I Sell My Dreams
by
Gabriel Marquez
(Summary)
In the short story “I Sell My Dreams” Gabriel
Marquez highlights the need of certain superstitious beliefs that human beings
crave and depend on. The story provides a sense of security to people in stress
and difficulty to look out for some unexplainable and illogical causes and
solutions. It makes them believe in something bigger and larger than mere
physical sciences and encroaches into the metaphysical state of being.
The
story begins at Havana Riviera Hotel. The narrator was enjoying breakfast with
his friends when some cars got hauled up by a crushing wave right in front of
them. The wreckage flew in all directions, especially one car that crashed into
the hotel wall. The accident shook everyone causing great panic among the
onlookers. Even the tourists in the hotel were thrown across the lobby with the
furniture. Soon the fire department arrived and started clearing the debris and
wreckage.
When
the car that crashed into the hotel wall was airlifted by a crane, a woman’s
body was retrieved from its ruins. She was killed instantly in the collision
and was dressed in tattered clothes. Her identity was revealed as the housekeeper
to the Portuguese Ambassador. However, there was a familiar accessory with her
that the narrator had seen before. It was a gold ring shaped like a snake. The
reptile had emerald eyes.
The
ring kept on bothering the narrator. He had seen the same ring some years ago
on an exceptional woman that he met in Vienna. They met at a tavern where she
was having her meal. The narrator was captivated by her charm, immaculate dress
and that splendid piece of jewelry. She was from Colombia and came to Austria
when the war started. She spoke a bit of Spanish and was fond of music. The
narrator was in awe of her.
Both
of them started spending time with each other. She never revealed her name to
the narrator who called her Frau Frieda. When he asked her about what she does,
she replied, “I sell my dreams.” She was in her thirties and was the third of
eleven siblings in old Caldas. Her family practiced the custom of telling
dreams before breakfast something she wholeheartedly believed in. She believed
herself to be an oracle of dreams, a clairvoyant of the future.
At
seven years of age, she prophesized her 5-year brother would down. Her interpretation
of this dream was that he should give up sweetmeats. Her mother believed her
and tried to prevent him from consuming any candies but inevitably he died after
swallowing some caramel. Frau Frieda turned her skills as a psychic to earn a
livelihood. She was hired by a woman in Vienna where she was given a salary, a
room to stay and adequate meals every day. The host family asked her about
their futures at breakfast every day. Her predictions dictated all their
actions and inactions. She became the authorial seal of the house. When the
father in the family died, he even bequeathed a part of their estate to her in
return for continued clairvoyant services for his surviving family.
One
day Frieda visited the tavern and met with the narrator. She whispered to him
that she had a dream about him the previous night. She advised him to leave
Vienna straight away. The narrator convinced by her talents, left for Rome the
same night. He had not gone back to Vienna since.
The
narrator again met Freida in Barcelona. He was with Pablo Neruda (the famous
poet who had returned to Spain after the Civil War) and his wife Matilde. They
were having a meal when Neruda noticed a woman, sitting very close to them,
continuously staring at them. It was Frau Frieda. She was plumper and greyer
but still with the Egyptian snake ring with her. She was on her way to Naples
just like Neruda. The narrator invited her over and introduced her to his
friend. When Neruda learned about her skills he rejected as inconceivable.
Freida
lived in Portugal and had sold her place in Austria. She told the narrator that
he could go back to Vienna now if he desired. Neruda and the narrator both left
her to have a rest and sleep. Not even 10 minutes had passed when Neruda woke
up from his dreams and exclaimed that he saw Frieda, the woman who dreams, in
his dream. He added that he dreamed that she was dreaming about him. His wife
grew anxious and asked the narrator to disclose the episode to Freida.
Now
the time came for them to depart and the narrator met Frieda to say his goodbyes.
She had a surprise for him. She said that she also took a nap before coming and
had dreamed about Neruda. The narrator was taken aback by her confession and
could not believe her when she added that in her dream, she saw Neruda dreaming
about her.
They
went their separate ways and never saw each again until the fateful day of the
accident. The ring on the dead woman’s finger revived the narrator’s memories
of Frieda. He had to inquire about her with the Portuguese Ambassador, her last
employer. So, at a diplomatic event, he met him and talked about her. The
ambassador was enchanted with her powers and talents. The narrator asked him
one last question, “what did she do for you?’” The answer was something he had expected
and had heard from Freida herself, “She dreamed.”
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