Summary

“The Sleeper Wakes” began with Daunt in a sleeping state. He used to imagine falling asleep was like being submerged in water, like a photo he saw as a child. He recalled experiences fluidly, like meeting his wife at 20 years old, and her death. He recalled pieces of his childhood as well as his imagined child, “the one he failed to make with Miriam” (135). He imagined a war-ravaged terrain that slowly manifested into the contours of his face as he awoke. He felt physical pain and could not open his swollen eyes. He pried them open to see the child who entered the room and, along with the pain caused by the light, registered that the child in front of him was the child in his dreams. Daunt confirmed that she was not his.

Robin Armstrong was expected by...