The Interpretation of DreamsSigmund FreudPresented by Julie Nguyen, Jaquelyn Guerrero, and Yulissa Aguilar

What is Dreaming in Psychoanalysis?

The mind has “wishes or desires that lie outside awareness” but it manifests in our unconscious, especially when we sleep. Those wishes are usually repressed or censored because they are “unfit for expression” in the view of society (Freud 398) .

ClaimIn order to “solve the problem of (her) dreams” (400), she had to find a way to accurately express her dream thoughts. When Edna spent time with Robert, it was much easier to express her dream than it was to Leonce.

Explanation of the Claim❥ She had a feeling that she could not describe.❥ Concluded that she could not portray those feelings correctly with Leonce.❥Feelings were easily portrayed with Robert.

Relationship A: Edna and LeonceThe tears came so fast to Mrs. Pontellier’s eyes that the damp sleeves of her peignoir (gown) no longer served to dry them. … She could not have told why she was crying. Such experience as the foregoing were not uncommon in her married life. An indescribable oppression, which seem to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness…” (30-31)

Relationship A: Explanation❥Although she is able to describe her relationship with Leonce,it is not in a positive tone.

❥The relationship, to her, is by “pure accident”.

❥However, She could not describe what that moment felt like. The text has described it as an “indescribable oppression”.

Relationship B: Edna and Robert“Why? Because his hair is brown and grows away from his temples; because he opens and shuts his eyes, and his nose is a little out of drawing; because he has two lips, and a square chin, and a little finger which he can’t straighten from having played baseball too energetically in his youth. Because—” “Because you do, in short,” laughed Mademoiselle [Reiz] (406).

Relationship B: Explanation❥ Compared to Edna’s feelings for Leonce, she has shown copious amounts of love for Robert.❥ She  seem to have no idea of how to explain why he loved him.❥ Perhaps, she did like Robert, or she might have liked people that is similar to the characteristics Robert held.

Discussion Question #1 ❥”Every attempt that has hitherto been made to solve the problem of dreams has dealt directly with their manifest content as it is presented in our memory” (400). Think about a vivid dream that you can recall, did you think it was trying to tell you something? Why or why not?

Discussion Questions #2❥ Based on your dream thoughts and dream content do you believe daydreaming is considered actual dreaming, or is it a term made up by society? Do you think Edna was in a state of a daydreaming when it came to Robert?

Discussion Question #3What do you think is Edna’s dream thought? What was her innermost desire?

Conclusion“Dream-thoughts are immediately comprehensible, as soon as we have learnt them” (Freud 400).Edna understood why it was easier to express her feelings with Robert than with Leonce, despite the fact that Leonce was her husband and the father of their children. Robert was Edna’s innermost desire of what her ideal relationship was.