Freud

“The material offered to the dream-work consists of thoughts- a few of which may be objectionable and unacceptable, but which are correctly constructed and expressed. The dream-work puts these thoughts into another form, and it is a strange and incomprehensible fact that in making this translation (this rendering, as it were, into another script or language) these methods of merging or combining are brought into use. After all, a translation normally endeavors to preserve the distinctions made in the text and particularly to keep things that are similar separate. The dream-work, quite the contrary, tries to condense two different thoughts by seeking out (like a joke) an ambiguous word in which the two thoughts may come together” (pg 26).

Freud, in general, was more interested in the sub-conscious and unconscious state of mind. He attempted to search for the true meaning that lies behind an individual’s deepest thoughts and beliefs. Dreams occur in our unconscious state of mind, hence there must be a deeper interpretation to them. An individual can interpret a dream in numerous ways and yet all of them can be “correctly constructed and expressed”. An individual is granted the right to interpret a dream according to their wishes and beliefs. They can also relate their dreams to other unrelated aspects.

In reading literature, although in a conscious state of mind, we are granted the same rights. We, as readers, can interpret most literary works according to our beliefs and ideologies. We are also granted the privilege to combine and condense “two different thoughts”. This task has been accomplished through out the course of our class. For example, we have related Marx’s readings and “Sara Cole” to feminist writers. At first glance, these literary works did not illustrate similarity but once dwelled into they demonstrated common thoughts and ideas. Additionally, we used ambiguous terms, such as feminism and Marxism, to draw correlations between them.