Short Stories - 1. I Sell My Dreams

The author believed in the prophetic ability of Frau Frieda, for instance, it was because of her dream he left Vienna and decided not to return again and when they met accidentally on the ship invited her to have coffee at their table, and encouraged her to talk about her dreams in order to astound the poet Pablo Neruda.

Frau Frieda’s dreams were a stratagem for surviving because her conversations made it clear that, dream by dream, she had taken over the entire fortune of her ineffable patrons in Vienna. That did not surprise the author, however, because the author had always thought her dreams were no more than a stratagem for surviving.

The author compares Neruda to a Renaissance pope because he moved through the crowd like an invalid elephant, with a child’s curiosity in the inner workings of each thing he saw, for the world appeared to him as an immense wind-up toy with which life invented itself. The author had never known anyone closer to the idea one has

of a Renaissance pope other than Neruda.

In spite of all the rationality that human beings are capable of, most of us are suggestible and yield to archaic superstitions because superstitions are a part of human life since in every tradition there are some superstitions, for instance, the author of the story is also yield to superstition since he obeyed the dreams of the lady and left Vienna forever and the same situation arises in everyone’s life.

Dreams and clairvoyance are as much an element of the poetic vision as religious superstition because dreams are the root of a good poem and most poems based on dreams and clairvoyance enriches the readers with the creativity of the poet and dreams and clairvoyance are also part of religious superstitions too because in many fortune-telling priests implies their superstition to the people by making them belive that they dreamt about it.

The image of the lady in the story will have different effects on the readers but the author is successful in creating the image of the lady like a traditional fortune teller who wore golden ring shaped like a serpent and with emerald eyes. The narration is effective in order to gain the acceptance of the readers with a horror style of narration even though it is not a horror story.

The craft of a master story-teller lies in the ability to interweave imagination and reality because story telling becomes effective when it interweaves imagination in the readers and take the listeners to a virtual world. This story too illustrates this because the craft of the author in narrating the story is revealed through his masterpiece work which takes the readers to the virtual world created by the story which makes the listeners more interested.

The last part of the story highlights the talk between the author and the Portuguese ambassador but it contains a contradiction even though the author knew what did the lady actually does he again put forward the question before of the Portuguese ambassador for his answer and the ambassador replied that she did nothing but she dreamed was the answer which the author actually knows.

Throughout the story the author utilizes all methods to create irony in the story even though the characters appear to be realistic the ironical element is hidden inside the story in the form of superstition and the appearance of lady implies an irony and in the last part of the story which highlights the talk between the author and the Portuguese ambassador is also ironical too because even though the author knew what the lady does he asks the ambassador the same question which is really ironical.

DREAM

Dream on - to tell somebody that an idea is not practical or not likely to happen

Dream something away – to waste time by thinking what may happen

Dream of doing something –to have fantasy of doing something

Dream something up - imagine or invent something

Look like a dream –better than one could have hoped

SELL

Sell by date – a date marked on product indicating the recommended

By which it should be sold

Selling point – a feature of a productfor sale that makes it attractive

Sell out – an event for which all tickets are sold

Selling price – price at which a product is sold

Seller's market –market at which product is sold

• I never saw her again or even wondered about her until I heard about the snake ring on the woman who died in the Havana Riviera disaster.

• That did not surprise me, however, because I had always thought her dreams were no more than a stratagem for surviving.

• Although she did not say so, her conversation made it clear that dream by dream, she had taken over the entire fortune of her ineffable patrons in Vienna.

• Three tables away sat an intrepid woman in an old-fashioned felt hat and a purple scarf, eating without haste and staring at him.

• I stayed in Vienna for more than a month, sharing the straitened circumstances of the other students while I waited for money that never arrived

The author recognise the lady who was extricated from the car encrusted in the wall of Havana Riviera Hotel after the storm because of the gold ring she wore which shaped like a serpent and her emerald eye helped the author to identify the similarities with the lady which he knew from Vienna who used to wear the same type of ring and who had emerald eyes.

The author left Vienna and decided never to return again because the lady who used to dream told him to leave Vienna and not to return there for next five years the author thus decided not to return to Vienna again.

Paulo Neruda came to knew that somebody behind him was looking at him when he was eating he noticed a lady three chair away from him was staring at him and reported to the author that somebody behind was looking at him and when the author noticed it he found a lady staring at him and identified her it was Frau Frieda, with the snake ring on her index finger.

Pablo Neruda countered Frau Frieda’s claims to clairvoyance by telling her that according to him ‘Only poetry is clairvoyant,’. When she interacted with them at their table Pablo Neruda paid no attention to her and he had announced that he did not believe in prophetic dreams.