Edna Pontellier had desires and feelings that she could not fully express to her husband Leonce. These unconscious wishes would manifest in her dreams. She found it easier to portray these feelings to Robert, who represented her true inner desires. Freud's theory was that by understanding the latent dream thoughts, the meaning and messages of dreams could be revealed. Edna seemed to understand that Robert symbolized her ideal relationship, even if she could not consciously articulate why.

1. The Interpretation of
Dreams
Sigmund Freud
Presented by Julie Nguyen, Jaquelyn Guerrero,
and Yulissa Aguilar

2. What is Dreaming in
Psychoanalysis?
The mind has “wishes or desires that lie
outside awareness” but it manifests in our
unconscious, especially when we sleep.
Those wishes are usually repressed or
censored because they are “unfit for
expression” in the view of society (Freud 398)
.

3. Claim
In order to “solve the problem of (her) dreams”
(400), she had to find a way to accurately express
her dream thoughts. When Edna spent time with
Robert, it was much easier to express her dream
than it was to Leonce.

4. Explanation of the Claim
❥ She had a feeling that she could not
describe.
❥ Concluded that she could not portray
those feelings correctly with Leonce.
❥Feelings were easily portrayed with
Robert.

5. Relationship A: Edna and
LeonceThe tears came so fast to Mrs. Pontellier’s eyes that the
damp sleeves of her peignoir (gown) no longer served to
dry them. … She could not have told why she was
crying. Such experience as the foregoing were not
uncommon in her married life. An indescribable
oppression, which seem to generate in some unfamiliar
part of her consciousness…” (30-31)

6. Relationship A:
Explanation❥Although she is able to describe her relationship with
Leonce,it is not in a positive tone.
❥The relationship, to her, is by “pure accident”.
❥However, She could not describe what that moment
felt like. The text has described it as an “indescribable
oppression”.

7. Relationship B: Edna and
Robert
“Why? Because his hair is brown and grows away from his
temples; because he opens and shuts his eyes, and his nose
is a little out of drawing; because he has two lips, and a
square chin, and a little finger which he can’t straighten
from having played baseball too energetically in his youth.
Because—”
“Because you do, in short,” laughed Mademoiselle [Reiz]
(406).

8. Relationship B:
Explanation
❥ Compared to Edna’s feelings for Leonce, she has
shown copious amounts of love for Robert.
❥ She seem to have no idea of how to explain why
he loved him.
❥ Perhaps, she did like Robert, or she might have
liked people that is similar to the characteristics
Robert held.

9. Discussion Question #1
❥”Every attempt that has hitherto been
made to solve the problem of dreams
has dealt directly with their manifest
content as it is presented in our
memory” (400). Think about a vivid
dream that you can recall, did you
think it was trying to tell you

10. Discussion Questions #2
❥ Based on your dream thoughts
and dream content do you believe
daydreaming is considered actual
dreaming, or is it a term made up
by society? Do you think Edna was
in a state of a daydreaming when it
came to Robert?

11. Discussion Question #3
What do you think is Edna’s dream thought?
What was her innermost desire?

12. Conclusion
“Dream-thoughts are immediately comprehensible,
as soon as we have learnt them” (Freud 400).
Edna understood why it was easier to express her
feelings with Robert than with Leonce, despite the
fact that Leonce was her husband and the father of
their children. Robert was Edna’s innermost desire of
what her ideal relationship was.