The following questions are taken from your blog posts…
On Dreams
Did the books concept of dreams fall in line with your own concept? Do you see people you know in your dreams? Have any of your dreams become real life? Do you believe that dreams have a practical function? Have you ever seen someone to help you decipher your dreams?
Why do you think it’s The Society of Reluctant Dreamers?
What do you think the dream machine signified? What was the point of the whole narrative to capture and record dreams?
How does dreams affect one’s life?
Question: On page 171, it is stated “it might be possible for us to remember future events, if they’re very important or very traumatic.” On a similar note, the book suggests that “foreshadowing dreams” can be true. Do you think this idea of a “foreshadowing dream” was mentioned in a literal way – as in, do you think the author actually believed this idea was plausible? Or did the author want to imply a parallel between dreams and literature, trying to suggest that literature can affect the future?
Do you feel that dreams always have deeper meanings?
If someone came up to you and offered to record your dreams for you and show them to you in the form of a short movie, would you do it?
What do you make of your dreams? Do you try to interpret them and find a deeper meaning or are they just completely random to you?
On Society
What benefits do you think having a Dream Lab in our society would be? How would it change our everyday life?
On Politics
Do you think the incorporation of dreams into this story offers an opportunity for censorship, or does it maybe offer a suggestion of utopia and dreaming of a better reality? How do you view these different storylines working together?
The “dreamers” of Agualusa’s book are not limited to those who experience premonitions and future events while they’re asleep, but also the idealists and liberals who dream of Angola becoming “a free, just, democratic country”, instead of one in which an authoritative government reigns and inequalities prevail in every nook and corner. My question is, whether you agree with my concluding observations or if you think the dreams served a different purpose altogether in the book?
What are some potential roles of postcolonialism and postmodernism in Angolans’ struggle for freedom as portrayed by Agualusa?
The question I now pose to you is about pacifism. Do you think it can only exist in fantasy? Or can it survive in our current world?
On the Characters
What was your favourite character and why? What dreams did you find most relatable?
Was there any one character in particular that you related to? Was there anything about their personality, passion, desire for justice, passiveness that was relatable? Also, as a more general question, what do you think are the purpose of dreams? Are you the type of person to forget them as soon as you wake up or the type of person to write dreams down every morning in a dream journal – and why?
What did you think of Moira and Daniel’s relationship?
Other
“Let us always remember that to dream is to look for ourselves” Bernardo Soares/ Fernando Pessoa. What does this quote mean to you? What do you think was the intention of the author of opening the book with it?
I noticed that the baobab tree is mentioned many times throughout the novel; this could be attributed to it simply being a part of the setting, but do you think it could represent something more? Does it symbolise anything?
What do you think is the purpose of Daniel and Moshe Dayan’s story?
Armando mentions that “people should only be allowed to marry when lucid” (11), do you agree with his belief that marrying someone when you’re in love with them is the same as drunk driving?
Did you feel that the different writing styles were easy to follow, or were you often confused on how the story shifted?
What did this story teach you about something you already knew?
