Dream a Little Dream of Me

Dream a Little Dream of Me appears in a brief but distinctive scene of artistic concentration: Shelby Anderson Barnum listens to it through her headphones while drawing at Ellensburg Forest, where Jungkook Jeon is sketching nearby. The song gives the moment an audible, everyday texture without being presented as the cause of either character’s work or feelings.

Appearance in the Story

During a landscape-drawing assignment, Shelby settles on the pier at Ellensburg Forest with a sketchbook and pencil. She pauses to connect her headphones to her phone, then listens to Dream a Little Dream of Me by The Mamas & The Papas and sings along to its catchy words as she returns to her drawing.

Relation to the Scene

Jungkook is close by, drawing as well. He listens to the sounds of nature and Shelby’s melodic voice; the passage does not say that he can hear the song through her headphones. Their shared presence in the peaceful, inspiring forest links the music to a scene of parallel creative work, rather than to a conversation between them.

Narrative Function

The song accompanies Shelby’s absorbed attention to the landscape and the small rhythms of making art: she notices a flaw, erases it, and redraws the line. The two continue working for about an hour before Shelby packs up and leaves first. Although her instructor later detects a trace of melancholy in the finished drawing, the scene does not directly attribute that quality to the song; its stated effect is to accompany Shelby as she works and hums.