The Role of Dreams in Ab Yehoshua's Lover ] picks up and throws into the basket" (9). novel The Lover by AB Yehoshua, Asya uses dreams to release her internal tensions. Yehoshua uses Asya's dreams as symbolic and prophetic mechanisms that parallel the subtle emotional conflicts inside the characters and in herself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay Once deprived of her lover, Gabriel, Asya is consumed by his absence and immediately begins to dream about it. The first of Asya's dreams described in the novel reflects her unconscious desire to reunite with Gabriel and abandon her family. The dream places Asya inside a military camp as a teacher on a field trip, parallel to the excursion Gabriel's soldier (14). Like the dreamer, the reader is also unable to make a connection between the dream and Gabriel, because both are uncertain about Gabriel's military career at the beginning of the novel. “The faces of the children of Dafi's class” that Asya encounters are analogous to the “young, boy-faced” men of Gabriel's platoon (14, 297). While Dafi's class attends compulsory education, the soldiers were forced into military service. Dafi's class also creates a commentary on the Zionist movement. Although the Zionist movement recently catalyzed the creation of an Israeli state, Israelis must now defend their independence in the Yom Kippur War. The field trip in Asya's dream exposes young children to war, corrupting their naivety and innocence. These children must be prepared; they must sacrifice their childhood for the war, because most Israelis believe that their independence will continually be called into question, regardless of the outcome of the Yom Kippur War. Like Gabriel, Asya is lost in the camp; he does not understand his purpose, but eventually understands his position with the guidance of a superior. Asya teaches “the importance of history” to war-weary adults whose education has been interrupted by the war (15). The fact that Asya teaches the importance of history in her dream presents another observation about Israeli independence. Israel is a multiracial Jewish state, an oasis in the desert of intolerant Arab nations. Asya, like most Israelis, believes that there will never be a decisive victory for Israeli independence; there is a seemingly innate hatred between Arabs and Jews, as evidenced by their historical tensions. Asya's search for a missing piece of her past parallels her father's search. While Asya searches for Gabriel, her father searches the radio for "the mention of Israel or its name in the distant void" (47). Asya's first dream gives the reader insight into the cause of her father's ignominious deposition as head of the Ministry of Information and the rationale behind her quest to reconnect with her past. Once again, the dream occurs before Asya's father's previous occupation is revealed, thus inviting the reader to ignore the description. "He is an old man wearing a hat and walking along the wadi with such determination, moving away into the distance towards the enemy lines. My heart stops. He looks like my father. Is he here too? Does he belong here or not? Walk upright and excited along the rock-strewn ravine" (15). The fact that his father is wearing a hat would suggest that he is attempting a clandestine operation. The hat will cover his face, thus helping him hide his identity. Asya's father is crossing enemy lines fromalone, with determination; this suggests that he could share sensitive intelligence information with aggressor nations for a fee, because the head of the intelligence department would not cross enemy lines alone during war, which is the job of a low-level agent. After his removal from office, Asya's father is convinced "that he is right, that an injustice has been done to him" (46). Perhaps he had hoped to end the war through peaceful and diplomatic means. Then, fear within a dream created by fear. Asya is overcome with anxiety as her heart "stops". This suggests that Asya noticed her father's illegal actions in real time, and is now haunted by their repetition in her dreams. His father is excited, implying that he believed he would not be captured, although he was The ravine is symbolic of the difficult path he was forced to take to share intelligence secrets with other nations. The war does not leave Asya's thoughts. Asya's second dream portrays the unconscious guilt she suffers from neglecting Dafi during the war. Asya was trapped in her dream world Gabriel's departure; this causes damage to Dafi's health as he becomes sleepless. War creates civil disobedience. “A murder gang settles private scores within the city” and Asya is afraid for her daughter (29). , where Dafi is often alone but not forgotten. Despite Asya's concerns, Dafi arrives