Stephen King Symbolic Language Of Dreams Analysis

438 Words1 Page

Stephen King’s perception in “The Symbolic Language of Dreams” gave me a new, profound insight on dreams. On the other hand, his interpretations also made me realize how little is known about them and their significance to our lives. King’s idea that our dreams give us obscure, hidden solutions to our every-day problems made me think instantly of Rosalind Cartwright’s theory. Cartwright believed that dreams display our minds’ problem-solving technique that we are not adapted to understanding as awake human beings due to our complex intelligence of reality. She thought that under an increased level of stress, one’s dreams would become more memorable in the purpose of giving him or her a relevant insight to their problems. Stephen King described a stressful time in his life as “pulling a little string out of a hole and all at once it's broken and you don't get whatever prize there was on the end of it.” Just as the pressure to get the ending of his book done had reached a high point, King had a visually disturbing, yet memorable dream in which he went on to use as the ending of his book. Problem solved! My ideas resemble a mixture of Rosalind Cartwright and Sigmund Freud’s theories on dreams. Freud believed that the purpose of our dreams is to attain a …show more content…

But to me, dreams are a way of guidance to what is next after this life. Ultimately, we also may never know the true meaning behind dreams. However, I believe it is important that every human being has their own logical interpretations of dreams in order to understand themselves in a deeper and more enhanced way. Stephen King’s belief that our conscious goes deeper than we have been thought to think hints that our personalities, emotions, desires and overall-selves can be understood to a greater degree with the help of dreams. Not only do I agree with King, but I also believe that it is a great achievement to be able to understand ourselves in ways other people

Show More
Related

  • Dreams In Robert Burns's 'To A Mouse'

    105 Words  | 1 Pages

    In “To a Mouse”, Robert Burns views dreams as if they are fragile things that are broken easily.

    Read More

  • Psychoanalytic Theory Of Dreams

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the most credited theories in dream analysis, Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory of Dreams, credits dreams to humans’ deepest subconscious desires and primitive instincts due to the repression of the superegos. A major deduction that Freud used in the formulation of his theory is the concept that there are three parts to the human psyche: the superego, ID, and ego. (Freud) According to Freudian theories, each part of the psyche is dependent on one another, similar to the checks and balances system in the American government. The superego serves as a filter and limits the ID which presents t...

    Read More

  • Dreams, Desires and Destruction: An Analysis of American Success

    1416 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, dreams are a gateway to the unconscious mind and an individual’s deepest desires (scientificamerican.com 1). The American Dream is about gaining a large success through hard work. Deep down every individual wants to strive to achieve the best at what they acquire. However, not everyone will attain their life long goals. This is evident in The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and There Will Be Blood written by Paul Thomas Anderson. Between these two texts the destruction of hopes and dreams can derive from smaller issues such as the lack of money, the anger and jealousy of others and the disappointment of impossibly high goals.

    Read More

  • Martin Luther King Moral Code Analysis

    1419 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the speech “I Have a Dream,” presented in the Lincoln Memorial, August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr talks about his American Dream. This speech is recognized as one of the best speeches ever given at the Lincoln Memorial. As King gives his speech the reader would notice how the second half of the speech is what the world would see as the American dream. The first half consists of the actual reality, nightmare, of the world the constant state that seems never to change. Throughout the speech a person can hear one of the primary themes, dream, repeated constantly eleven times to be exact. Although King acknowledges the metaphor of reality, he explores the archetypical metaphor of a dream.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mocking Bird Critical Lens

    1094 Words  | 3 Pages

    A dream is defined as contemplating the possibility of doing something or an idea for something for the future. Dreams are aspirations, hopes, and expectations for the future. Dreams do not have a level of value, they are immeasurable. Simple dreams can be just as valuable as gigantic ones. They may be different in society as well. Who's to say that one person's dream is more valuable than another person's? We get our notions of our dreams through many different ways like family friends, media, and many more. One way we encounter new dreams happens to be what we read in literature. In Walters family in ‘A Raisin in the Sun,’ the young Dill in ‘To Kill A Mockingbird,’ the black boy who was killed because of his race in ‘The Death of Emmett Till,’ and the examples of ‘the creed’ displayed in ‘American Denial,’ a reader is shown that dreams are all equal despite the fact that individuals think theirs have more value than others.

    Read More

  • Stephen King Using Gothic Literature

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    King owes his success to his ability to take what he says are “real fears” (The Stephen King Story, 47) and turn them into a horror story. When he says “real fears” they are things we have all thought of such as a monster under the bed or even a child kidnapping and he is making them a reality in his story. King looks at “horror fiction...as a metaphor” (46) for everything that goes wrong in our lives. His mind and writing seems to dwell in the depths of the American people’s fears and nightmares and this is what causes his writing to reach so many people and cause the terror he writes about to be instilled in his reader.

    Read More

  • Dream Interpretation and Dream Therapy

    2060 Words  | 5 Pages

    There are many facts that are unknown about dreams and their meanings. For centuries, philosophers and scientists have tried to understand the meaning of dreams. They have all been fascinated by the fact that the content of dreams may have meanings relating to one's life. Are dreams just thoughts in people's minds, or are dreams in fact representations of different areas in people's lives? Dreams represent many different areas of one's life in physical, emotional, and mental ways. Dreams can relay to people facts about their lives that they are not even aware of. There are also many ways that dreams can help cure different physical, emotional, and mental problems in one's life. This paper will discuss dreams and their meanings, and ways of interpreting a dream using such methods as hypnotherapy and psychoanalysis therapy that can help a person in physical, mental, and emotional ways. The first fact that will be discussed is what dreams are and how they work for people in allowing the person to discover more about himself. Dreams can be defined as "a conscious series of images that occur during sleep" (Collier's, vol. 8). Dreams are usually very vivid in color and imagery. They reveal to the dreamer different wishes, concerns, and worries that he or she has. Dreams usually reflect every part of who the dreamer is. The content of the person's dream is usually made up according to how old the dreamer is and how educated the he or she is (Collier's, vol. 8). Dreams are not planned out or thought up. The unconscious part of the mind brings out bits and pieces of information in the dreamer's mind and places them together. According to Encarta, 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 his mind and himself in a quest for self-discovery. Dreams can be used to solve all different types of problems. In Sigmund Freud's book, The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud states: "As regards the dream, all the troubles of waking life are transferred by it to the sleeping state […]" (Freud 113). They relay things about a person that the person may not be able to see.

    Read More

  • Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory of Dreams

    1185 Words  | 3 Pages

    During Freud’s time, society typically viewed dreams as an intervention of a higher being or entity (Freud, 1900, p.4). However, Freud made the claim that dreams are the product of the dreamer and also that it serves two purposes. First, dreams form to keep a person asleep at night by blocking out external stimuli, much in the same way a person consciously does when turning off the light and minimizing noise before going to bed (“Freud’s Approach,” 2000). Next, Freud (1900) viewed humans as having grotesque sexual urges that “are suppressed before they are perceived” (p.37) in order to protect the person and allow him or her to get along in society; however, dreams serve the purpose of releasing these repressed desires as wishes which are disguised in the dream. Because a person cannot readily be aware of the unconscious wish, the dream is divided into two ...

    Read More

  • The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud

    322 Words  | 1 Pages

    Freud is presenting a case study and explains his belief that there is a psychological technique that makes interpreting dreams possible. Freud's work with free association helped him to analyze his patient's dreams and come to the conclusion that many elements lie below the level of the conscious mind. Freud has done extensive research on individuals to find the meaning behind their dreams and the impact it has in regard to their psychological makeup.

    Read More

  • Informative Speech on Dreams

    1498 Words  | 3 Pages

    IV. (Preview Main Points) Although we have experienced countless dreams in our lifetime, do we ever stop to think: how dreams occur? How dreams affect our lives? Do dreams even mean anything? Today in my informative speech about dreams, I hope to enlighten you about dreams forming in our minds, the importance of dreams, and lastly the interpretations of dreams.

    Read More

  • Dreams in A Midsummer Night's Dream

    2238 Words  | 5 Pages

    Oprah Winfrey once said, “The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.” But, what actually is a dream and what do dreams really have to do with one’s everyday life? In essence, a dream is a series of mental images and emotions occurring during slumber. Dreams can also deal with one’s personal aspirations, goals, ambitions, and even one’s emotions, such as love and hardship. However, dreams can also give rise to uneasy and terrible emotions; these dreams are essentially known as nightmares. In today’s society, the concept of dreaming and dreams, in general, has been featured in a variety of different mediums, such as literature, film and even music. While the mediums of film and music are both prime examples of this concept, the medium of literature, on the other hand, contains a much more diverse set of examples pertaining to dreams and dreaming. One key example is William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While the portrayal of dreams, in general, plays a prominent role in Shakespeare’s play, the exploration of many aspects of nature, allows readers to believe that dreams are merely connected to somewhat unconventional occurrences.

    Read More

  • Dreams: The True Form of Therapy

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    A dream is the experience of having images, sounds, or other sensations while sleeping. Many dreams come from various activities from throughout the day but some offer symbolic expressions. There is a connection between the conscious and the unconscious that can fill in the gaps of self-knowledge and provide the information needed. Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung have two theories on dreams. Sigmund Freud’s theory was that dreams are an expression of what one is repressing during the time being awake. Carl Jung believed that dreams provide messages about “lost” or “neglected” parts of ourselves that need to be reintegrated. Why do we dream? Dreams are wish fulfillment. They reveal wishes or emotions that one did not realize they had. Dreams help with problem solving because the dreaming mind makes connections more quickly than the waking mind does. It also helps in processing painful emotions with symbolic associations. The brain often associates emotion with a symbol. The model of dreaming is a process more like therapy. People run through ideas and emotions and place them in a broader psychological context. Dreams can have a very big impact on people’s lives.

    Read More

  • Sleeping and Dreaming

    4847 Words  | 10 Pages

    In 2004–2005, the Penn Humanities Forum will focus on the topic of “Sleep and Dreams.” Proposals are invited from researchers in all humanistic fields concerned with representations of sleep, metaphors used to describe sleep, and sleep as a metaphor in itself. In addition, we solicit applications from those who study dreams, visions, and nightmares in art or in life, and the approaches taken to their interpretation. We also welcome proposals about the effects of dreaming on the dreamer, and the resulting emotions, behaviors, and actions taken or foregone in response to dreams. In this Forum on Sleep and Dreams, we will see how the diversity of academic disciplines can help answer important questions about sleep and dreaming—questions that may touch the basis of human intellect.

    Read More

  • Dreams Their Analysis

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    the works of dream interpretation and his is just one of many insights to the

    Read More

  • Dream Analysis and Theory Essay

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over the two weeks in which we logged our dreams and sleep schedules, I made some very interesting discoveries and self-revelations. Many of these ideas come from related symbols each dream share. Before we can start to dismantle these dreams, their relations to one another and myself, allow me to tell you about each one.

    Read More

More about Stephen King Symbolic Language Of Dreams Analysis

Open Document