Analyse af Chad Pelleys novelle 'I Don't Dream of Genie'

It can be tough to not having authority over situations in your life, and a lot of people is going through difficulties whether it is family problems, a bothersome job or a turbulent brake-up. Feeling overwhelmed can create stressful days and it can eliminate other much more important things in your life. Some people are able to move on after a few days whereas others keep holding on to the past. This feeling of lack of control in one’s life and especially after a brake-up is also seen in Chad Pelley’s short story “I Don’t Dream of Genie”, where a woman named Sherry is trying to learn lucid dreaming through an emotional trip filled with anger, sadness and desperation to gain back some control and meaning in her life.

The short story is written in first person narrator from the main character Sherry’s point of view. Her way of narrating is rather explicit. When she shares the events of her life, she does not leave out neither awkward nor discomfiting experiences. “I spent my flight home throwing up from both ends, in a cramped Air Canada washroom. I imagined half the plane was out there, listening in disgust.” (p. 3, ll. 102-103). She has a self-ironic and sarcastic tone in this quote, but also throughout the story in general. We get these vivid descriptions of stages in her life and it makes her more relatable for the reader and it creates a more personal narrative when she e.g., talks about the annoying children and the acne from the fake Santa Claus beard. This low level of formality in the narrating is also seen in the line 90-98. The writing style in these lines is imprinted by contractions and also swear words like “fuck” (p. 3, l. 95) and “bullshit” (p. 3, l. 98) which makes the language more informal and indicate her sarcastic attitude. This also suggests how Sherry is quite annoyed and angry, because of her failed attempt to control her dreaming. Her stress is also seen in the words conveyed through italics: “Another way to tell your sleep sleep-self it’s dreaming, I learned, is to almost wake up, mid-dream (…) at three in the morning, to half awake me (…).” (p. 3, ll. 94-97). Through the use of italics Sherry’s frustrating and sarcasm shines through even more. Another thing that adds to the informality is that some of the sentences structure are not grammatically correct. “No dreams of Genie.” (p. 3, l. 92) and “But no luck.” (p. 3, l. 91) are examples of this. They are rather short and do not have any verbs in them. These incomplete sentences amplify the casual language and Sherry’s stream-of-consciousness that is dominant throughout the story which gives realistic and natural speech patterns, almost like she is having a dialogue with someone.