Dreamcatcher ending (spoilers!)

[thepunisher82]

I seem to have misinterpreted the book when I read it and I'm hoping someone can clear it up for me. I got the impression that Mr. Gray was a total fabrication in Jonesy's mind and that he was never actually taken over by an alien force. It has been a few months, but I remember 2 reasons why I thought that. The first was that Henry told Jonesy something about Mr. Gray stopped existing at Hole-in-the-Wall, and the second was when they were with the government doctors in the epilogue Jonesy is able to revert to Mr. Gray while under hypnosis. Every topic I've read in this board about "Dreamcatcher" makes no mention of this so I'm assuming that I veered off course somewhere around Jonesy and Henry at the "hospital" bed with Mr. Gray. I intend to give the book a re-read before my last 3 "Dark Tower" novels arrive from Amazon next week, but I wanted some clarification before I started again.

[Damaris]

I read it the same way and was equally confused. It's been a few years and I don't have a copy on hand to buck up on it so I'm afraid I'm no help at all. :sad: I figured Mr. Gray could return under hypnosis because, at some level, Jonesy was indeed part of Mr. Gray and that imprint would always remain. But as for what Henry said ... I've no idea.

[boogerb53]

Now, see. I thought Mr. Gray was real, thus Duddits warning to watch out for him. I always thought he was real and entered Jonesy's mind.:umm:

[Dani~]

Didn't Mister Gray infect Jonsey's mind when his (Mr. Gray's) physical body was killed? So that when Henry says that Mr. Gray stopped existing at the hole in the wall he meant his body was dead and so his mind must also be? Not sure about that.

In any case, I think Damaris is right in that; Jonesy and Mr. Gray are both in Jonesy's mind, (permanently) and hypnosis allowed him to show himself briefly.

[mstay]

I thought the exact same thing when I finished it...I seem to remember something about the bacon he ate.

I haven't found anyone else either who thought that. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one.:smile2:

[thepunisher82]

The impression I was left with was that when the alien explodes near Jonesy after a ****-weasel had killed his friend, he went insane and reverted to an alternate personality he invented in the hospital after his accident. The powers that Duddits gave them made it much more complicated, and I thought that even Duddits may have had a hand in it because he wanted to see his friends before he died. There was something about Jonesy being immune to the byrus as well. You know, I'm just going to re-read it and see if I draw the same conclusion again.

[boogerb53]

I thought the exact same thing when I finished it...I seem to remember something about the bacon he ate.

I haven't found anyone else either who thought that. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one.:smile2:

Riiiiggghhttt! The bacon! Mr. Gray ate the bacon then couldn't stand it when Jonesy, um, evacuated his bowels.

[Dani~]

Yes that is the alternate interpretation, I don't know if that is true or if the alien who explodes in front of him is Mr. Gray and at the moment of his death, he moves into Jonesy.

[Dani~]

Remember also that Duddits mentioned Mr. Gray's name to Jonesy way back when they were still kids. He knew then that Mr. Gray existed for them in the future. I don't think he meant that Jonsey would be developing a split personality. But I suppose it could go either way. This novel is a bit of an enigma.

[Boni]

I think Mr. Gray wasn't a powerful alien force after all, he sure controled Jonesy's mind, but Jonesy could have stopped him anytime. Actually, to measure the power of his control, I wouldn't say "control", but "suggest". Jonesy, of course, was too scared to realize he was stronger than Gray, only worring about stay hidden in his secret room inside his mind.

[The Outsider]

I think Mr. Gray was more a disease than anything. The novel hints at him not actually being an intelligence but something that "infected" Jonesy, and all Jonesy had to do was shrug it off like a cold. Mr Gray may have been all the book said, or he could have been a figment of Jonesy's imagination.

Maybe si, maybe no.

[JRM]

I was sooo confused half the time! LOL! I wish we knew exactly what happened. Can Miss Mod help us out here?

[Miss.DarkSunshine]

i read it the same way also i just assumed that Mr.Gray was just a figment of his imagination. If anyone knows the full truth i would love to know.

[Doc Wilson]

Henry explains it in the epilogue. If Jonesy hadn't been tapped into Duddits' psychic power, it would have ended with "Mr Gray's" explosion at the hole in the wall, because Jonesy was immune. Duddits was the dreamcatcher, though, a web of psychic force uniting them all, and somehow the alien spore's intent, its darwinian will to live, used that to infect Jonesy psychically, but not physically.

[LarryO]

Henry explains it in the epilogue. If Jonesy hadn't been tapped into Duddits' psychic power, it would have ended with "Mr Gray's" explosion at the hole in the wall, because Jonesy was immune. Duddits was the dreamcatcher, though, a web of psychic force uniting them all, and somehow the alien spore's intent, its darwinian will to live, used that to infect Jonesy psychically, but not physically.

My thoughts were that the red spores were the real 'evil aliens' and that the Grays that crash-landed did so because they were infected by the red spores and it drove them crazy. Much like the Aliens in Alien, they take on different forms at different stages of their life or to infect different hosts. (i.e. the **** Weasel vs. the Face-Grabber)
I think 'Mr Gray' was a red spore infection that took over Jonesy's body (and mind.)

p.s. I think this is my 19th post - woo hoo!

[jajatoff]

Henry explains it in the epilogue. If Jonesy hadn't been tapped into Duddits' psychic power, it would have ended with "Mr Gray's" explosion at the hole in the wall, because Jonesy was immune. Duddits was the dreamcatcher, though, a web of psychic force uniting them all, and somehow the alien spore's intent, its darwinian will to live, used that to infect Jonesy psychically, but not physically.

Exactly how I feel. I look at Duddits as an enabling force (the dreamcatcher). I guess the best way I'd describe it is almost like Mr Grey was software - a type of viral software - an almost biological, organic artificial intelligence that ran on Jonesy's computer (brain) using Duddits (operating system). OK, well it's a bad example, I know, but the whole thing of alien life being assumed to be anything like us is taken to task in this story - 'it's life Jim, but not as we know it'. Intelligence but not as we know it. A life force that uses other life *forms* and which might operate differently from world to world but with the basic aim of staying alive and spreading.

This whole concept is brilliant and a real relief from the usual alien stuff. Did greys exist? Probably, as hosts. Were they just bigger weasel's (a la the movie)? No. Definitely not.

There might, I guess, be a closer parallel to the classic 'Who Goes There?' by John W. Campbell, Jr., in that the byrus may dynamically evolve into different physical creatures I guess.... but that's off topic probably. Sorry, this stuff is so fascinating and everyone's posts are so stimulating. :)