In the film, The Matrix by Andy and Larry Wachowski present one of the major characters in the film, Thomas A. Anderson, as a normal working class man, who is having dreams and he is unsure of why these dreams occur. The dreams Mr. Anderson has starts to affect his life and will later make sense to him throughout the film. In this paper I will explain how dreams are complex and have an effect on people lives and how The Matrix depicts different types of dreams within the film. In the film The Matrix, Andy and Larry Wachowski describe how computers make dreams feel like reality and how reality feels like a dream. Through the theories of Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams and Lucid Dreaming, Dreams of Clarity. 
When people are dreaming they do not know that they actually go to another world, which is called dream world. In the film The Matrix, the main character Thomas A. Anderson, known as Neo, dreams of another world. This actual dream world seems so real to Neo. As Neo was speaking to his friend, he says “You ever have that feeling where you're not sure if you're awake or still dreaming?” To Neo dreams seem so real that he confuses dreams with reality.
In reality “Dreams help humans to strengthen their memories, so they make sense of their myriad experience and keep their emotions in check”, were according to Freud. Therefore in the film Neo has a lot experience with his dreams so that he is able to develop and control them. There are two different kinds of sleep “REM and NON-REM. REM sleep is defined where there is no characteristic pattern of brain activity corresponding to dreaming,” while “non-REM sleep is defined when dreams tend to be sparse and more thought light but without the complexity, length and vivid hallucinatory quality of REM dreams” (Emma 2-3). “However both dreams hold a mirror to human waking lives” (Emma 2). This point of view of how Emma talks about Freud shows how the film depicts different kinds of dreams, but still helps Neo to see his dreams as an strength to find out who he is as a person.
Neo has been having some technical difficulties with his computer and did not know what he was seeing on his computer screen was real or was it a dream. Neo goes to a party where he first meets Trinity, another main character in the film. He finds out what he saw on his computer was because of Trinity, Neo asks Trinity “It was you on my computer. How did you do that?” But she refuses to tell him about the situation with his computer and she warns him that they are coming for him. Trinity responds to Neo by saying “Right now all I can tell you is that you're in danger. I brought you here to warn you” Neo does not know what Trinity is trying to say or what she is warning him of. Neo has been searching for a guy name Morpheus for a very long time, trying to get his help and find out why he has these dreams. However Trinity knows Neo has been searching for Morpheus because she once was like him. Trinity stated while speaking to Neo “You’re looking for him. I know, because I was once looking for the same thing.” She explains to Neo that he will find the answers to his question. Neo’s question was “What is the matrix”? In response Trinity replies to Neo by saying “the answer is out there, Neo. It’s looking for you. And will find you, if you want to.” After Neo’s talk with Trinity, this became the new beginning of his life and how everything started to develop and change.
In The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud describes how he views dreams as “once in a lifetime.” According to Freud “Dreams no longer were supernatural communication or divine interventions; they became the windows into the hidden self” (Emma 2). This is just like Neo, for example when he sees The Matrix world with him in it he is unsure of what it means or why he dreamed it. Neo is bothered by the world that he lives in and is trying to make sense of it. He is not sure that the world that he believes to be real is everything but the world he knows. Neo receives a phone call from Morpheus saying “they got to you first, but they’ve underestimated how important you are. If they knew what I know you’d probably be dead.” Neo is now confused of what Morpheus is trying to tell him about his encounter with the agents that came for him at his office, offering him to help them find Morpheus as well. The agents are sentient programs who are capable of controlling The Matrix. Neo replies to Morpheus “what are you talking about. What is happening to me?” But then he discovers that he is the chosen one and had to find out about The Matrix. Morpheus stated “you are the one, Neo. You see you may have spent the last few years looking for me, but I’ve spent my entire life looking for you. Now do you still want to meet?” Neo was finally going to meet Morpheus for the first time, this was what he been waiting for and it is happening.
Neo dreams of The Matrix start to form into reality, and he starts to understand the dreams he had were actually real. The film shows us the viewers that the world that was taken to be real is actually the imaginary world. The world that Neo thought was imagined in his dream which was The Matrix is the world that turns out to be reality. Another main character in the film is Morpheus whose name stands for “the son of sleep, and the god of dreams. The name signifies the fashioner or moulders, because he shaped or formed the dreams which appeared to the sleeper.” (Ovid1). In the film Morpheus is the one who helps Neo to make sense of the dreams he was having. Neo is taken to this place called Nebuchnezzar lead by Trinity. The Nebuchnezzar is a ship that is a hovercraft computer world where Morpheus and his team live. When Neo meets Morpheus he is giving an option of taking two different kinds of pills. One pill was red, and this pill was for if Neo wanted to be expose to what Morpheus has to show him and about the world that he been living in and be prepared for what is going to happen next. The other pill was blue, where Neo can forget about everything that he experienced on the Nebuchnezzar and return to his normal life as nothing ever happen. However Neo has chosen to take the red pill instead of the blue one. After Neo has taken the red pill he is now led in to a room filled with computers by Morpheus. Then Neo is placed in a chair and wires are attached to his chest and inserted into his ear, and his appearance is different. Morpheus explains to Neo about the pill that he has taken is a trace program that will help him and his associates, who are Apoc, Switch, Cypher, Tank, Dozer and Mouse, to find Neo’s location. Morpheus stated, “The pill you took is part of a trace program. It’s designed to disrupt your input/output carrier signal so we can pinpoint your location.” Neo did not know what Morpheus was to explaining to him at the time. Neo response was “what does that mean?” Neo’s body was all ready located into the complex where the computers keep people’s bodies.
