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The Sopranos: Season 4 Analyzed; Week 11

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Wherefore Crickets?

From: Daniel Menaker
To: Jodi Kantor, Glen Gabbard, Margaret Crastnopol, Phil Ringstrom, and Joel WhitebookPosted Monday, Nov. 25, 2002, at 12:34 PM ET

Who are these people?

One of the (impressive) Fray-joiners has already come close to—if not landed squarely on—this interpretation, I believe, and it makes sense to me. The dream comes after Tony has said goodbye to Melfi, so I assume it represents an unconscious effort to retreat. When one takes into consideration the crappy-housing scam that Tony is practicing and trying to protect—poor Vic the Appraiser; has anyone reaped more fully and pathetically what he has sown?—this dream of being a builder becomes especially poignant. And dramatically satisfying. But what did the dream's loud crickets mean?

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Wherefore Crickets?

From: Daniel Menaker
To: Jodi Kantor, Glen Gabbard, Margaret Crastnopol, Phil Ringstrom, and Joel WhitebookPosted Monday, Nov. 25, 2002, at 12:34 PM ET
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Glen O. Gabbard, M.D., is a professor of psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and author of The Psychology of The Sopranos, inspired by this discussion. Philip A. Ringstrom, Ph.D., Psy.D., is a senior faculty member at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles. Joel Whitebook, Ph.D., is on the faculty of the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. Margaret Crastnopol, Ph.D., is on the faculty of the Northwest Center for Psychoanalysis. All are practicing therapists as well. Daniel Menaker is the author of The Treatment, a novel about therapy, and is executive editor at HarperCollins. Judith Shulevitz writes the "Close Reader" column for the New York Times Book Review. Jodi Kantor is Slate's New York editor.
COMMENTS

Notes From The Fray Editor:

Dan Menaker refers to a poster who came up with the masonic theory of the second dream above. That poster is none other than the always-eager liviasghost. (For now, she is liviasghost-2, but we'll work on that.)

Remark From The Fray:

I am still trying to figure this dream out.
Tony appears as a poor Italian immigrant showing up at a mansion to do masonry work.
I thought the figure on the steps was Livia.
I know Tony has told both his kids about the stonemasons who built the church and how much reverence he has for these "foot soldiers" but I still can't put the dream together.

-- liviasghost-2

(To reply, click here.)

(11/25)

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