Chapter 1: I Sell My Dreams

Answer. The image of the lady in the story will have different opinions from different readers. The readers can only imagine the image of a lady with varying conclusions without a proper description. The author successfully created the lady’s appearance of  a traditional fortune teller who wore a golden ring shaped like a serpent with emerald eyes. The narration gains a mysterious effect as the story moves on. Readers are left wondering about the lady and her magical ring, which might have helped the lady dream and interpret her dreams at the end of the story. This way, the author succeeds in telling the story effectively to gain the reader’s interest.

Answer. The craft of a master storyteller lies in interweaving imagination and reality, where storytelling impacts the readers effectively and takes the listeners to a virtual world, creating a connection with it. Storytelling should be more productive where the listeners get transferred to the actual world of the story. This story also illustrates this because the author’s craft in narrating the tale is revealed through his masterpiece. The author has described the story so effectively that it has impacted the readers, transforming them into the virtual world, making them more interested and engaging in the plot.

Answer. The last paragraph of the story highlights the discussion between the Portuguese ambassador and the author at the place where the lady used to work. After a few months, the conversation took place, but it contained contradictions even though the author knew what had happened with the lady and her job. Still, the author puts forward a question before the Portuguese ambassador about his dead housekeeper and what the lady does. The reply from the ambassador was that she did nothing but dream, which the author already knew.

Answer. Throughout the whole story, the author uses all techniques to create ironic elements in the story. The ironic factor is seen in the superstitious beliefs in human life. Though the characters appear realistic, the author has hidden the ironic element of the story’s mysterious side. The main ironic feature in the story is the appearance of a lady and superstitious beliefs. Another ironic aspect is the contradictory conversation between the Portuguese ambassador and the author highlighted in the last paragraph of the story. Even though the author knows the answer very well to what the lady does, he still raises the same question to the ambassador, which seems ironic.