Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Lathe of Heaven, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Limits of Utilitarianism
Dreams and the Limitations of Knowledge
Cosmic Balance
Power and Selfishness
Summary
Analysis
Dr. William Haber’s windowless office is located in the Efficiency Suite of the Willamette East Tower. Haber doesn’t have a real view of Mount Hood, but there’s a photographic mural of the mountain on one of the walls. Haber, a psychiatrist, asks his receptionist, Penny, to send in his next patient, Orr, when he arrives. Haber observes the blue sky and snow in the mural and wonders if the photo was taken in the 1960s or 1970s, before the Greenhouse Effect robbed Portland of blue skies and snowy peaks.
The fact that Haber is only granted an indirect view of Mount Hood in the form of a mural (as opposed to a direct view of Mount Hood through a window) suggests that he’s not an important enough doctor to receive a nice office with a view. Haber’s observation about the blue sky and snowy peak gives more information about the novel’s world: not only is there food scarcity and extreme poverty, but the population likely suffers from the effects of climate change, too.
Themes
George Orr arrives. He’s dressed unremarkably and sports a conventional hairstyle with a short beard. He’s “slightly undernourished,” though he appears to be in relatively good health otherwise. Haber thinks Orr is “unaggressive, placid, milquetoast, repressed, conventional.”
George Orr is the addict from Chapter 1. Haber appears to be the doctor with whom he will undergo therapy. Orr’s “slightly undernourished” figure suggests that the overpopulation and food scarcity that plague his world are so bad that people don’t have adequate access to food. Haber’s comments about Orr’s “unaggressive” and “conventional” appearance make Orr seem unintimidating and weak. Haber’s description implies that he feels superior to his patient.
Themes
Sensing Orr’s anxiety, Haber assumes a welcoming demeanor as he goes over Orr’s patient history, which notes a history of drug abuse and a recommendation for VTT. Haber asks Orr if he has bad dreams, and a look of terror appears across Orr’s face.
Haber’s responsiveness to Orr’s anxiety seems like a calculated attempt to maintain psychological control over their session together. Orr’s terrified response to Haber’s question about dreams implies that dreams have something to do with Orr’s drug use.
Themes
Haber tells Orr that he’s an oneirologist—a dream specialist—and guesses, correctly, that Orr had been using drugs to stop dreaming. Haber stresses the importance of the “dreaming state,” or “d-state,” explaining that a person who deprives themselves of dreams can become irritable, unfocused, and delusional. Haber invites Orr to talk about his bad dreams.
Haber regards dreaming and being in touch with one’s unconscious as an essential part of a balanced life. That Orr takes drugs to suppress dreaming implies that he has an opposite, more negative opinion about dreams and the unconscious.
Themes
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Orr admits that he’s afraid to dream but seems reluctant to continue. Haber suggests that Orr might be ashamed of the “lawlessness or “immorality” of his dreams. Orr agrees, though he admits that there’s something else he fears as well—something that Haber might not believe.
Haber’s comment about the “lawlessness” or “immorality” of dreams and the unconscious implies that a person’s waking, conscious experience may be characterized by lawfulness and morality. If this is true, it follows that society—the realm where a person spends their waking moments—provides the structure that keeps people from acting on the “lawlessness” of their dreams. Haber seems to be driving at a basic Freudian understanding of dreams as manifestations of the urges society forces people to repress, but Orr’s response to Haber’s claim suggests that Orr’s dream problem won’t be solved by mere psychoanalysis.
Themes
Orr tells Haber that his dreams have the ability to change reality. Haber thinks that Orr might be crazier than he’d originally thought and asks Orr for an example. Orr pauses before recounting a time when he was 17, and his Aunt Ethel, who was around 30 at the time and going through a divorce, came to live with Orr’s family in their small apartment. Ethel would sexually harass Orr, and he resented her for it. Ethel’s harassment would also give him bad dreams, during which Ethel would sometimes appear “disguised.” For example, in one dream, she was a white cat.
Orr’s recollection construes his dreams as his unconscious’s attempt to work through his bad feelings about Aunt Ethel. The fact that Ethel appeared “disguised” in these dreams implies that Orr’s unconscious was hiding or distorting the true nature of these feelings. Orr’s recollection of his dream proposes an inverse relationship between the unconscious mind and the truth, in which dreams confuse rather than enlighten the dreamer.
