The Power of Dreams

    The final third of Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being continues to build on a number of themes that were presented earlier in the novel – water, suicide, and the power of dreams, to name a few. With this being said, the overarching theme I found to be most powerful in the final third of the novel is that of the power of dreams. In furthering this, Ruth always appeared to be a passive reader of Nao’s story – simply put, one who’s present moment is spent reading Nao’s past, rather than her present. This ever-present feeling of Ruth’s causes her to wonder what she really could do to help Nao and her father, especially in regard to both of their mental health issues. But, this feeling of passivity eventually changes after Ruth has a dream about an encounter she has with Nao’s father, that ultimately affects Nao’s present moment.

    To start, earlier in the book Nao explains that her father has joined a suicide club – simply, a group of individuals who find one another online and speak of their plans to end their lives together. This knowledge ultimately greatly affects one’s understanding of Ruth’s encounter with Nao’s father on page 350. This powerful encounter between Ruth and Nao’s father allows Ruth to explain the horrible repercussions if he decides to end his life; for example she states, “She knows what you’re up to, and if you go through with this she intends to kill herself, too” (352). To me, this quote appears to break the fall between the time in which Nao and Ruth are living because it is ultimately this encounter in Ruth’s present moment that forever affects Nao’s present and future with her father. For example, Nao continues to further the importance of this dream encounter by later referring to she and her father as a “team” – a connection that would have been cut short had Ruth not intervened (365). To close, I found the overarching theme of dreams to be extremely important in the novel because they ultimately broke down the worldly dimension of time and allowed one’s past, present, and future to all be one.

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