The Recurring Dream
SUMMARY
The story starts with a description of Kimberly Clark, the protagonist of the story, who is twenty-five years old with all qualities of a normal young woman. She is pretty, she loves to dance, and she has many friends and a good position in the office of a large company. Despite these all, she has a problem. She has been troubled by a strange and mysterious dream that haunts her every night.
The strange dream always begins on a country road. Kim stands on this road and sees a lane with a white fence and a hedge on each side. At the end of the lane, on the top of a little hill, she sees a small white cottage with green shutters. Then she walks up the lane to the house, goes in and looks around. In one of the rooms, she finds a man asleep in bed. He is a little old man with white hair and a white beard. When she comes near his bed, the man wakes up. Then he sits up and looks at her. When she tries to speak to him, she wakes up. She is very surprised troubled by the dream because she has never known any little old man like that and neither the place.
Kim’s roommate knows everything. So, one day she proposes Kim to visit her (Janet’s) parents’ farmhouse to feel peace in mind. As they pass through a country road, Kim sees a similar scene which she sees in her dream. They stop there. Janet does not want Kim to go and see the small cottage but Kim goes.
The house was exactly the same, except for a sign in front of the house which said ‘FOR SALE’. Unlike her dream, Kim goes to the door of the house and knocks and to her surprise, the same old man answers the door who immediately closes the door. After Kim’s request, he opens the door. Kim again asks why the house is for sale. The old man reveals that the house is haunted by a ghost. Kim tries hard to think to say something instead asks who the ghost is. The old man gets surprised and shocks her by replying that she herself is the ghost.
Important Questions and Answers:
1. Write about a dream that you have seen recently.
Ans: Yesterday I saw a terrible dream about a ghost. In my dream I found myself sitting with my friends in the jungle. When I was a little away from my friends, I saw a ghost dancing around me. It was telling me that I was going to be killed. In my dream, I cried so badly. I was asking for help. My friends did not listen to me about what I was saying. I fell in a critical condition. I thought I had to kill the ghost. Then, the fight began between me and the ghost. The ghost had had very sharp claws and red eyes. It was so furious so I was. I tried to thrash it on the stone. Fortunately, I succeeded on my own and the ghost was thrown into the river nearby. Finally, I went to my friends who were looking at me. They asked me how the fight was like. I also narrated the event as it has happened. The next day, the result of my dream came true. I got the first division in the exam.
2. Do dreams have any connection to our real life? Discuss your personal view. Also, relate to the story. “The Recurring Dreams.”
Ans: Of course, dreams have a connection to our real life. I have got such an experience in my life. Once I saw my friend Mohan fallen down from a tree in my dream. After a few days, I heard the news that he met an accident. He was rushed to the hospital. His condition became worse. His hands and legs were broken and ultimately died.
3. Why do some people have recurring dreams? Give your opinion.
Ans: Many people have their dreams at night. We have also got some experiences of dreams. In our dreams sometimes we see ghosts, wild animals, great buildings, juggles, dead person, friends etc. In my opinion, we see these persons, animals, things because of our unsatisfied desires. We have experienced that what we desire in a daytime, occurs in our dream at night. So the desire of getting something might be the cause of the recurring dream. In the same way, sometimes we see the same dream day by day. We have experienced the fact that we fail in our exam in the dream if we are waiting for the exam result. So far might be the cause of the dream.\
4. Why does Janet want to take Kim to her parent’s farm for a few days?
Ans: Janet wants to take her friend to her parents’ farm because Kim had a problem of a recurring dream. She used to see the same old man and the white house in her dream. Kim tried to speak to that old man in her dream but suddenly woke up from her dream. This happened daily. Her friend, Janet wanted to take Kim to her parent’s farm so that Kim will feel easy and forget that recurring dream. So Janet takes Kim to her own parents’ farm for a few days.
5. What do you think is the reason some people having a recurring dream?
Ans: I think when the people have an excessive desire of having something and think too much about those things they may have a recurring dream.
6. Why is ‘The Recurring Dream’ a supernatural story?
Ans: ‘The Recurring Dream’ is a supernatural story. The story deals with the movement of spirit. Kim’s spirit visits the house of the old man when she is asleep. The old man sees her spirit in the house at night. He thinks that he has seen a ghost.
7. Describe the dream Kim has almost every night.
Ans: Kim has a mysterious dream. It is a dream about a person and place, which are completely strange to her. She has this dream almost every night, so it is a recurring dream.
Her dream always begins on a country road. As she stands there, she sees a white cottage with green shutters on the top of the hill. A lane with a white fence and a hedge on both of its sides leads to the cottage. In one of the rooms, she sees a little old man with white hair and a white. When she tries to talk to him, she wakes up.
8. What was strange about the dream?
Ans: The dream was very strange. It was the dream about a person and place which Kim had never seen before in her real life. It was also strange because it was a recurring dream. She had this dream almost every night although she was a normal lady.
9. Describe the house and the lane Kim saw in the dream.
Ans: The cottage was at the end of the lane. It was on the top of the hill. It had a white cottage with green shutters. Kim used to find an old man with a white beard in one of the rooms.
The lane stretched up to the cottage from the road. There were a white fence and a hedge on both sides of the lane.
10. Do dreams have any connection to our real life? Discuss your personal view. Also, relate to the story’ The Recurring Dream.’
Ans: Dreams may have a connection to our real life. When a certain problem troubles us constantly, we feel stressed even when we are asleep. As a result, we may have a dream related to it. In addition, if we can not fulfil our desires, in reality, we may satisfy ourselves through dreams. Some people also argue that our spirit visits places and persons related to us in our previous life. The movement of spirit comes to us like a dream.
In the story ‘Recurring Dream’, a normal lady, named Kim has a dream about a person and a place, which she has never seen before. She has this dream almost every night. In her dream, she always finds herself on a country road. There, she sees a lane leading to a cottage. She finds an old man with white hair and a beard in one of the rooms. When she tries to talk to him, she wakes up. Surprisingly, she sees the same place and the same man while she is going to in the cottage Janet’s parents’ farm. It is so mysterious that the old man accuses Kim of being a ghost and visiting his house. Maybe the old man is connected to Kim previous life.
11. What do you think is the reason some people have recurring dreams?
Ans: Some people have recurring dreams because of their problems and unfulfilled wishes. When a certain problem troubles us constantly, we feel stressed even when we are asleep. As a result, we may have a dream related to it. Moreover, if we cannot fulfil our desire, in reality, we may satisfy ourselves through dreams. Thus, dreams are related to deep wishes.
12. Why do you think Kim has this dream?
Ans: I think Kim has this dream because of the unfulfilled wishes of her past life. She might have had a desire to meet her grandfather. But she might have died before meeting him. The old man could be her grandfather. Therefore, her spirit might have visited the house of the old man.
