Dream Children : A Reverie (Question-Answers)

 

Ø  Why the essay is entitled “Dream Children”?

Ans: Charles Lamb entitled the essay “Dream Children” because he never married and naturally never became the father of any children. The children he speaks of in the essay were actually the creations of his imagination or fancy.

Ø  Who was Field? How does Lamb present her before his dream children?

Ans: Field, a pseudonym for the actual person, was Lamb’s grandmother. Lamb presents her as an ideal grandmother in an imaginary and inflated way before his “dream children”—she was an extremely pious, fearless, and compassionate person besides being the best dancer in the area in her youth.

Ø  Why the essay is entitled “A Reverie”?

Ans: The essay is subtitled as a ‘reverie’ because Lamb never married and so he never had children. In the essay, he created an imaginary picture of a happy conjugal life—a picture that finally dissolves into nothing as he comes back to reality.

Ø  How does Lamb present his brother John L—?

Ans: Lamb’s elder brother, John L—in his youth was a handsome, high-spirited, strong, and fearless person. He loved Lamb very much. But subsequently, in his old age, he became lame-footed and spent the rest of his life in utter hopelessness, irritation, and pain.

Ø  Whom does Lamb refer to as “faithful Bridget” by side?

Ans: Lamb had a sister, Mary Lamb, who did not marry since she had attacks of insanity. She has been referred to here as “faithful Bridget” because she never married and was Lamb’s only companion in his life. At the sudden breakdown of his reverie, he finds her seated by his side.

Ø  What, according to you, is the most striking feature of the essay and why?

Ans: The chief characteristic feature of the essay is the author’s mingling of pathos and humour. Lamb begins the essay in a somewhat deceptive fashion, describing the incidents, full of humour. But gradually he reduces the tone towards the end describing the tragedies of his personal life.          

Ø  How does Lamb present the autobiographical elements in the essay?

Ans: Dream Children is a personal essay. Lamb presents the characters and incidents from his own life—the sketches of his grandmother, Field, his brother—John Lamb, his sister—Mary Lamb, and his tragic love affairs with Ann Simmons. But Lamb is always playing with facts and fiction and transforms the real into the literary.

Ø  How does Lamb show his knowledge of child psychology?

Ans: It is surprising that without ever having children Lamb had an acute sense of how children react to the happenings in the world of the adults. By deceptively referring to the meticulous reactions of his dream children, he succeeds in catching the reader immediately. The aesthetic impact of the essay becomes more effective for this reason.

Ø  “But John L—(or James Elia) was gone forever”—Who was James Elia? Why does the author say this?

Ans: At the end of his daydreaming Lamb coming back to reality finds his sister (Bridget) Mary Lamb by his side, but he realizes and remembers that his brother James Elia or John Lamb had died and would no more be with them. So he laments his loss thus.

Ø  How does Lamb record Alice’s reactions to his story-telling?

Ans: While listening to Lamb’s personal tale, Alice reacts first by spreading her hands when Lamb says how good, religious, and graceful person Field had been. Alice reacts to it either in great astonishment or by putting up some pious gesture. She also cries out When Lamb talks about his elder brother’s pain and death.

Ø  How does Lamb record John’s reactions to his story-telling?

Ans: At the information of the great house being stripped of its ornaments John smiled, which suggested the foolishness of the work. He was trying to look brave and impress upon his father that he would not have been afraid of the ghosts like his father. At the end of the story, when Lamb was talking of his elder brother’s pain and death, John, like Alice, began to cry.