“The war isn’t over, my friend. It’s only sleeping.” (p.131)
At first, it was refreshing to be reading a book set in the modern-day. Seeing mentions of social media and smartphones was a slight surprise after reading older pieces of literature. However, very quickly, I began to forget what time period it was set in. I suppose that some things don’t really change, especially in a place recovering from war and suffering the leadership of an egoist.
The book itself follows Daniel Benchimol, but not always. Sometimes it pivots its perspective through the use of letters and journals, such as to former interrogator Hossi, or to Benchimol’s daughter, Karinguiri. I found every one of these characters to be compelling in themselves. Each one dreams of some kind of freedom or progress, but they go about different ways to achieve it. Ultimately, the revolt at the end of the book is not thanks to any one person. Karinguiri may have started it with her stunts, but Benchimol adds the fuel to the flames with his outburst, and Hossi is the one who delivers the coup de grace.
I do have one thing I want to discuss more about. Why is it The Society of Reluctant Dreamers? Dreams are an interesting part of this book. Everything revolves around the dreams that people have, and dreams take on a supernatural character. Benchimol dreams of Moira before he ever meets her, while Moira herself depicts her dreams using photographs of herself. Hossi has the ability to travel into the dreams of others, and Helio is a scientist who develops a way to record someone’s dreams.
“It’s hard to tell a lie when we’re naked.” (p.169)
It’s interesting that Moira is always naked in her photos. I believe in our dreams we are “naked”; that is, our minds are bared to their fullest. Dreams are truth. We have no control over them and there is always an element of the real in dreams even when they are fantastical. It extends to the metaphorical sense of dreams as ambitions too. So when Hossi enters the dreams of everyone and stomps the dream-President into the ground, he is revealing the truth to everyone: that the oppressors are weak and the oppressed are strong.
All they have to do is wake up.
But I would like to ask my fellow classmates: why do you think it’s The Society of Reluctant Dreamers?
“A friend once told me she thought dreaming was the same as living, but without the great lie that life is.” (p.43)
“Why is it The Society of Reluctant Dreamers?”
I like the question. Of course, dreams are always to some extent beyond our control: we can’t help but dream (alternatively, we can’t force ourselves to dream), and we can’t much control our dreams. In that sense, we are always reluctant dreamers… we dream whether or not we want to. On the other hand, there’s also something pleasurable (or can be) about letting go like this, about allowing ourselves to dream.
Hi Andrew! Great blog post. To answer your question, I think they are “reluctant” as they cannot control what or who they dream of. On top of that, because they have this new Dream Lab technology that is may be analyzed by authorities or other people in general, it may feel like this personal experience is being stripped away from them. Hence, why they may be hesitant to dream, especially when people cannot control what happens in these dreams. Having them on display is very nerve wrecking and scary because others may assume that dreams are a direct reflection of the person who is having them (which may not always be favourable).
Hi Andrew! Thank you for your post. Indeed, the dreams are led by different characters and tend to go different ways. I think this is a literary technique the author uses in an attempt to show us the various facets of magical realism. The characters have freedom as one of the overarching themes, but try to gain it differently. To answer your question, I think the dreams are reluctant because if the society is free, they do not have to dream or utilize magical realism, while it is unfortunately unfree.