When I started reading the intro of Skunk Dreams, I really did not quite understand what this reading would be about; the introduction didn’t give much indication on the topic of the essay. After getting going on it, I started to bring together all the separate parts of the essay and see the connections between them. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, both because of the Louise Erdrich’s writing style and because of the topics discussed.
Anyway, moving on, the author’s writing style is another major factor why I enjoyed reading this article so much. Her use of creative and vivid descriptions to show the reader how she experienced something or how she thought or felt, instead of just telling them what happened, made it much easier to get an idea of what she was experiencing. Her description of skunk spray especially stood out to me. She goes into great detail, saying that it is not a “…mere smell. It is more on the order of a reality-enhancing experience.” and then giving further description of what the “reality-enhancing experience” is like. She also did an excellent job of tying the very different, disparate stories and ideas that make up this essay together into an captivating and fun read.
While reading this essay, I couldn’t help but think of the film The Matrix. Many of ideas that Erdrich mentions throughout this essay that involve dreams and reality are similar to the ideas of dreams and reality in the Matrix. One quote that she used from David H. Lund particularly stood out to me: “It is, of course, just an image body, but it serves as a perfectly good body for the dream experience. I regard it as mine, I act on the dream environment by means of it, and it constitutes the center of the perceptual world of my dream.” Essentially the same situation is occurring in the Matrix.
A question I had after reading this and thinking through it a bit was: If in a dream we accept our dream body as real and as our own, then how do we know that we aren’t also part of a dream? We accept our body as real and our own, just like we do with our dream body, so how do we know that this isn’t a dream. Kind of a weird idea, and I don’t believe that to be the case, but it’s an interesting thought.
I felt the same way as you when I started reading the essay. I didn't really know what I was reading about. I also agree that she did her best to bring together random topics.
ReplyDeleteI also thought some of her descriptions were interesting and insightful.
Your thoughts on whether or not our dreams are part of a dream is one of those ideas that makes one's brain spin. It was interesting to think about; what if our dream is in a dream in a dream and so on? It's crazy! This essay didn't inspire me with such philosophical thoughts.