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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Thursday, March 28, 2024

Dreaming of Sandman: Dream tells the truth

Dreaming-of-Sandman
"Dreaming of Sandman," a column by Sadie Leite. Graphic by Asli Kocak.

The definition of truth, true and truths is a tricky thing.

When is a story true?

Volume 3 of “The Sandman” (1989–) series, “The Sandman: Dream Country” (1991) explores Neil Gaiman’s definition of truth. For him, something doesn’t have to be objectively true to be true. Truth is marked by its longevity and pressing impact on others.

Take Richard Madoc, for example, the protagonist of the first issue in this volume. Madoc is an author who writes one smashing book, but cannot write another.He is presented with Calliope –– a Greek muse. Madoc loses himself as he abuses her, and so her gift perverts him.

Writing is developed with time, so it is timeless. True stories are not forced by greed. At the end of the issue, the writer who imprisoned Calliope before Madoc faces a terrible, lonely death, just as Madoc will: His contrived fame will not last happily.

In the next issue, a house cat confronts her submissive title. She dreams, and Sandman tells her that if all cats dreamed it, they would rule the world

In comparison to Madoc, this cat infuses real passion in her hopes. She travels, using her story to encourage all cats to dream of a reality in which they rule over humans. She does not force an opinion on them, nor does she force her own. Thus, her message is true. She falls short, only because many cats are conditioned with uncertainty.

In the third issue, Gaiman gives us Shakespeare: stories that are undoubtedly true, as their impact in modern life is clear and will be far through the future.

“Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot,”Dream says to the Auberon of Dom-Daniel and Lady Titania, the king and queen of faeries.

Sandman invites them to watch Shakespeare’s play "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" (1600) as a parting gift –– the faeries are leaving the mortal world

The actors in the play are unaware they are telling the story of their audience. There are discrepancies in the play –– that are not objectively true –– which Auberon mentions to Dream. Dream’s response is perfect and true. The faeries’ history will be known by the human world forever, even with a few misplaced details, because Shakespeare’s writing and the messages it echoes are brilliant.

In the last issue, "Façade," there is a superhero made of all the elements. She can make anything, do anything she wants, but transforming into human flesh is difficult. Her anxiety surrounding social interaction isolates her, so she begs for Death. Death poetically explains to Element Girl that death is always present in the midst of life, but "You make your own hell ... Your life is your own, Rainie. So is your death."

Sandman will last with me because I love Neil Gaiman’s storytelling. This may differ for others; still, dreaming is a constant. And, Sandman will be there, in the purple shadows, ensuring your dreams are true.