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Through his dreams, IM is able to open a new part of his unconscious where he is able to reflect and make conclusions. Regardless of the subject of his dreams, they often result in allowing IM to explore his mind and learn new things about himself, furthering his journey to finding his identity.

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-The man who was sleepwalking and was physically assaulted by IM, completely oblivious to reality: "He, let us say, was lost in a dream world..." (14).

-IM has a dreamlike vision of listening to Louis Armstrong's singing, which speaks on racism and the history of slavery: "Then somehow I came out of it, ascending hastily from this underworld of sound to hear Louis Armstrong innocently.." (13).

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IM's grandfather haunts him in his Chapter 1 dream after the battle royal, where his words and laughter echo through his head after opening the briefcase in his dream.

Quote: "That night I dreamed I was at a circus with him and that he refused to laugh at the clowns no matter what they did. Then later he told me to open my brief case and read what was inside and I did, finding an official envelope stamped with the state seal; and inside the envelope I found another and another, endlessly, and I thought I would fall of weariness. 'Them's years,' he said. 'Now open that one.' And I did and in it I found an engraved document containing a short message in letters of gold. 'Read it,' my grandfather said. ' Out loud!' 'To Whom It May Concern,' I intoned. 'Keep This N*****-Boy Running.' "

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Mr. Norton spends a lot of the time in Chapter 3 being completely out of it and unconscious. Although his dreams are not discussed, his illness causes him to be unconscious for extended periods of time

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IM comes to the realization that the Brotherhood's work so far held no significance and affected very little. He compares his blind faith to being asleep and dreaming.

Quote: "All our work had been very little, no great change had been made. And it was all my fault. I'd been so fascinated by the motion that I'd forgotten to measure what it was bringing forth. I'd been asleep, dreaming" (444).

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Jim Trueblood has a very vivid dream in chapter 2 where he focuses on the appearance of a white woman. He escapes through a grandfather clock and runs down a tunnel. The weirdest part about this dream is that when he wakes up, he finds himself having intercourse with Matty Lou.

Quote:
"'I wakes up intendin' to tell the ole lady 'bout my crazy dream. Morning done come, and it's gettin' almost light. And there I am, lookin' straight into Matty Lou's face and she's beatin' me and scratchin' and tremblin' and shakin' and cryin' all at the same time like she's havin' a fit'" (59).

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In Chapter 13, he is brought back with a rush of homesickness to his childhood while he eats the yams. The sensations he experiences are dream-like as he is brought back and filled with nostalgia.

Quote: "I took a bite, finding it as sweet and hot as any I'd ever had, and was overcome with such a surge of homesickness that I turned away to keep my control. I walked along, munching the yam, just as suddenly overcome by an intense feeling of freedom..."

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Dreams have been around forever.

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IM has a disturbing dream in which he is visited by many people of his past: Brother Jack, Emerson, Bledsoe, Norton, Ras and others. They fight with him and even stab him, this pain described in detail by IM. He tells them that even with oppression, his descendants will continue fighting.

Quote:
"And I looked up through a pain so intense now that the air seeemd to raor with the clanging of metal, bearing, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE FREE OF ILLUSION.... And now I answered 'Painful and empty,' as I saw a glittering butterfly circle three times around my blood-red parts....And I laughed, 'I'm not afraid now'..." (570).

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In the epilogue, IM faces a series of very deep thoughts and unanswered questions about his life. Once again, his grandfather is mentioned and that his words were "revolved and revolved again" back to in IM's brain. While this is not exactly a dream. the entire epilogue is extremely reflective and meditative, giving off a sense of exploring his mind while unconscious. This deep meditation helps him make realizations about himself, his life, and his identity, concluding the novel and his time feeling pensive.