Dreams and other virtual worlds: A shop that sells stars

Dreams and other virtual worlds: A shop that sells stars
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Dreams and other virtual worlds: A shop that sells stars
Dreams and fantasy text provide an opportunity for a deeper analysis of the different worlds represented in the discourse. Various writing styles and infusion of elements in a literary can help a researcher and/or critic to identify the objective and meaning of the text to classify it as a fantasy or not. The conveyance of fantasy in a story can be unearthed using different techniques for easy identification and classification. This paper looks at the different fantasy elements and techniques that are present in the story 'A shop that sells stars' by Inagaki Taruho.
1 Repression
As the story begins we meet the protagonist and one of his friends, T, who has mastered the art of removing cigarettes from the pocket at an instant which the protagonist admired but could not perfect. We see the repeated trials and references to cigarettes as he tries to come up with an idea for his story. Although he may not admit it, the protagonist is a cigarette addict and covets becoming a magician a feeling which he does not admit to in real life showing the exhibition of suppression of his wishes and likes. ‘…By the time the stylus had reached the end of the record, I couldn’t resist making a comment…’ (pp.57). this was his comment after they listened to ‘The Lion Chase’ which his friend N thought he would like. This shows that he was suppressing his feeling as the record was playing. The reason for the suppression was because he thought airing his feeling would upset his friend due to his expectations. The protagonist also has many stories which he has not taken down and they are slowly piling up due to his neglect and laziness to take note of his texts. The laziness that is realized through this is one of the suppressed feelings about the protagonist in the story.
2 Latent content
The latent content in the fantasy has been repeatedly used with several ideologies have been utilized without any clear meaning. There have been numerous references to smoking cigarettes which seems to hold a significant place in the life of the protagonist. Another latent content in the fantasy is evident in the reiterated mention of windows and crowds. The meaning of the crowds and windows can be interpreted to mean that the protagonist has an attributive meaning about windows, ‘I wanted to rush home and write the story about children that came to me when…I saw the store windows with the parasols,’(pp. 77). This shows the effect that windows had on his writing. The other window we meet is in the streetcar the board which is spotless and enables him to see through another window which is obscured by a crowd. Another instance he uses windows in the narrative is where it reflects the light from the gas lamps which transforms him into a dream world. The importance of windows is one of the latent contents as its meaning is hidden and the transparency and the connection to creativity are not clear. The use of confetti in the story and the significance it possesses is another latent content in the text. In first the protagonist uses confetti in the ...