safely and the final segment of the dream becomes predictive that Adam will eventually find Gabriel. A killer follows Dafi into the house; The killer's uninvited arrival parallels Gabriel's unwelcome arrival at Dafi's. Adam eventually subversively expels Gabriel from the house by having him register for the army; this is symbolic of Adam killing the killer with a screwdriver. Although Gabriel is a threat to Adam, Gabriel also robbed Dafi of a segment of her childhood by depriving her of her mother. By expelling Gabriel, Adam also benefits Dafi. Asya screams at Adam, their “lives are ruined” (30). Asya's reaction foreshadows Adam's eventual use of a screwdriver to find Gabriel and end his wife's "ruined life" (30). The screwdriver may also predict Adam's eventual relationship with Tali and the killer could actually mean Tali, who has come to destroy Asya's house. The screwdriver can be phallic. The fact that Adam is "trying to hide the big screwdriver" may foreshadow how he will try to hide his relationship with Tali (30). In Asya's next dream, she unintentionally explores her strained and loveless marriage. Asya is driving Adam's car, which probably represents her marriage to Adam. The car seat is low and this limits its visibility. Like a marriage, Asya is forced to "drive [both the marriage and the car] according to instinct" (57). When Asya gets out of the car, she observes "the vague dents," but believes that Adam will fix them (57). This implies that their marriage is repairable, but Adam must take the lead. When Asya finally arrives home, her dream becomes prophetic. There are “people in the house,” they represent the mourners (57). Yigal is dead, which catalyzes the sudden chain reaction that destroys Asya's relationship with Adam. Upon closer inspection, the car is destroyed, foretelling the destruction of the marriage after Yigal's unexpected death. Throughout the novel, Adam attempts to solve problems with money; a wrecked car would not have caused him “pain in his face” (58). His loveless marriage consumed him, "he tore out his beard by the roots, he scalped himself" (58). Adam's self-mutilation of the beard symbolizes his loss of identity in his confused state after Yigal's death. Asya's inability tolooking at the remains of Adam's beard reflects unconscious guilt. Asya blames Adam for Yigal's death since Adam created the special hearing assistant and Yigal is in Adam's care when he is killed. The dream could also represent Asya's relationship with Gabriel. There are obstacles to overcome in the story, but like the car, "nothing could stop them" (57). Then comes the war and the machine stops. The “people at home” may reflect the fact that people within the community are aware of the matter, but are not willing to get involved in the issue (57). “The overturned car” foretells the destruction of the business (58). The destruction of the car also indicates that Adam is aware of the affair and predicts its end with the onset of the Yom Kippur War. Adam "fixes the car himself" sending Gabriel to join the army (57). Asya's inability to look at Adam's changed physique echoes Asya's unconscious desire for Adam to fight instead of Gabriel. Asya's next dream, like many of her other dreams, predicts Adam's relationship with Tali. Asya is alone in a classroom, parallel to the solitary environment of the hospital where Adam and Tali consummate their relationship. There is "still a pile of sand in the corner," suggesting Adam and Tali's inability to make love on the beach (83). Asya is "getting nervous," anxious to start class, just as Adam is anxious to go to bed with Tali (84). The pubescent boy, the only student in Asya's class, "takes off his pants" and "stands in a corner naked", just as Tali "stands in the corner like a trapped animal", "exposing her naked little body" for Adam (84, 261). Yehoshua attempts to make the parallel more obvious when Asya wants to tell the boy to “come here,” which is what Adam says to Tali to catalyze the relationship (84, 258). Asya's inability to escape the dream world causes her husband to feel insecure. Adam's relationship with Tali is an achievement of virility and lust as he "becomes a lover, looking for a lover" (262). The student's "sickly face", which is also used to characterize Gabriel, leaves the possibility that the student represents Gabriel and Asya's helpless longing for his love (84). Even though Asya is married, she feels “a mixture of repulsion and desire” for the boy; Asya experiences this same lust when she meets Gabriel (84). When the boy finally leaves, Asya feels "completely empty"; the same way he feels after Gabriel's departure (84). Asya's inability to escape the dream world makes her lust for Gabriel blatantly obvious to Adam and Dafi, who