Analyse af 'I Don't Dream of Genie'

“You must learn to control your dreams, or your dreams will forever control you.” - Wayne Gerard Trotman. The short story “I Don’t Dream of Genie” written in 2016, by Chad Pelley discovers some of the consequences of someone you truly love walking out of your life - such as loneliness, longing, and desperation. This analysis of “I Don’t Dream of Genie” is going to focus on the composition of the story and the style of writing in the lines 90-98.

The structure of the short story is very complex. It has a reverse chronological order which suggests Sherry’s unconscious wish to move backwards in time, to a period when she was happy, and things were good between her and her ex, Gene. This reveals what Sherry’s inner conflict is really about. Her incapability to move on from Gene. He clearly was and still is a big part of her life, as she can’t stop thinking about him. The narrative begins very suddenly therefore in medias res - as Sherry complains about children who say their wishes too loudly in her ear, eager to have them granted by Santa. This foreshadows that Sherry has a wish of her own, which is the reason why she took the Santa job in the first place. That is so she could go to Tennessee for a lucid dreaming seminar. This prompts a flashback of the dream she had of Gene months ago. The pleasant dream stayed with her for several days afterward, which is why she is still aching from the heartbreak, that she gets reminded of all the time. All the places in the story are somewhat hostile to Sherry. The mall is noisy with the screams of children who also bruise her thighs sitting in ‘Santa’s’ lap, and she finds the seminar in Tennessee useless and disappointing. Her own house is where Gene broke up with her, and where they then had the accident falling down the stairs. Even her plane trips are uncomfortable, as the first time there is turbulence, and on the return trip, she is sick from the food she ate the night before. All these instances mirror that she isn’t comfortable in her own life and that she wishes to make a change but does not know how to. The climax of the story is when Sherry remembers Gene’s last words to her. “I will not miss you” (L. 124-125) This seems to have had remarkable effect on Sherry and is probably the reason why she can’t move on. She is constantly thinking back on him and the time they spent together, to the extent where Gene is the only thing her days revolve around.