lives in is no longer pure in his eyes. The river is the lifeline of the town and once it is stained then the town will also be tainted with the murder of Lupito. Tony asks, ?How would I ever wash away the stain of blood from the sweet waters of my river!'; (23), and in doing so also questions why God puts such obstac...
A fish is a creature that preceded the creation of man on this planet. Therefore, Bishop supplies the reader with a subject that is essentially constant and eternal, like life itself. In further examination of this idea the narrator is, in relation to the fish, very young, which helps introduce the theme of deceptive appearances in conjunction with age by building off the notion that youth is ignorant and quick to judge. Bishop's initial description of the fish is meant to further develop this theme by presenting the reader with a fish that is "battered," "venerable," and "homely." Bishop compares the fish to "ancient wallpaper.
Tony and Elizabeth Jordan thought they had it all – a beautiful daughter, great jobs, the best cars, and their dream house, but looks can be deceiving. Behind closed doors their marriage is falling apart, and they are constantly fighting, pushing away from each other and hurting their daughter emotionally and mentally in the process to the point where she says to her friend ¨I wish I lived at your house, my parents are always fighting.¨ Tony and Elizabeth are typical churchgoers who have become self-righteous and, in Tony case, even hostile towards the God who created him for his glory. Elizabeth is a real estate broker, and Tony is a salesman who is always traveling. While Tony relaxes in his professional success and flirts with temptation,
It is the Godfather that demands the family stick with family and never side with any one out side of the family no matter the situation. Vito the Godfather would remind them family is family and no one will miss treat or use any member of the family. He proves this point when his godson comes to him about a problem with a director name Jack Woltz. Because Jonny Fontane is the godson the Godfather Corleone will send his step son who is consigliere to the family to California to advise the director to hand the part over to Fontane.
...nizes the fish because, just like the fish, people fight daily battles to survive in life. This humanization of the fish enables the speaker to relate and respect him, and therefore, ultimately leads to his release.