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.

Krantenviewer Noord-Hollands Archief

The Dutch Dickensian | 1985 | | pagina 36