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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."


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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."


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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
DP
DV
1MUAP
1MUAP>D
1MUAM
DM
1MUAM 
DM
DM
DC
Temp.

 
Neg.
1
 
Success Failure Misfortune Good Fort. Emotions  
           
 
 
 
 


The brush salesman: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
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