Dream Translations

Carlos Fuentes’s dreamlike writing style obliterates the boundaries between past, present, and future in Aura. While I may still be somewhat uncertain on my overall understanding of the story, one thing I can tackle is deciphering Felipe’s dreams (I actually own the dream dictionary in the picture, don’t judge).

The Bell:

The first dream Felipe has mentions “a fleshless hand that comes toward you with a bell” (Fuentes 77). This bell appearance in his dream surely stems from the bell that Aura rings to signal a meal, however it also has deeper implications. The presence of a bell in a dream represents a warning or a call to order. It may also be a way for the unconscious to prepare the dreamer for whatever is happening next. What happens next is Felipe awakening to a faceless body caressing him and kissing his face, a body he mistakes for Aura. In this context, the bell could be a warning to the reader that something is not right—this entire physical scene seems out of character and sudden for Aura, especially when the body on top of Felipe whispers, “You’re my husband” (77) to which Felipe agrees without a moment’s hesitation. This is a major plot twist and clue that Felipe is in fact this woman’s husband and this woman is not who he thinks it is. He is not kissing Aura or Consuelo, but both, because they are one and the same—reflections of young and old.

The Teeth:

In the second dream, Felipe sees Señora Consuelo’s gums bleeding and toothless. Teeth are actually a very common element in anxiety dreams. One popular theory is that dreams about teeth reflect anxieties about physical appearance and how others perceive it. Obviously, teeth help to convey an image of attractiveness and play an important role in the game of flirtation, whether it be flashing those pearly white or kissing. Teeth also can show aging—they become yellow and rotten over time and Consuelo has supposedly had these teeth for over a hundred years so imagine that! Thus, Felipe’s tooth dream may symbolize a fear of rejection, sexual impotence and the consequences of getting old. To support this notion, a dream research found that women in menopause report to have frequent dreams about teeth. This further points to teeth dreams as being related to getting older and/or feeling unattractive and less feminine—anxieties that the aging Consuelo struggles with on a daily basis. One of the most important parts of this dream is the image of Consuelo’s yellow teeth superimposed onto the image of Aura’s face (95). Once again, through Felipe’s dreams, the reader is warned that Consuelo and Aura are in fact the same person.