“Almost Astronauts”: Short Stories Page: 12
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she should stay in a relationship speeding toward a premature end. This
obsession manifests in the dream-work, as it does in Davis' magical, floating
ladies. The displacement of anxiety prevents the story from veering into
sentimentality because it exposes the narrator's insecurity.
The narrator of "Sleep Walking," Phoebe, sees the fate of the relationship
in the dreams, which becomes evident in the exchange with her mother: "[I] tell
her about the plumber and the paintings. I leave out the part about the walls
crumbling" (Miller 30). She hides the imminent dread because she doesn't want
to acknowledge its existence; she prefers to live in a dream world. In the final
scene, we see that the narrator has chosen to keep dreaming, though she says
previously that she "could stop [the dreams] any time" (30). She relinquishes the
anxiety and embraces the fantasy life she has created. The antagonist, Zach,
does not share her desire; he says of his out-of-state job application, "I've never
wanted anything so badly in my whole life" (32). The narrator realizes she is not
the object of his desire, and "suddenly feels as though [she] can sleep for days
and days" (32); she still chooses the dream. The reader sympathizes with her
rather than pities her because she went there willingly-because the narrator
retains control.12
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Miller, Laura I. “Almost Astronauts”: Short Stories, thesis, May 2012; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc115120/m1/16/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .