“latent content”. In this case, he has lost memories about things he had done as Tyler,
which indicates a flaw on his conscious construction during the “dream state”. The charac-
ter development becomes more of the protagonist’s views of himself than reliable informa-
tion about other people.
Overall, self-identification and dream are somehow inseparable. I’d like to end all
of this with a classic Chinese story: an ancient philosopher called Zhuangzi recorded a
dream of his becoming a butterfly, as if he reincarnated into the identity of it that he forgot
himself as Zhuangzi. So, was Zhuangzi the one who’s dreaming, or was it the butterfly?
Could people differentiate reality from illusionary, or there’s no illusionary at all? When
we all fall asleep, where do we go?