rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (02/07/84)
I had what I thought were some rather novel interpretations of Lathe of Heaven, first after seeing the movie, then again reinforced by the book. 1) George Orr was nothing special. Everyone has the ability to dream effectively. (I think this was hinted at in the book.) George's problem is that he is unaffected by his own effective dreams. He wakes up after one of his effective dreams remembering the world as it was before he went to sleep, while others could be doing the same thing without the same effect on themselves (or on George---he seems to have no problem with other people pulling the world out from under him). When the doctor superimposes George's wave pattern on his own using his Enhancer machine, he begins to realize the nature of the reality that he is trying to set right, and cracks (why?????), thus "cracking" reality. Note that the net effect of a billion people dreaming may cancel each other out, or be otherwise unnoticed. AND/OR 2) George Orr told a story about how his first effective dream had to do with his aunt. But it wasn't really his *first* first effective dream. On the edge of a bombed out city, the sole survivor, with some bizarre form of radiation sickness, dreams away the reality in which the world was destroyed, and dreams up a reality in which he has always had the ability to dream effectively. The radiation sickness gave him the ability to dream effectively, and he dreamed up a reality in which there was no armageddon, but where his effective dreaming ability had to have come from somewhere--ergo, he had always had it in that reality. When the doctor took away that ability (or at least he thought he did---???) and tried to use it himself, the fabric of the realities came apart. Yes, these aren't the best thought out theories and interpretations of our time, but I'm still interested in hearing what others have in the way of interpretations. I found it fascinating, certainly not boring. -- Pardon me for breathing... Rich Rosen pyuxn!rlr