FREUD’S CONTENT OF DREAMS AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE MINDS OF THE CHARACTERS: A PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDY OF KAREN THOMPSON WALKER’S THE DREAMERS

Abstract

This study investigates the state of crisis leading towards trauma and fear in the backdrop of a pandemic that spreads in the form of sleeping sickness in Santa Lora depicted in The Dreamers by Karen Thomson Walker. As the sick sleep prevails, the characters are trapped in their dreams in the narrative. This trope of dreams is to be examined through the Freudian lens of contents of dreams i.e., manifest content and latent content to trace out the thinking patterns and abilities of the affected characters. The dreams lead them to entirely different situations when they wake up from the sleeping sickness that has prevailed in the whole town. The nexus of crisis, trauma, and fear is further navigated through a transformative phase that brings growth after the pandemic. There is a positive mindset by the end of the narrative of The Dreamers which helps everyone heal.