Brush Salesman #3
"In the beginning of this dream I was in the back of a large open truck with
a bunch of other boys. It seems that we were going back to school. I cannot
remember what we were talking about. We stopped at the edge of a small town
and everyone was getting out to go swimming. I threw down the helmet to my
skin-diving wet suit and said 'five dollars.' Immediately a boy took it and
gave me the $5 (which was for renting it). The place we swam at was much like
a place we used to go to in Colorado when I was in summer camp. It was a gorge
full of deep pools and a lot of fast moving water. The boy I rented the helmet
to was in the place I wanted to go, but it was so small only I could fit.
Finally he moved out and I got in. I had my mask on so I was doing some
diving. I remember thinking I could really earn a lot if I rented out my
whole suit. The dream becomes hazy now, but I do remember something about a
red and white '57 Ford going up the road. It had a N.Y. plate on it."
[Go back to the dream report]
[Jump ahead to the coding card for this dream]
The two characters involved in the dream are a bunch of boys and the boy who
rented his helmet. Since there is a good possibility that the boys may have
been familiar to the dreamer although they were not so identified, a U coding
is relevant. Both characters were coded as adults because this is our
convention when no other information is given. Describing them as boys is not
a sufficient basis to classify them as teenagers or as children.
No social interactions were coded. A question might be raised as to whether
there was a friendly act on the part of the dreamer in renting out his
helmet, but this was not coded. The dreamer says that he threw the helmet
down and then announced the price. His actions were impersonal in nature and
intended more to benefit himself rather than some individual that he had
selected to be the recipient of his friendliness.
The activities will be described in the same sequence in which they appeared
within the dream. The L code for the dreamer and the bunch of boys was given
for riding in the back of the truck. Although the dreamer does not say
specifically that the truck was moving, it becomes evident that it was when
he does refer to it stopping. The V code was included for the talking in
which the dreamer and the boys engaged, since the wording of the report
strongly suggests that some talking was going on while they were in the
truck. Getting out of the truck was coded as an M for the dreamer and the
boys. The dreamer then engages in a P when he throws down his helmet and a V
when he mentions the five dollars. The boy who took the helmet was given a P
code for this action. He receives another P code when he gives the dreamer
the five dollars. This is coded as a physical interaction because both
characters become a part of the physical activity. The boy next receives an M
code for moving out of the place where the dreamer wanted to be and the
dreamer receives an M code for getting into this place. An M code is also
credited to the dreamer for his diving activities. The dreamer receives a C
for thinking about how he could earn a lot of money. The latter is a rather
marginal case as C codes are generally reserved for more sustained cognitive
activity than that described in this report. However, it seems that the
dreamer was calculating how much he could get for the whole suit at the rate
of five dollars for just the helmet, and this would require some degree of
concentration.
The coding problems posed by settings revolve first about the issue of how
many settings are present. It is clear that there is one outdoor setting
present where the various swimming activities take place, but it is less
clear whether a separate setting code should be given for the initial part of
the dream involving the open truck. Since the truck did seem to represent a
different locale and the dreamer was apparently there long enough to become
engaged in some unremembered conversation with the other boys, it was decided
that two outdoor settings should be coded. The truck setting was coded as U
because the dreamer does not give any indication that the area they were
passing through was in any way familiar. The swimming setting was coded as Q
because apparently it was very similar and yet also dissimilar to a familiar
place, so that its degree of familiarity to the dreamer remains questionable.
Since so many objects are mentioned in this dream, they will be discussed in
the same order in which they appeared in the dream report. The TR code was
given for truck, but no separate code was given for mention of the back of
the truck since this was not considered to represent a clearly demarcated
part of the vehicle. No code was given for the school reference since the
word school here was used in a generic sense and not to denote a specific
building. The RG was given for town, but the edge of town is not a scorable
region item since it does not represent a distinguishable part of a larger
unit. The wet suit helmet was coded CL, although a strong argument might be
offered in favor of considering this as a recreational item which would then
be coded as IR. IR is used more for sporting goods items such as an aqualung,
football, or tennis racquet. The MO code was given for the reference to five
dollars. Both Colorado and summer camp were coded as RG and are examples of
mentioned objects rather than objects that tangibly appear within the dream.
Two NA codes were given for the gorge and the pools, but no NA code was given
for the mention of water. We do code water as an NA object if it is mentioned
in isolation, but do not code it if a body of water is also mentioned, e.g.,
a reference to the water in the ocean. This convention is followed because
the ocean consists of water and does not exist independent of it, and to code
both mention of the ocean and the water as well leads to double coding of the
same item. We do, however, code separate and relatively independent parts of
a larger unit, as for example, in this dream when the helmet and the whole
wet suit are separately coded. The word "place" was not coded because it is
too vague and does not seem to refer to any clearly bounded area that would
qualify for an RG code. The diving mask was coded as IR because it seemed to
be closer to the sporting goods category than it did to the clothing one. A
clothing code was given for the mention of the whole wet suit, however. The
two TR codes were given for the '57 Ford and for the N. Y. plate, and the ST
code was for the road.
There were no achievement outcomes, misfortunes, or good fortunes coded for
this dream. Although the dreamer does acquire five dollars in the dream, this
is accomplished through his own efforts and therefore cannot be coded as a
good fortune. On the other hand, these efforts cannot be treated as a Success
because the dreamer does not have to expend any effort pursuing some stated
goal.
In coding for modifiers, an S+ code was given for the large truck and an S-
for the small town. There may be a question regarding whether density should
be coded for mention of the bunch of boys in the truck. As indicated earlier,
a D+ code is generally reserved for situations where there is an implication
of pressure or fullness. If the dreamer had said that the boys were bunched
up in the truck, a D+ code would have been appropriate. This same rationale
for not coding density also applies for the description of the gorge as full
of pools. An S+ code was indicated for the pools being deep, since a
description of any one of the three dimensions is sufficient for a size code.
The fast moving water was coded V+, and the place that was so small was given
an S- for being small and I+ for the intensifying term "so." The colors on
the '57 Ford were handled by assigning a C+ code for the red and a C- code
for the white color. The modifier "really" was not coded as I+ because it
seems to carry the meaning of realistically rather than any intensity
connotation.
One negative code was credited for "I cannot remember what we were talking
about."
[Go back to the dream report]
[Go back to the discussion of this dream's coding]
Char. |
Aggression |
Friendliness |
Sexuality |
Sett. |
Modif. |
2MUA 1MUA |
|
|
|
OU OQ
|
|
Obj. |
TR RG CL MO RG RG NA NA IR CL TR ST TR |
Activities |
D + 2MUA | L | |
D + 2MUA | V | |
D + 2MUA | M | |
|
D | P | |
D | V | |
1MUA | P | |
1MUA | P> | D |
1MUA | M | |
D | M | |
|
|
Temp. |
|
Neg. |
1 |
Success |
Failure |
Misfortune |
Good Fort. |
Emotions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The brush salesman:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10
|