are victims of her selfishness. Asya's next dream provides information about her relationship with Gabriel. Adam, an expert mechanic who cares for Asya but is unable to meet her emotional and physical needs, is comparable to the "wonderful dentist", who is unable to perform for Asya after falling asleep. While Adam provides the site for Asya's relationship, the dentist provides the office for Gabriel to use his "tools" on Asya's mouth (110). Although Gabriel is hired by Adam as a metaphorical prostitute who is supposed to "assist his wife with translations", he is also hired by the dentist in assistant duties. While Adam is blind to his wife's affair, the dentist is asleep to his assistant's actions. Gabriele's instruments are undoubtedly phallic. Through his use of language such as “his face tense with concentration” and “slipping gently into the socket,” Yehoshua makes Asya's dental experience metaphorical of sex (110). Dental assistants like Gabriel would not touch a patient, yet Asya "is overwhelmed by the sweetness of his light touch" (110). In the final lines ofdream, Asya wonders why she came to the dentist's office, which reflects her internal tension about the relationship. The final lines may also reflect the fact that Asya is dissatisfied with Gabriel but fears his departure. She is afraid of "disappointing him", but has no qualms about acting like a lifeless amoeba towards her husband's sexual desires. The portrayal of Adam as a sleeping dentist in Asya's dream is also predictive of her relationship with Tali. Tali awakens the sleeping dentist and inspires him to use her tools. The hospital where Adam and Tali make love parallels a dentist's office. Everything in every room is sterile. Like a skilled dentist, Adam mechanically and methodically performs on Tali's "little naked body" (261). Tali is paralyzed, lying there like a dental patient, waiting for the pain to end. In Asya's sixth dream, Yigal, whose death precipitated Asya's relationship and left an emotional void within the family, is replaced by Na'im, who is also helping Asya find her lover. Asya is haunted by the memory of Yigal, but Na'im provided Asya with the physical imagery and personality to create an adolescent projection of Yigal in her dreams. In Asya's dream, Yigal "rides back and forth on the wide sidewalk" on his bicycle, "he is tall and thin," unknowingly provoking his mother who has been emotionally troubled by his death (180). This parallels Na'im, who tests the patience of a Jewish family who has been conditioned to hate him and his people. While Na'im is hindered by race, Yigal is hindered by his disability. Asya's family accepts them both despite each of their social stigmas. Yigal's bicycle is "very colorful, shiny, loaded with gears, cogs, and spools of thread," reflecting Yigal's desire for social acceptance and paralleling Na'im's quest (180). Na'im adapted to Jewish culture through subtractive assimilation. Na'im gets confused among the Jews, they no longer recognize that he is Arab while Yigal attends normal school and people sometimes forget that he is deaf. Then, in the middle of the dream, Asya "realizes that it is not Yigal but some kind of substitute that Adam brought for [her]," which is obviously Na'im (180). This reflects Asya's unconscious resistance to forgetting her lost son, while at the same time further underlining Na'im's ability to blend in among the Jews. Asya then calls "Yigal's substitute", signifying her unconscious desperation for a son, an inheritance. On the surface, Asya refuses Adam this inheritance, for fear of losing another child or perhaps because she is too old and suffers from sterility. "[Na'im] hears and understands her, but takes advantage of his deafness to ignore her" Asya, this is representative of the special bond between Adam and Yigal that has now survived indirectly through Na'im (181). The dream shows that although Asya would like to penetrate this dark relational bubble, her attempts are unsuccessful. The conclusion of Asya's dream predicts Na'im's eventual, unexpected departure from the family and Dafi's impregnation. When Na'im leaves the family, the event is unexpected, just like Yigal's death. Na'im resigns from his caretaker position while Yigal resigns from life. The seed that Na'im leaves in Dafi's womb is symbolized by the deceased "substitute" who leaves behind a transistor that picks up a reporter saying "life...has come to life again" (181). The following dream departs from the genres of the previous dreams. In Asya's next dream, she parallels the formation of the African republics with the formation of the Israeli one. Like the Israelis, the African boasts of his "renewed land" (222). “New settlements are being built” in Africa and Israel,.

