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  3. St Mary's School, Waverley, Johannesburg
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Essay

Dream Houses - essay

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This essay explores the multiple dream houses in the novel, The Dream House. It analyses the dream houses of each character as well as the accuracy of the title in describing the general atmosphere of the novel.

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  • November 26, 2019
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  • 2019/2020
  • Essay
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The Dream House Essay
Kate Jones
Topic 4


Higginson claims that, “When I came upon the title, all sorts of things fell into place.”
Carefully analyse how the title of The Dream House encapsulates the novel’s central
concerns.


The Dream House is an apt title for Higginson’s novel as it describes many of the novel’s
key ideas and themes. It encapsulates the idea of illusion versus reality, where Looksmart’s
return to Dwaleni allows Patricia to re-evaluate past events, especially that of Grace’s death,
and face its reality, rather than viewing the past as if it is merely a dream, with no influence
on the present. Furthermore, the title allows the reader to question whether Dwaleni itself is
a “dream house”, and to look at other dream houses in the novel.


The novel begins as Patricia “draws back the curtain to reveal the mist”, immediately
creating an atmosphere of uncertainty and lack of clarity, suggesting a dream-like state. This
atmosphere reflects Patricia’s attitude towards the past, which she believes “doesn’t amount
to much in the end” and views it as something which is not worth contemplating. In this way,
the events of the past are to Patricia a sort of “dream house”, in that her memories are, like
a dream or a misty valley, unclear and blurry. Looksmart’s return to the farm forces Patricia
to confront her role in the past, and specifically in Grace’s death. Before Looksmart’s visit,
Patricia viewed the event as a “sorry affair”, wherein Grace was at fault for “taunting the
dog”, but Looksmart forces her to acknowledge that “maybe [she] got it wrong”. He tells her
that he “saw it as murder” and “cannot forgive” her for viewing Grace as “less than human”,
and in doing so he partially lifts the “mist” on the past. Patricia’s subsequent conversations
with Beauty allow her to escape the dream-like state in which she lived, and to accept that
there is a “mystery that must run through all things”. As she begins to “find the truth for
[her]self”, she learns to face the reality of the past and to acknowledge that it is not simply a
dream or illusion.


In addition, the title forces the reader to question whether Dwaleni is a “dream house”, not
in the sense that events are unclear, but rather that it provides an environment in which the
characters feel most comfortable. As a child, Looksmart did view the farm as a sort of dream
house, feeling that it was “the very picture of luxury”. However, as he grew older, he began

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