A Dream within a Dream
Gemma's eyes are heavy, she is drifting into a deep sleep. Her mind opens to a room and in front of her stands an easel in front of her. The walls are an eggshell white. There are people to her left and right. Everyone has an easel. Confused, she looks around, she is in an art studio. She notices a women in the middle of the room. She is speaking in a calm, collective voice. " Today we will start sketching scenery."Gemma's hands move with the pencil, as if she is the pencil. Every line and every detail is drawn with such exact hand movements. The women stands behind her and Gemma recognizes her face. The women compliments her sketch "Beautiful contrast of the lines being used and the shading is beautiful. You remind me of myself when I was your age."
Gemma stops for a moment to take this in. The women who stands at her back is her mother. How could this be possible? She ponders on the idea of it being a dream because it is not possible for her mother to be here, she is dead.
She continues with her drawing and it begins to resemble a place she had only been once. Her old cottage that had been destroyed by a tornado. The last time she had visited the cottage was when she was four. How could she remember that far back? This all seemed so surreal yet so plausible at the same time. Her mother had been around the room and has returned back to Gemma. Her mother stops for a moment and then says "That looks like my old family cottage. But it was ruined, how would you know what it looks like?" Just as soon as she begins to speak an alarm goes off.
Her heavy eyes open slowly and she becomes familiar with her surroundings. She is once again in her bedroom alone with a sketch of her childhood cottage sitting beside her bed.
Reflection:
This story reflects both sides of dreams. The way it shows what Gemma aspires to be when she is older and what her future will be like. Her dream is to be like her mother an art professor. But it is also set within a dream within which she sleeps to see. It shows signs of being a dream because her mother could not really be there in real life. The story shows the difference between of being a goal and a dream you have when you sleep, this is helpful to show my theme because they are two different ways of seeing dreams. But there could also be nightmares. Throughout my tapestry nightmares will be looked at as a sub-category for dreams.