“Lucid dreams is different from other dreams because the dreamer is conscious of his state and at the same time knows that he can decide and act freely; understanding and will function as well as the memory of the wakeful existence and switch themselves on” (Holzinger 2). This brings me back to the film when Neo and Morpheus are hooked up to the machines when Morpheus tests Neo ability to jump from one building to the next. Morpheus says to Neo "you have to let it all go, Neo, fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind.” Neo is surprised and shocked with the jump Morpheus did, therefore he decided to let his mind act freely. Neo stated "all right, no problem. Free my mind. Free my mind. Alright.” Dreams can help people to act in ways they could never imagine and let them do what they cannot do as if they were awake, just like Neo. “In 1936, A.E Brown developed a technique through which a dreamer could prove to themselves that they are dreaming: he recommended jumping in the air to test the perception of the force of gravity” (Holzinger 2). The world that Neo is in now is based upon gravity; Morpheus stated that "this is a sparring program, similar to the programmed reality of The Matrix. It has the same basic rules, rules like gravity. Neo has to let his mind be as one with gravity in order to excel in this computer world. The reason for this is so that Neo can be able to move faster than he thinks he can. Morpheus speaking to Neo “what are you waiting for? You’re faster than this. Don’t think you are known you are” and Neo reply was “I know what you’re trying to do.” Morpheus tries to free Neo’s mind and help him find himself, as he mentioned “you’re the one that projection of your digital self. However Neo still does not believe any of it and he says “this isn’t real?” Furthermore how can he believe it is real if he never knew what The Matrix was all about? Morpheus in forces the question “what is real. How do you define real?” Everything around Neo may seem real because it is a signals interpreted by his brain and this is the world that he is use to, little do Neo know that the world that he been living in is the dream world all along. “The Matrix is a computer generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this” stated Morpheus. What he means by this is when he shows Neo the fields and explains to him “human beings are no longer born and they could be fed to intravenously to the living.” Now at this point Neo wanted out and could not take what Morpheus was telling him any further. However it was too late for Neo to turn back now therefore he had to accept reality for what it is and how it will be if nothing is done. 
Even within the real world on the Nebuchnezzar everything the crew all experiences while being plugged into a core where they hack into the matrix is real. Morpheus stated “this is the core where we broadcast our pirate signal and hack into the matrix.” This brings my attention back to Lucid Dreams, according to Holzinger “lucid dreams are dreams during which the dreamer recognizes the dream state and is able to act upon volition” (Holzinger 5-6). At the Lafayette Hotel Neo has a déjà vu, in this case he fulfill three through seven factors of lucid dreams. And these factors are “awareness of memory functions; awareness of identity; awareness of the dream environment; awareness of the meaning of the dream; and awareness of concentration and focus” (Holzinger 5). When Neo sees this déjà vu he is aware of what he saw not once but twice. Neo stated while talking to Trinity “nothing, I just had a little déjà vu.” Trinity asks him “what did you see?” and Neo response was “a black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.” After Neos’ déjà vu that’s when they all have became aware of the meaning of it. Trinity said “déjà vu is usually a glitch in the matrix. It happens when they change something.” In other words the agents had trapped them in the Lafayette Hotel. When Morpheus and his crew members and including Neo are in The Matrix world, and they are fighting against the agents it is real because their bodies feel it. Even though they are freeing their minds their bodies still can feel pain. Also, in the film when they are trapped in the Lafayette Hotel and Mouse gets caught by the agents he is shot to death. As he dies at the hotel, Tank can see his lifeless body back on the ship. This shows even in a dream or a computer dream the mind controls the body actions within that dream. 
Dreams make reality looking different than we may expect it to be. The film, The Matrix by Andy and Larry Wachowski, The Interoperation of Dreams by Freud and Lucid Dreams clarify how Neo dreams made him see the world in a different prospective. Even though he would not have know what the world was really like and what his dreams meant if it was not for the help of Morpheus. Neo’s dreams felt so real because they meant something in his life. He has been the chosen one and can now help others to see and believes that the world they know to be real is not the actual real world but rather a dream world.
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