Neil Gaiman tears the concept of reality apart with his graphic novels focusing on the character of Dream.   Turning dreams into an entity is such a vast undertaking, and Gaiman did it by building on an existing character from DC comics.   Gaiman is supported in his storytelling by artists like Dave Mckean, a brilliant artist who I own several other comic books he contributed too.   Now I plunge into my discordant thoughts on the first collection of periodicals “The Doll’s House.”

Dreams are not empirically True, they are true within the entity that creates them alone.   As long as that consciousness defines their reality by their dreams that is what is real.  The abstraction of Dream is projected onto the character of the Sandman also known as Morpheus, Kai’Khul, the Dream Cat, and Onerion.   His appearance changes often according to who is dreaming, but Dream is given one form he commonly uses which looks a lot like David Bowie in the movie Labyrinth.   Eighties fashion aside the Character of Dream is mysterious, eternal but not unchanging, beyond the scope of the human mind, and according to Dream he was born when the world was born.  Not with the beginnings of humanity.  Dream is not alone, he has five siblings, one of which is the prodigal brother and his fate is unknown.  This mystery is almost a character in itself, is this other brother The Unknowable?  

Another brother is Destiny, the character is portrayed strangely with less influence than the characters of the Three Fates.  Destiny himself cannot change or interfere with fate he only takes an action after he reads that it is necessary for him to do so.  He is the holder of the book in which the potential futures are written.  This reminds me of the way the Book of Three is explained in “The Black Cauldron” series by Lloyd Alexander.  These books tell what may come to pass, not the future but the potential futures subjected to individual choice. 
Another sibling of Dream is Death, who manifests as a man or woman depending on the situation.  Death has a realm of its own much like Dream.  We don’t have a chance to look specifically into its domain although we see Hell, or a version of Hell as we are uncertain of the reality that is being created.   Death is not evil, I would say it is portrayed as more empathetic than Dream.  Death has an experience that Dream might not, has Death experienced death?   If so does that grant it an insight that leads it to tell Dream that he was wrong to send Nada who rejected his love to hell?   
Desire and Despair are the last two siblings and they are twins.  For despair cannot exist without a desire.   This leads to Desire being the more powerful of the two it seems.   Desire seeks to achieve or to change existence.   This is different from the way Dream creates and transforms.  Dream is more unpredictable, suitable for such an abstract changing concept.   

Dream is not limited to the realm of sleep.  He ventures into the corporeal world on occasion as do his creations.  The Fiddler’s Green is a dream created by Morpheus, it takes on a human form and comes to Earth as the man Gilbert.   Gilbert does this while Morpheus is trapped by human sorcery.   This furthers the idea that the abstractions Dream creates or not unchanging.  The abstractions Dream creates have choices unto them selves, Gilbert eventually chooses to return with Morpheus. 

A complicated piece to this story is the rejection of empiric Truth.  No one can be sure of what is real only what they choose to be real.   But even for this Dream is the ultimate arbitrator who enforces rules as he sees fit.  But this is an interesting point because it seems that Morpheus only intercedes when the stability of the dream world is threatened.  The dreamers and their dreams must be protected to ensure their continuation.  

The Doll’s House closes with the human family which drives one of the plots of the story achieving a sort of catharsis.  Dream’s timely intervention which results in the family becoming reunited does not show emotional depth.  We are left with the feeling that he has not reached his potential yet.  But being that he is one of the Endless we know that he has time to do so.