Einstein’s Dreams

1. Einstein’s Dreams Ryan Newill, Brody Franzen, Alexander Mott, Marissa Di Camillo

2. Background • Born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1879 to father, Hermann, and mother, Pauline. • Father was an engineer and salesman, and mother came from a family in the farming industry • Einstein was brought up in a Jewish household, but did not practice Judaism

3. Einstein first gained interest in how things worked when around the age of ten, his father showed him a pocket compass. Albert became enthralled with the concept that something inside the device caused the needle to move. • Soon after, Einstein began his studies in the fields of math and science with Euclid's Elements, a book written in 300 BC consisting of various mathematical postulates, proofs, and theorems.

4. In December 1894, Einstein moved against his family’s intentions, to Pavia, Italy. It was during this time that he published his first essay, entitled, “On the Investigation of the State of the Ether in a Magnetic Field.” • Attended the University of Zurich, with average grades in the humanities, but exceptional grades in physics and mathematics.

5. Einstein had a daughter with his future wife, Mileva Marić, in 1902. Information about this daughter was lost after 1903. • Einstein married Marić in 1903, and had two sons, Hans Albert and Eduard. They divorced in February 1919. • In June of 1919, Einstein married again to his maternal first cousin, Elsa Löwenthal. They immigrated to the US in 1933, and Elsa died shortly after in 1936. Above: With Maric With Elsa

6. Theory of Relativity • Changed the field of physics, as time and space could no longer be viewed as separate entities. The theory proposed that time was no longer uniform, but dependent on velocity. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpbGuuGosAY&feature=player_detailpage#t=86s

7. Prologue • Perception of time is sequential; each experience occurs one after another • Time in the prologue is in present tense, and not in a dream. Hence, time is orderly and precise. • Includes multiple references of dreams and sleep and their outward effect on people (woman who cannot sleep, Einstein as young patent clerk) Above: Sleep

8. Prologue Relation to Sound and Fury • Most closely connected to the Dilsey section, as she is the only character who can perceive time in a orderly manner • Dilsey is able to perceive time in relation to order and care, just like the narrator in the prologue

9. 14 April 1905 • “Suppose time is a circle, bending back on itself. The world repeats itself, precisely, endlessly” (6). • This universe is the first, therefore it seems to be the simplest and the most easily relatable to how time seems to work in our universe • Every event happens an infinite amount of times, stretching on into the future and the past without end • There are certain people who can sense that time is a circle, and realize that they cannot escape their mistakes

10. Relation to The Sound and the Fury • This universe relates the most to Benjy’s sense of time: Benjy, too, relives moments in his past as if he were in them for the first time • Benjy does not realize the loss of Caddy, he is under the impression that she will return • “For in each town, late at night, the vacant streets and balconies fill up with their moans” (9). • Benjy moans constantly as he relives his memories, and if one thing is out of place, he immediately knows something is wrong. Unlike the people in Einstein’s Dreams, however, Benjy moans to try and fix deviations from his normality.

11. Relations to our own sense of time • Both authors, through saying that time is circular, mean for us to feel trapped in repetition. Circular time takes away our sense of free will, because if anything is happening, it has already occurred at some point in the past, and therefore must be repeated identically. • Since our own time does not seem to be circular, do you think free will is possible here?

12. April 16, 1905’s Unique Time • Lightman uses a metaphor: • Time = flow of water • “Now and then, some cosmic disturbance will cause a rivulet of time to turn away from the mainstream, to make connection backstream” (10). • People from the future are very obvious: • They wear “dark, indistinct clothing” (10). • Only whimper and whisper • Hidden in shadows • Constantly afraid of upsetting the time they are in • Never questioned about the future • Suddenly transported unwillingly back to their present (back to the mainstream)

13. April 16, 1905: Connection to Benjy • “He is an exile of time” (12). • Passersby ignore both of them and pity their sufferings • Benjy and the people from the future are both extremely scared to “make the slightest alteration in anything” (12). • Benjy: needs a sense of order to stay calm • Travelers from the future: afraid of the chance that one alteration in the past could cause the destruction of the future • Benjy and the travelers both are forced to go back in time: • Einstein’s Dreams:Debris or breeze in the river of time • The Sound and the Fury :Triggers of old memories of Caddy

