This image is, I believe, a good representation of our last class discussion on dreams. The multiple boxes within boxes not only help us to visualize dreams such as Abbie Bandstra's where dreams are layered within other dreams, but they also make us question the definition of what we consider similar vs. dissimilar. My own dreams, as I mentioned, seem to take on one of two forms, the realistic and the unrealistic. Those dreams which are in my mind similar to reality: dreams about work, class, and day-to-day interactions, are easily confused with waking reality. When looking at the nesting boxes, I would say that such dreams are represented by boxes of a similar size and color. This is an easy enough concept to grasp. What was more interesting for me to contemplate was the problem of dreams that are dissimilar from reality. The dream in which I was being chased across a lava field by a pterodactyl without being burned, was father from waking reality than my dream about listening to a class lecture. However, if we choose to follow the analogy of the nesting boxes above, we would conclude that, although a dissimilar dream is perhaps of a vastly different size and color than the box that represents waking reality, they are both created of the same materials and serve a similar function.
As it is nearly impossible to determine a widely accepted purpose for human waking existence, a more realistic task would be to determine the function of the imaginary and dream worlds. In my experience with mythology as well as with our reading of a Midsummer Night's Dream, it seems that the dreamworld can easily be interpreted as both framework and foil to reality. Personally, I would prefer to find an opposing argument to this interpretation. Finding a way to prove the dream/imaginary worlds superior to and more central than the waking world may possibly become my focus for this class.
