Stand By Me – Gordie’s dream in relation to Odyssey 9

 

Both Gordie’s dream about his brother’s funeral and Penelope’s dream in the Odyssey are symbolic dreams brought on by guilt. Gordie’s is brought on by the feeling his father wishes it was him who had died in place of his brother and Penelope’s guilt is brought on by the many suitors trying for her hand while waiting for Odysseus to return. Both feature hyper-realistic dream-states, Gordie’s being the memory of his brother’s funeral, and Penelope’s being woken by Odysseus in the room that night. In both cases they wake from the dream upset, and crying, “I lie on my bed, and the sharp anxieties swarming thick and fast on my beating heart torment my sorrowing self”. Showing that the guilt has affected them when both dreaming and awake, this connects the audience in a more emotional way to these characters seeing them suffer with the guilt of the past. Moreover, both need to be comforted afterwards, Gordie by his friend and Penelope by her ladies maids.