Topic > The Role of Dreams in Ab Yehoshua's Lover ] picks up and throws into the basket" (9). novel The Lover by AB Yehoshua, Asya uses dreams to release her internal tensions. Yehoshua uses Asya's dreams as symbolic and prophetic mechanisms that parallel the subtle emotional conflicts inside the characters and in herself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay Once deprived of her lover, Gabriel, Asya is consumed by his absence and immediately begins to dream about it. The first of Asya's dreams described in the novel reflects her unconscious desire to reunite with Gabriel and abandon her family. The dream places Asya inside a military camp as a teacher on a field trip, parallel to the excursion Gabriel's soldier (14). Like the dreamer, the reader is also unable to make a connection between the dream and Gabriel, because both are uncertain about Gabriel's military career at the beginning of the novel. “The faces of the children of Dafi's class” that Asya encounters are analogous to the “young, boy-faced” men of Gabriel's platoon (14, 297). While Dafi's class attends compulsory education, the soldiers were forced into military service. Dafi's class also creates a commentary on the Zionist movement. Although the Zionist movement recently catalyzed the creation of an Israeli state, Israelis must now defend their independence in the Yom Kippur War. The field trip in Asya's dream exposes young children to war, corrupting their naivety and innocence. These children must be prepared; they must sacrifice their childhood for the war, because most Israelis believe that their independence will continually be called into question, regardless of the outcome of the Yom Kippur War. Like Gabriel, Asya is lost in the camp; he does not understand his purpose, but eventually understands his position with the guidance of a superior. Asya teaches “the importance of history” to war-weary adults whose education has been interrupted by the war (15). The fact that Asya teaches the importance of history in her dream presents another observation about Israeli independence. Israel is a multiracial Jewish state, an oasis in the desert of intolerant Arab nations. Asya, like most Israelis, believes that there will never be a decisive victory for Israeli independence; there is a seemingly innate hatred between Arabs and Jews, as evidenced by their historical tensions. Asya's search for a missing piece of her past parallels her father's search. While Asya searches for Gabriel, her father searches the radio for "the mention of Israel or its name in the distant void" (47). Asya's first dream gives the reader insight into the cause of her father's ignominious deposition as head of the Ministry of Information and the rationale behind her quest to reconnect with her past. Once again, the dream occurs before Asya's father's previous occupation is revealed, thus inviting the reader to ignore the description. "He is an old man wearing a hat and walking along the wadi with such determination, moving away into the distance towards the enemy lines. My heart stops. He looks like my father. Is he here too? Does he belong here or not? Walk upright and excited along the rock-strewn ravine" (15). The fact that his father is wearing a hat would suggest that he is attempting a clandestine operation. The hat will cover his face, thus helping him hide his identity. Asya's father is crossing enemy lines fromalone, with determination; this suggests that he could share sensitive intelligence information with aggressor nations for a fee, because the head of the intelligence department would not cross enemy lines alone during war, which is the job of a low-level agent. After his removal from office, Asya's father is convinced "that he is right, that an injustice has been done to him" (46). Perhaps he had hoped to end the war through peaceful and diplomatic means. Then, fear within a dream created by fear. Asya is overcome with anxiety as her heart "stops". This suggests that Asya noticed her father's illegal actions in real time, and is now haunted by their repetition in her dreams. His father is excited, implying that he believed he would not be captured, although he was The ravine is symbolic of the difficult path he was forced to take to share intelligence secrets with other nations. The war does not leave Asya's thoughts. Asya's second dream portrays the unconscious guilt she suffers from neglecting Dafi during the war. Asya was trapped in her dream world Gabriel's departure; this causes damage to Dafi's health as he becomes sleepless. War creates civil disobedience. “A murder gang settles private scores within the city” and Asya is afraid for her daughter (29). , where Dafi is often alone but not forgotten. Despite Asya's concerns, Dafi