Themes
In one of Orr’s particularly “vivid” bad dreams, Ethel died in a car crash in Los Angeles. When Orr awoke from his dream the next morning, Ethel wasn’t there—nor had she been there, ever. And Orr knew this without having to ask: he “remembered” that Ethel really had died in a car crash six weeks ago, and that his dream merely functioned as “a sort of reliving something like what had actually happened.” However, Orr states, he also knew that Ethel’s death hadn’t existed until he dreamed of it, as he could also remember that Ethel had come to live with them, though there existed no evidence of this reality beyond Orr’s memory.
Orr’s dream seems to have acted—literally—on his unconscious desire to expel Ethel from his life: Orr claims that his dream actually, physically changed the course of reality by killing Ethel and creating a world where Orr was never a victim of her harassment. It’s unclear at this point whether Orr’s dreams really do have this power or if he’s suffering from some kind of delusional thinking.
Themes
Haber now realizes that Orr’s case will be more complex than he’d originally anticipated. He asks Orr why Orr’s mother didn’t notice this shift in reality the way Orr did. Orr explains that his dream actually “made a different reality, retroactively.” Because the new reality was retrospective, Orr’s mother had no memory of the former reality (the one in which Ethel was still alive). The reason Orr remembers both, he thinks, is because he was “there…at the moment of the change.”
Haber’s observation about the complexity of Orr’s case implies that he doesn’t believe Orr’s claims about his dreams, likely believing Orr’s claims to be the result of an unconscious, unrealized neurosis. Orr stands firmly behind his claim, though. Orr’s comment about remembering two versions of reality because he was “there…at the moment of the change” shows that, to Orr, dreams, the unconscious, and the actions that occur within them are just as real as the conscious world of waking life.
Themes
Haber asks Orr if he’s had any other dreams that have changed reality. Orr explains that he hasn’t in a long time, since he’s become scared of changing reality and come to question his right “to meddle with the way things go,” particularly if it’s his unconscious mind that’s doing the meddling.
Orr’s desire not “to meddle with the way things go” resonates with the Taoist idea that a person should strive not to interfere with the natural rhythm/balance of the universe. Orr’s skepticism toward the unconscious reflects a distrust toward the unknown and the irrational: he especially doesn’t want his unconscious messing with reality because the unconscious acts on impulses that Orr, in his waking mind, regards as baffling and immoral.
Themes
Haber asks Orr if he also has “safe” dreams—dreams that don’t change reality. Orr nods. Haber theorizes that Orr’s fear of dreaming is a metaphor for his inability to accept certain aspects of his waking life. He suggests that they make Orr dream “intentionally” and “under controlled conditions” to get to the bottom of Orr’s fears. Haber tells Orr he can hypnotize him to dream about specific things. He’ll hook up Orr to a “trancap” and have an EEG monitor the process so they can analyze what happened during those dreams.
Haber doesn’t believe in Orr’s claims and sees Orr’s fear of dreaming as a metaphorical expression of some underlying, inaccessible fear to which only Orr’s unconscious mind has access. Haber’s idea that dreaming “intentionally” can help Orr understand his dreams implies that “intentional” and “controlled” dreaming is the opposite of unintentional or unconscious dreaming, where “controlled” dreaming can be informative and productive, and where unconscious, uncontrolled dreaming is uninformative and unfocused. Haber’s distinction between controlled and uncontrolled dreaming reflects a worldview in which the unconscious, directionless mind is unproductive and irrational in comparison to the conscious mind, which is productive and rational.
Themes
Orr worries he won’t “dream effectively” in Haber’s office, since these dreams occur only sporadically. Haber tells Orr not to worry: he can guide Orr’s dreams via the trancap, which uses electrodes to stimulate the brain. He tells Orr about a severely depressed, insomniac patient he had a few years ago, through whom he developed a method of increasing d-sleep. Haber modified existing practices of electronic brain stimulation (ESB) to target a specific area of the brain, recording brain-wave records that occurred during d-sleep, and eventually creating a complex device called the Dream Machine, or Augmentor, which can make the brain of the person hooked up to it dream in a desired way.
Haber seems desperate to reassure Orr that the Augmentor is a perfectly normal, harmless machine. Haber’s desperation might suggest that he’s hiding something about the extent of the Augmentor’s powers, or his reasons for using it. Haber’s desire to exert conscious control over Orr’s “effective” dreams, which are normally beyond Orr’s ability to control, seems like a cause for concern.