14. April 16, 1905: Connection to Quentin • Quentin, like Benjy, cannot adjust well to change: • EX: Caddy’s loss of virginity and promiscuity • Completely opposite Quentin’s desire to stop time • The Sound and the Fury: the flow of time is irreversible • Einstein’s Dreams: time can be re-winded and the past can be rewritten

15. April 16, 1905: Connection to The Sound and the Fury • Every action is influential and interconnected with the actions of others: • In The Sound and the Fury each section continually makes the overall story and outcome clearer. • Major Theme: • Never take anything for granted, whether it is a simple action or your perception of the world around you, because one slight alteration or discovery can redefine your life.

16. April 16, 1905: Connection to Einstein’s Life • Address continually referred to: no. 19 Kramgasse, no. 22 Kramgasse, etc. • Owned a flat on the 2nd floor of Kramgasse No. 49 from 1903-1905 • Annus Mirabilis Papers • Eistein’s Theory of Relativity: There is no absolute time, and “there is no absolute motion.” • The river doesn’t have to flow in one main stream of water straight downstream • EX: debris, breeze

17. April 16, 1905: Problem to the Modern Man • There are no certainties in life if people constantly travel back in time: • Every day there is a chance that everyone around you may no longer exist because a traveler from the future may alter your future life, or the present time you live in. • The travelers from the future envy those who are ignorant of the future: • Lightman makes the audience realize that the present is the only time that you can directly control, so don’t try to quickly skip through parts of your life, because anything could be an influential factor in your future.

18. April 16, 1905: Final Inquiry Questions • If, in our lifetime, time travel is a reality, who would want to rewrite history without knowing the possible outcomes of your actions? (Remember that any slight alteration could cause disastrous events.) • Using the analogy of time to the flow of a river, how would you classify each of the following characters’ perception of time: • Benjy, Quentin, Jason, and Dilsey

19. 19 April 1905 • Time moves in 3 directions • “At every point of decision… the world splits into three worlds, each with the same people but with different fates for those people” (22) • After 1 minute of 1 decision per second, there are 42,391,158,280,000,000,000,000,000,000 worlds • There are two schools of thought in this world • Some believe that the choices one make don’t matter because all possible outcomes will occur • Some believe that each decision must be committed to, or else there will be nothing but chaos

20. 19 April 1905 • Connects most to Benjy • Benjy’s has no perception of time, so everything that has ever happened to him or will ever happen to him seems to occur simultaneously • Benjy’s perception relies heavily on what he perceives as normal, and any deviation from normal throws his ordered world into chaos

21. 19 April 1905 • Also connects to Quentin • Quentin seemed to have the most potential of all the Compson children, but ultimately dies the most miserable • Faulkner portrays only one history out of many possible histories for Quentin

22. This universe with many different worlds creates a complex situation for the modern man. • If everything that could ever happen will happen, does anything we do really matter? • Conversely, we can be comforted by the idea that there exists somewhere a world that is better than our own.

23. 24 April 1905 • This universe has two times • Mechanical time • Bodily time • The mechanical time is “unyielding, predetermined” (Lightman 18) • The bodily time “makes up its mind as it goes along” (18) • “Each time is true, but not the same.”

24. 24 April 1906: Relation to The Sound and the Fury • This universe relates to Quentin’s sense of time • He is obsessed with mechanical time, but tries to break away from it • “And so as soon as I knew I couldn’t see it, I began to wonder what time it was” (Faulkner 77). • Quentin also wants to break away from bodily time • Why does Quentin try so hard to break away or ignore time?

25. 24 April 1906: Relation to The Sound and the Fury • The universe also relates to Benjy • Benjy doesn’t have a sense of time in general, but his reality only consists of past events triggered by things in the present • Benjy is on bodily time

26. 24 April 1906: Relation to The Sound and the Fury • “Where the two times meet, desperation. Where the two times go their separate ways, contentment” (Lightman 21). • Lightman is trying to say that if we try to mix a rigid system of time with what our bodies feel, then problems may occur • Faulkner expresses a similar viewpoint through his characters • This universe presents a problem for the modern man because it tries to mix a fixed system of operations with what nature or our body tries to feel