arrives safely and the final segment of the dream becomes predictive that Adam will eventually find Gabriel. A killer follows Dafi into the house; The killer's uninvited arrival parallels Gabriel's unwelcome arrival at Dafi's. Adam eventually subversively expels Gabriel from the house by having him register for the army; this is symbolic of Adam killing the killer with a screwdriver. Although Gabriel is a threat to Adam, Gabriel also robbed Dafi of a segment of her childhood by depriving her of her mother. By expelling Gabriel, Adam also benefits Dafi. Asya screams at Adam, their “lives are ruined” (30). Asya's reaction foreshadows Adam's eventual use of a screwdriver to find Gabriel and end his wife's "ruined life" (30). The screwdriver may also predict Adam's eventual relationship with Tali and the killer could actually mean Tali, who has come to destroy Asya's house. The screwdriver can be phallic. The fact that Adam is "trying to hide the big screwdriver" may foreshadow how he will try to hide his relationship with Tali (30). In Asya's next dream, she unintentionally explores her strained and loveless marriage. Asya is driving Adam's car, which probably represents her marriage to Adam. The car seat is low and this limits its visibility. Like a marriage, Asya is forced to "drive [both the marriage and the car] according to instinct" (57). When Asya gets out of the car, she observes "the vague dents," but believes that Adam will fix them (57). This implies that their marriage is repairable, but Adam must take the lead. When Asya finally arrives home, her dream becomes prophetic. There are “people in the house,” they represent the mourners (57). Yigal is dead, which catalyzes the sudden chain reaction that destroys Asya's relationship with Adam. Upon closer inspection, the car is destroyed, foretelling the destruction of the marriage after Yigal's unexpected death. Throughout the novel, Adam attempts to solve problems with money; a wrecked car would not have caused him “pain in his face” (58). His loveless marriage consumed him, "he tore out his beard by the roots, he scalped himself" (58). Adam's self-mutilation of the beard symbolizes his loss of identity in his confused state after Yigal's death. Asya's inability tolooking at the remains of Adam's beard reflects unconscious guilt. Asya blames Adam for Yigal's death since Adam created the special hearing assistant and Yigal is in Adam's care when he is killed. The dream could also represent Asya's relationship with Gabriel. There are obstacles to overcome in the story, but like the car, "nothing could stop them" (57). Then comes the war and the machine stops. The “people at home” may reflect the fact that people within the community are aware of the matter, but are not willing to get involved in the issue (57). “The overturned car” foretells the destruction of the business (58). The destruction of the car also indicates that Adam is aware of the affair and predicts its end with the onset of the Yom Kippur War. Adam "fixes the car himself" sending Gabriel to join the army (57). Asya's inability to look at Adam's changed physique echoes Asya's unconscious desire for Adam to fight instead of Gabriel. Asya's next dream, like many of her other dreams, predicts Adam's relationship with Tali. Asya is alone in a classroom, parallel to the solitary environment of the hospital where Adam and Tali consummate their relationship. There is "still a pile of sand in the corner," suggesting Adam and Tali's inability to make love on the beach (83). Asya is "getting nervous," anxious to start class, just as Adam is anxious to go to bed with Tali (84). The pubescent boy, the only student in Asya's class, "takes off his pants" and "stands in a corner naked", just as Tali "stands in the corner like a trapped animal", "exposing her naked little body" for Adam (84, 261). Yehoshua attempts to make the parallel more obvious when Asya wants to tell the boy to “come here,” which is what Adam says to Tali to catalyze the relationship (84, 258). Asya's inability to escape the dream world causes her husband to feel insecure. Adam's relationship with Tali is an achievement of virility and lust as he "becomes a lover, looking for a lover" (262). The student's "sickly face", which is also used to characterize Gabriel, leaves the possibility that the student represents Gabriel and Asya's helpless longing for his love (84). Even though Asya is married, she feels “a mixture of repulsion and desire” for the boy; Asya experiences this same lust when she meets Gabriel (84). When the boy finally leaves, Asya feels "completely empty"; the same way he feels after Gabriel's departure (84). Asya's inability to escape the dream world makes her lust for Gabriel blatantly obvious to Adam and