Themes
Haber asks Orr if he’s willing to give it a try, handing him the HEW-required Consent to Hypnosis forms, which Orr signs, though somewhat apprehensively. Haber tells Orr that he’ll use “v-c induction,” which induces sleep, thereby bridging the gap between a waking or hypnotized state and a dreaming state. Haber then explains that he’ll use the Augmentor to force Orr into a dream state, thereby increasing the likelihood that Orr will have vivid dreams.
The “consent” forms Haber hands Orr are rather ironic—Orr must undergo treatment with Haber if he wants to avoid prison time, which basically gives him no choice but to go along with whatever method of treatment Haber deems acceptable.
Themes
Haber orders Orr to lie down on the couch and breathe deeply. He moves behind Orr and firmly presses his hand on Orr’s throat, and it gives him pleasure to exert “dominance over the patient.” Haber begins the hypnotic induction process, ordering Orr to close his eyes, relax, and go to sleep. Haber puts Orr into a trance that he’ll be able to induce whenever he touches him on the throat. Once Orr is deep within the trance, Haber places the trancap on Orr’s head and turns on the EEG, which begins to display the “subtle and complex” signals Orr’s brain produces.
Haber’s pleasurable response to exerting “dominance over the patient” shows that he likes to feel powerful. This should make the reader skeptical about what kind of treatment Orr will receive while under Haber’s care.
Themes
Haber tells the hypnotized Orr that he’ll go to sleep when Haber says the word “Antwerp,” and he’ll remain asleep until Haber says his name three times. While he’s asleep, he’ll have a vivid, “effective” dream about a horse. Haber says “Antwerp,” and the lines on the EEG screen become “stronger and slower.” The Augmentor records Orr’s s-sleep patterns. Suddenly, the lines become quicker, marking Orr’s entrance into the d-state. Haber lets Orr dream awhile before waking him.
Antwerp is a city in Belgium. According to folkloric tradition, the name is derived from the Dutch word “handwerpen,” or “hand-thrown,” which can refer to items thrown by hand, such as clay pottery that is thrown on the potter’s wheel. A potter’s wheel is a type of lathe, or a machine that shapes wood, clay, metal, etc. by rotating the material around an axis. In addition to alluding to the novel’s title, thus, Haber’s choice of the word “Antwerp” to put Orr into a trance sheds some light on Haber’s intentions with Orr’s dreams. Haber’s word choice implies that he wants to throw or shape the content of Orr’s dreams. This detail illustrates Haber’s thirst for power. It also suggests that Haber has no ethical qualms about meddling in other people’s business.
Themes
Haber detaches the electrodes from Orr’s scalp and asks him to recall his dream. Orr tells Haber he dreamed about the horse in the photo hanging on Haber’s wall. He asks Haber if anything seems off about the photo. Haber chuckles, noting that it might be rather “overdramatic” for the office. Orr asks Haber if the horse photo has been there the entire time: hadn’t the mural depicted Mount Hood before his dream about the horse? Haber suddenly remembers the other photo and realizes that Orr is right, though he keeps this information to himself and lies to Orr that the horse has been there the entire time. He offers to fetch Miss Crouch for another opinion, but Orr knows that she won’t remember the Mount Hood photo, either. Orr is disappointed, since he thought Haber’s role in prompting the effective dream might’ve given him a “double memory,” too.
That the Mount Hood mural now depicts a horse shows that Haber has successfully used hypnosis to influence Orr’s dreams. It’s unclear whether Haber chooses not to tell Orr that he is aware of the transformed mural for therapeutic reasons, or for reasons that are more nefarious in nature. The novel has already hinted that Haber likes to exert power over others, which is reason enough to be skeptical of Haber’s deceptive behavior. One additional detail to note is the symbolic relevance of the mural’s transformation. Orr dreams of the horse that replaces Mount Hood in direct response to Haber’s hypnotic suggestion, so Mount Hood’s disappearance symbolizes the transformative power of Haber’s influence over Orr’s dreams.
Themes
Haber instructs Orr to return tomorrow and prescribes him a medicine to inhibit vivid dreams. He promises to cure Orr in no time. After Orr leaves, Haber gazes uneasily at the imposing mural and wishes he could have a window in his office.
The image of Haber gazing at the mural that he coerced Orr to change, while he simultaneously thinks about other changes he’d like to see—such as an upgraded office with a view—foreshadows Haber’s possible plans to use Orr’s effective dreams to improve his own circumstances.
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