https://troubador.co.uk/bookshop/sci-fi/huckleberry-dreaming
The book opens with Carney’s dream of the machine and the
golden boxes. Why do you think this dream becomes such an important part of his
life later on?
Carney isn’t psychoanalyzed at any point, and he doesn’t dig
into the reasons for the dream, so it’s never discussed in the book, but I had
it in mind that he might have felt some guilt about his mother’s death when he
was six, which was when he had the dream. He was old enough by then to pick up
the things people were saying— about her dying from consumption shortly after
he was born— and he might have blamed himself, in the way children often do
when their parents pass away or break up, when it’s not their fault at all.
Stepping into the machine perhaps represented his acceptance of himself, his
‘forgiveness’ of himself, although there was actually nothing to forgive, but
he couldn’t do it; he couldn’t step inside.
He might have forgotten the whole thing or just remembered
it as a quirky childhood dream, if it hadn’t been for his dalliance with
hallucinogens when he was eighteen. The rush can cause paranoia, and that was
the way it started to manifest with Carney. I guess it was because he felt
guilty about taking the rush in the first place; he wished he’d had the courage
to refuse it, like Earl, because then he could have helped Dakota, who pretty
much lost the plot that night after taking it. His paranoia grew from there,
and he started to blame himself for all the wrongs in the world, somehow
thinking that twisting a golden box in the dream had caused a fake world to be
created, where nothing was right.
Carney says he always felt like a pacifist, yet he is
arrested for assault. How does this conflict shape the story and his character?
It’s another big reason for him to feel guilty, especially
since it’s his best buddy he’s accused of harming. Initially, Weinberg tells
him the truth, but he can’t handle it and passes out, mentally blocking that
truth from his memories. So, his arc is about accepting those harsh facts. His
delusions, embodied by the mysterious Wallbanger, play a large part in helping
him navigate his feelings. It’s about his acceptance of himself, despite all
his flaws, despite all the bad choices he might have made.
The Arch Angels gang seems close at first but begins to
change after Marshall Bexley joins. How does his presence affect the group?