Dafi, who are victims of her selfishness. Asya's next dream provides information about her relationship with Gabriel. Adam, an expert mechanic who cares for Asya but is unable to meet her emotional and physical needs, is comparable to the "wonderful dentist", who is unable to perform for Asya after falling asleep. While Adam provides the site for Asya's relationship, the dentist provides the office for Gabriel to use his "tools" on Asya's mouth (110). Although Gabriel is hired by Adam as a metaphorical prostitute who is supposed to "assist his wife with translations", he is also hired by the dentist in assistant duties. While Adam is blind to his wife's affair, the dentist is asleep to his assistant's actions. Gabriele's instruments are undoubtedly phallic. Through his use of language such as “his face tense with concentration” and “slipping gently into the socket,” Yehoshua makes Asya's dental experience metaphorical of sex (110). Dental assistants like Gabriel would not touch a patient, yet Asya "is overwhelmed by the sweetness of his light touch" (110). In the final lines ofdream, Asya wonders why she came to the dentist's office, which reflects her internal tension about the relationship. The final lines may also reflect the fact that Asya is dissatisfied with Gabriel but fears his departure. She is afraid of "disappointing him", but has no qualms about acting like a lifeless amoeba towards her husband's sexual desires. The portrayal of Adam as a sleeping dentist in Asya's dream is also predictive of her relationship with Tali. Tali awakens the sleeping dentist and inspires him to use her tools. The hospital where Adam and Tali make love parallels a dentist's office. Everything in every room is sterile. Like a skilled dentist, Adam mechanically and methodically performs on Tali's "little naked body" (261). Tali is paralyzed, lying there like a dental patient, waiting for the pain to end. In Asya's sixth dream, Yigal, whose death precipitated Asya's relationship and left an emotional void within the family, is replaced by Na'im, who is also helping Asya find her lover. Asya is haunted by the memory of Yigal, but Na'im provided Asya with the physical imagery and personality to create an adolescent projection of Yigal in her dreams. In Asya's dream, Yigal "rides back and forth on the wide sidewalk" on his bicycle, "he is tall and thin," unknowingly provoking his mother who has been emotionally troubled by his death (180). This parallels Na'im, who tests the patience of a Jewish family who has been conditioned to hate him and his people. While Na'im is hindered by race, Yigal is hindered by his disability. Asya's family accepts them both despite each of their social stigmas. Yigal's bicycle is "very colorful, shiny, loaded with gears, cogs, and spools of thread," reflecting Yigal's desire for social acceptance and paralleling Na'im's quest (180). Na'im adapted to Jewish culture through subtractive assimilation. Na'im gets confused among the Jews, they no longer recognize that he is Arab while Yigal attends normal school and people sometimes forget that he is deaf. Then, in the middle of the dream, Asya "realizes that it is not Yigal but some kind of substitute that Adam brought for [her]," which is obviously Na'im (180). This reflects Asya's unconscious resistance to forgetting her lost son, while at the same time further underlining Na'im's ability to blend in among the Jews. Asya then calls "Yigal's substitute", signifying her unconscious desperation for a son, an inheritance. On the surface, Asya refuses Adam this inheritance, for fear of losing another child or perhaps because she is too old and suffers from sterility. "[Na'im] hears and understands her, but takes advantage of his deafness to ignore her" Asya, this is representative of the special bond between Adam and Yigal that has now survived indirectly through Na'im (181). The dream shows that although Asya would like to penetrate this dark relational bubble, her attempts are unsuccessful. The conclusion of Asya's dream predicts Na'im's eventual, unexpected departure from the family and Dafi's impregnation. When Na'im leaves the family, the event is unexpected, just like Yigal's death. Na'im resigns from his caretaker position while Yigal resigns from life. The seed that Na'im leaves in Dafi's womb is symbolized by the deceased "substitute" who leaves behind a transistor that picks up a reporter saying "life...has come to life again" (181). The following dream departs from the genres of the previous dreams. In Asya's next dream, she parallels the formation of the African republics with the formation of the Israeli one. Like the Israelis, the African boasts of his "renewed land" (222). “New settlements are being built” in Africa and Israel,.