In our discussion of apocalypse moved from a focus
on the society of humanity to a focus on the individual and their
transformation.
The graphic novels in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series have been the catalyst for this change. The development of human characteristics in the abstract concept of Dream has served to let us see the development of a character from an abstraction. A completely anthropomorphized abstraction developed through the novel shows the achievement of identity by Dream. Through this process I have begun to develop an understanding in how Dream achieves the various emotions that define an individual.
We are introduced to Dream when he is in the clutches of passion and by extension his sibling Passion. We see him act selfishly, damning the woman who spurns his love. His passion is his undoing in this scene and from here there seems to be a regression as he loses his more humanlike emotions.
Then we move forward ten thousand years. After his escape from imprisonment he seeks to rebuild his realm of the dream world. Events conspire to pull him away from his labors and we see him once again display his potential.
He seeks out the rogue dreams that left his realm, the way and why he destroys the first three dreams that left his realm has two sides. One of which is the necessity for the action to be carried out. The other is his wrath at finding the dreams manipulating humans for their sadistic pleasure or desire for power. He does not just destroy these first three rogue dreams because of their transgressions. Dream annihilates them because they caused suffering among others and he empathizes with the victims. When Dream meets the fourth of the rogue dreams he does not show anger over the dream’s choice to leave the realm of the dreaming. He shows forgiveness. This seems to indicate that he understands Fiddler’s Green desire to venture among the realm of the living and experience the human condition.
As the story continues we learn of the obligation Dream has to destroy Rose Kinkade to protect all those among the dreaming. He regrets the necessity, clearly showing his own feelings of guilt regarding the circumstances. But with the intervention of Unity Kinkade he seems to bend the rules in order to spare Rose’s life.
An aside within this collection of periodical comic books is an interaction between Dream’s close sister, Death, and a human who believes he can live forever by denying death. Dream’s sister grants the mortal’s request seemingly for her brother’s sake. And as the tale continues the human makes the observation that the reason why Dream is interested in his life is because Dream is lonely. That human identifies the tragedy of the Endless in how they will outlive all others but their siblings and the loss they must feel at the passing of any mortal in whom they develop a connection with.
The graphic novels in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series have been the catalyst for this change. The development of human characteristics in the abstract concept of Dream has served to let us see the development of a character from an abstraction. A completely anthropomorphized abstraction developed through the novel shows the achievement of identity by Dream. Through this process I have begun to develop an understanding in how Dream achieves the various emotions that define an individual.
We are introduced to Dream when he is in the clutches of passion and by extension his sibling Passion. We see him act selfishly, damning the woman who spurns his love. His passion is his undoing in this scene and from here there seems to be a regression as he loses his more humanlike emotions.
Then we move forward ten thousand years. After his escape from imprisonment he seeks to rebuild his realm of the dream world. Events conspire to pull him away from his labors and we see him once again display his potential.
He seeks out the rogue dreams that left his realm, the way and why he destroys the first three dreams that left his realm has two sides. One of which is the necessity for the action to be carried out. The other is his wrath at finding the dreams manipulating humans for their sadistic pleasure or desire for power. He does not just destroy these first three rogue dreams because of their transgressions. Dream annihilates them because they caused suffering among others and he empathizes with the victims. When Dream meets the fourth of the rogue dreams he does not show anger over the dream’s choice to leave the realm of the dreaming. He shows forgiveness. This seems to indicate that he understands Fiddler’s Green desire to venture among the realm of the living and experience the human condition.
As the story continues we learn of the obligation Dream has to destroy Rose Kinkade to protect all those among the dreaming. He regrets the necessity, clearly showing his own feelings of guilt regarding the circumstances. But with the intervention of Unity Kinkade he seems to bend the rules in order to spare Rose’s life.
An aside within this collection of periodical comic books is an interaction between Dream’s close sister, Death, and a human who believes he can live forever by denying death. Dream’s sister grants the mortal’s request seemingly for her brother’s sake. And as the tale continues the human makes the observation that the reason why Dream is interested in his life is because Dream is lonely. That human identifies the tragedy of the Endless in how they will outlive all others but their siblings and the loss they must feel at the passing of any mortal in whom they develop a connection with.
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