34
gown and boots, remonstrated with by Mr. Spenlow on appearing
before the clients in that airy attire; now I was hungrily picking
up the crumbs that fell from old Tiffey's daily biscuit, regularly
eaten when St. Paul struck one; now I was hopelessly endeavouring
to get a licence to marry Dora, having nothing but one of Huriah
Heep's gloves to offer in exchange, which the Commons rejected;
and still more or less conscious of my own room, I was always
tossing about like a distressed ship in a sea of bed clothes."
In the conversation to his Aunt David denies that Dora could be "silly"
and "lightheaded" but in his heart of hearts he knows that there is
very much against their mariage. David tries to seek "oblivion" in
sleep after the conversation but because of the anxiety dream he does
not find it. The dream seems to return to the same elements as the
reader found in the conversation, yet the dream goes deeper into the
arguments that pass between David and his aunt, and more honestly too.
Jung said that a dream was like a conversation that took place in the
unconscious soul,"^1 a conversation, here, that forces David to pay
attention to the troubles he may have to face if he does decide to go
ahead with his plans; financial troubles "wanting to sell Dora matches",
worries over his carreer "remonstrated with by Mr. Spenlow", worries
over the way his young and clumsy child-wife will manage their household
"hungrily picking up the crumbs", but of greater importance than anything
else, how to get permission for this ill-matched marriage "hopelessly
endeavouring to get a licence to marry Dora".
The elements of his dream are exactly what we would expect of a young
man deeply in love. To Aunt Betsey David keeps a stiff upper lip but in
his dream he has "the naked and natural thoughts of his soul".
In the dream the dreamer comes to terms with reality and the truth
emerges from what at first glance appears to make little sense. The
noise and the din of the day mix with the dreamer's expectations, fears
and desires.
Dreams contain messages from the world outside rather than the world
32
inside and this is what we see in the next passage containing a dream
in Chapter 35:
"It was difficult to believe that a night so long to me could
be so short to anybody else. This consideration set me thinking
of an imaginary party where people were dancing the hours away,
until that became a dream too, and I heard the music incessantly
playing one tone, and saw Dora dancing one dance, without taking
the least notice of me.