The Other in Dreams

After examining the identity issues in Freud's Irma dream, Erik Erikson (1954) concludes that workable dream solutions may be not only ego-syntonic but also ethno-syntonic. Dreams may therefore open a window onto private, unconscious perceptions of the especially significant others upon whom we depend for security and satisfaction. The author examines a number of dream texts from this angle. Through these examples, he illustrates the way in which dreams may depict a person's sense of unconscious connection and responsibility to family, to community, and, in special cases, to one's nation. Dream life may thus illuminate a person's unconscious citizenship.