Dreams and the Imagined Future

Dreams, stories, and speculative images let the women imagine a future that their restricted world cannot yet describe.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Secret Game

Play Beyond Permission Ona’s Observation Ona Friesen sees a squirrel and rabbit repeatedly avoid one another as they play. She interprets the encounter as secret play rather than an omen. A Reason for the Minutes Her story suggests that an event need not serve an obvious practical purpose to matter. August later wonders whether recording the meetings was itself a way of joining that play.

Dreams Enter Debate

Dreams Beside Evidence Ona’s Pig Dream Ona describes a dream in which a pig pins her against a wall. Mariche Loewen dismisses the detail because hard candy does not exist in the colony. Meaning Without Proof The dream is not treated as a factual report, but it gives Ona a language for confinement. Imagination can reveal emotional truths that ordinary discussion avoids.

A Collective Future

Dreamers by Necessity Imagining a Different Colony Ona Friesen proposes shared decisions, literacy, a world map, and a faith centered on love. These are not established facts but possible conditions the women can choose to pursue. Mariche’s Challenge Mariche calls Ona a dreamer. Ona answers that women without voice or a homeland have only dreams, making imagination a resource rather than an escape from reality.

Art Without a Final Image

The Journey as Artwork Uncertain Results Ona asks whether Michelangelo knew the final appearance of a painting before starting it. She compares the women to artists beginning work without knowing how it will turn out. A Necessary Beginning The metaphor helps the women accept that a plan can be real without being complete. Their decision is an opening movement, not a guaranteed resolution.

The Story Travels

Ona as a Future Story A Teacher’s Vision August imagines schoolchildren asking to hear about Ona, who began as the devil’s daughter and became a beloved figure. The story reverses the colony’s condemnation. Imagination as Survival The future is imagined rather than confirmed, but the act of imagining keeps the women’s choices alive. Their story may travel farther than the colony’s rules.

Before the June 2009 meetings, at dawn

June 6, 2009, during the morning meeting

June 6, 2009, during the manifesto proposal

June 7, 2009, as the women decide to leave

After June 7, 2009, in August’s imagined future