Page:Jung - The psychology of dementia praecox.djvu/82

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
58
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DEMENTIA PRÆCOX.

"like a package" seems also to express some contempt. But where in the dream is the dreamer himself represented? According to Freud he must be represented and indeed he is generally the chief actor. He is undoubtedly the "powerful brown horse." A powerful brown horse resembles him firstly because it can work much, then the brown color is generally described as "a healthy reddish brown color" such as mountain climbers are wont to have. The brown horse then is probably the dreamer. It is hoisted up like the others—the content of the first two sentences seem to be exhausted to the last point. The hoisting up of the dreamer is not clear, it even contradicts directly the applied sense "through work one gets to the top."

It seemed to me of special importance to find out whether my supposition that the brown horse represents the dreamer was really confirmed. For this reason I asked him to concentrate his attention on the passage "I remarked that the horse dragged along a big trunk of a tree." He immediately recalled that formerly he was nicknamed "tree" on account of his powerful stout figure. My supposition was therefore correct, the horse had even his name attached. The trunk on account of its heaviness encumbered the horse, or at least should have done so, and X. wondered that in spite of that it advanced so rapidly. To advance is synonymous with to get to the top. Therefore in spite of the burden or encumbrance X. advances and indeed so rapidly that one gets the impression that the horse is skittish and may perhaps cause some misfortune. On being questioned X. stated that the horse could have been crushed by this heavy trunk if it had fallen, or the force of this moving mass could have thrust the horse into something.

These associations exhausted the fancies of this episode. I therefore began my analysis from another point, that is, at that part where the cable broke, etc. I was struck by the expression "street." X. stated that it was the same street in which his business was where he once hoped to make his fortune. One deals here with the hope for a definite career of the future. To be sure it came to nought, and if it would have come to anything it would have been due not so much to his position or his own merits as to personal influences. Hence we get the explanation for this sentence, "The cable broke and the horse dropped