I Sell My Dreams

By : Gabriel Garcia Marquez

About The Author :-
Gabriel Garcia Marquez has achieved
considerable appreciation for popularizing a
unique literary style coined as magic
realism. Marquez is widely known for his
literary works like, “Love in the Time of
Cholera” and the Nobel Prize winning novel,
“One Hundred Years of Solitude”.

Introduction Of The Story :-

“I Sell My Dreams” is an interesting story of
woman named Frau Frieda who wears a
snake ring with emerald eyes and who
earns money by selling dreams to wealthy
families.
Precise Summary Of The Story :-
The story begins at Havana Riviera Hotel.
The narrator was enjoying breakfast with
his friends when he witnessed a car
accident. When the crashed car was
airlifted by a crane, a woman’s dead body
was found from the ruins of the car in an
awful condition. Her face was destroyed
and her clothes were tattered.
After police inquiry, it was discovered that
the woman was the housekeeper for the
new Portuguese ambassador and his wife.
However, the narrator witnessed a familiar
accessory on the finger of the dead woman.
The accessory was a snake ring with
emerald eyes.
The sight of that ring on the finger of the
dead woman intrigued the memory of the
narrator and he recalled that he met a
woman thirty – four years ago in Vienna
who used to wear a similar ring. That
woman with whom the narrator got
acquainted in Vienna was Colombian, was
around thirty years old and she used to
speak a bit of Spanish. She was very
charming and the narrator was very
impressed by her personality.
The narrator started spending time with her
and came to know certain details of her life.
Since that woman never revealed her true
name to the narrator, therefore, the
narrator used to call her Frau Frieda. Frau
Frieda believed that she had the power of
foreseeing future.
At the age of seven years, she dreamt that
her brother drowned. She interpreted her
dream and claimed that the dream meant
that her brother should completely stop
consuming sweets. Her mother believed in
superstitions and therefore, she stopped
her son from consuming sweets. However,
her brother ultimately died while eating
caramel secretly.
Then, Frau Frieda began to use her skill of
seeing and interpreting dreams in order to
earn a livelihood. She was hired by a
woman in Vienna who gave her salary,
accommodation and adequate meals. In
return, she used to tell the host family
about their future at breakfast every day.
All the actions of the host family were
governed by the clairvoyance (the power of
foreseeing or predicting the future) of Frau
Frieda. When the master of the family died,
he left a part of his estate (property) for
Frieda on a condition that she would
continue to render her clairvoyant services
to his surviving family.
One night, in Vienna, Frau Frieda visited the
tavern in which the narrator used to reside.
She went to the narrator in order to inform
the narrator that she dreamt something
about him the other night and she advised
him to leave Vienna immediately. Since the
narrator believed in the mysterious powers
of Frau Frieda, therefore he left for Rome
instantly in the same night. Since that
episode, the narrator did not return to
Vienna.
The narrator again met Frau Frieda in
Barcelona. He was with Pablo Neruda (the
famous poet) and his wife Matilde. The
narrator introduced Frau Frieda to Pablo
Neruda. When the narrator told about the
mysterious powers that were possessed by
Frau Frieda, Neruda instantly announced
that he had no belief in
“prophetic dreams”.
However, Neruda was astonished when he
experienced the mysterious powers of Frau
Frieda. Neruda was asleep and he woke up
from his dream anxiously. He told the
narrator as well as Matilde that he saw
Frieda in his dream and he also saw that she
was dreaming about him.
The narrator and Frieda had to depart as
they had to go to different places. When he
met Frieda to say his goodbyes, she told
him that she dreamt about Neruda and she
also saw that Neruda was dreaming about
her. Since the narrator was already aware
of Neruda’s dream, he became extremely
shocked at Frieda’s confession about her
dream.
After that final goodbye, the narrator never
saw her again until the day on which he
witnessed her dead body. He was quite sure
that it was Frieda’s dead body because of
the familiarity of the accessory on her
finger.
Therefore, he went to the Portuguese
ambassador in order to talk about Frieda.
On meeting the ambassador, the narrator
discovered that even he was completely
overpowered and impressed by the magical
powers that were possessed by Frieda. The
narrator asked one last question to the
ambassador, “What did she do for you?”
The ambassador gave an expected answer
to this question and said, “She dreamed”.

Thematic Concerns Of The Story :-

1. The Ambiguity Created By
Metaphysics :- Metaphysical things are
those things that are beyond the
physical world. Metaphysics deals with
abstract things and ideas, which are
beyond the material reality. Since,
metaphysical things are abstract in
nature, they often lead to vagueness,
giving birth to ambiguity. In this story,
Frau Frieda possessed the power of
clairvoyance, that is, seeing and
interpreting dreams and foreseeing the
future on the basis of those dreams.
Such power seems unrealistic to the
 established material reality as a result of
which people do not ascertain their
belief in such powers. Yet, the existence
of such powers might be true, if the
metaphysical aspect of life is taken into
consideration in which there are many
abstract things, often beyond common
human perception and realities. Gabriel
Marquez has very beautifully
incorporated the metaphysical aspect of
life in this story, which creates a magical
aura in the minds of its readers.

2. Portrayal Of Dreams As a Source of

Power :- Through this story, Gabriel
Marquez has depicted dreams as a
relevant part of human life. He has
portrayed that dreams carry hidden
 potential meanings. If one knows the art
of interpreting dreams, one can attain
the power of predicting the unknown.
Hence, dreams can be considered as a
source of power. In this story, Frieda
possessed that magical power as a result
of which she had her control over a
family in Vienna where she was
appointed as a clairvoyant. She
exercised her power on the family
because of her mysterious skills because
of which, in that family, “even the
faintest sigh was breathed by her
order”.

3. Magical Realism :- Gabreil has also

portrayed magical realism in this story.
Magical realism is a style of fiction that
 depicts a realistic view of the modern
world while also adding magical
elements. Hence, the magical or
supernatural elements are presented in
an otherwise real – world or mundane
setting in the fiction that is centered on
magical realism. In this story, Frieda
possessed the magical power of seeing
and interpreting dreams and she used to
apply her magical power on various
people who got acquainted with her in
the real world.

4. Indefiniteness Of Power :- Lastly, this

story has showcased that the power
possessed by people is indefinite and
does not last forever. Through this story,
Gabriel Marquez has portrayed that
although Frieda possessed magical
powers, yet she was not able to predict
her own death. So, a woman who
shaped the future of others by using her
clairvoyance ultimately died a pitiful
death and with her death, her power
also came to an end.

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