1 Introduction

This article introduces Margaret Yousnar's life experience in Italy in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as her observation and criticism of fascism. Yousnar created the novel "Silver Coins in Dreams" set in Rome in 1933, telling the story of a woman who attempts to assassinate Mussolini. The novel depicts the lives and desires of different characters through the circulation of a silver coin. The imagery of the dark night holds significant symbolic meaning in the work, as it not only fosters the growth of characters' dreams but also reflects their loneliness and desires. This article will start with the dark night and its related imagery, explore the thematic connotations of "Silver Coins in Dreams", reveal the mechanism of characters' dreams, analyze their relationships, and explore Yousnar's deep concern for the fate of humanity.

The night is the realm of dreams

Explored the symbolic significance and role of the night in the novel 'Silver Coins in Dreams'. The novel uses a compact time and space setting to confine the story to the city of Rome in late spring 1933, starting at dusk and continuing until nightfall. The darkness provides characters with a field that blurs the boundary between reality and dreams, allowing their psychological imagination to freely develop. These dreams are not just dreams, but imagination mixed with memories and desires, serving as a resistance mechanism to face reality. The characters use their dreams to expand the narrow space of reality in the dark night, gaining temporary comfort. For example, the Rosalia family immersed themselves in the fantasy of restoring their glory in the dark, while Marcella was brewing a plan to assassinate Mussolini in the darkness. The darkness in novels often gives things an ideal appearance, while light reveals the characters' real external situation, forcing them to confront the mismatch between their inner desires and external circumstances. The characters release their imagination through the power of darkness, overlaying beautiful illusions on top of reality to obtain psychological compensation.

The night is the foundation of loneliness

Explored the themes of dreams and their relationship with individual loneliness in Yousnar's works. Yousnar believed that dreams and reality have equal authenticity and are a way to approach the essence of individual existence. However, this pursuit of the inner world often leads individuals to feel lonely because dreams are private and difficult to share with others. Heraclitus' famous quote is quoted to emphasize how dreams enable individuals to possess their own universes, thus isolating each other. The characters in the novel "Silver Coins in Dreams" explore their inner world through dreams in the dark night, but this exploration intensifies their sense of loneliness. For example, Paul Farina mistook the prostitute Lena for his wife, which revealed how the darkness became a veil of desire for characters, leading them to overlook the true existence of others. In the world cinema scene, the collective dreams of the audience fail to bring true spiritual integration, but instead highlight the barriers between individuals. In addition, Usanar conveyed his insight into politics and reflection on history through the imagery of darkness and loneliness, pointing out that authoritarian governments weaken the power of the people by creating individual divisions. As an image, silver coins symbolize the opposition between the external world and the individual's inner life, reflecting the mechanical exchange between characters rather than true connection. The darkness has become the background color of the characters' loneliness, both as a stage for their dreams and as a cage that imprisons them in their inner world.

The night is a symbol of destiny

Explored how Usanar used the imagery of darkness to depict the connections and fates between characters in "Silver Coins in Dreams". Although the characters have different identities and interests, they share the same time and space, and are influenced by the conflicts and main themes of the times. Religious, social, economic, and political activities form the connections between them. Yousnar emphasized that death is a shared destiny that people face, and the imagery of the night is used to symbolize this universality. In the novel, with the passage of silver coins and the passage of time, the concentration of night deepens, and the atmosphere of the story becomes heavy, especially after Marcela's attempted assassination of Mussolini, the connection between night and death and destiny becomes even closer. The night is not only the background of individual dreams, but also a symbol of everyone's inevitable ultimate fate. When facing death, characters form connections and gain warmth through varying degrees of understanding and companionship. The imagery of the night has universality and transcendence, dissolving individual differences and connecting the existence of different time and space. At the end of the novel, the night equally envelops every character, witnessing their anxiety and hesitation, loneliness and vanity. The darkness also envelops the creations of the past and present, connecting human existence with broader forms of existence. Through the imagery of the dark night, Utsunar demonstrates the connection between individual life and the rhythm of the metabolism of all things in the universe. The death of an individual becomes a link in the natural chain of existence, thus establishing a universal friendship.

5 Conclusion

Explored how Utsunal symbolized the order of existence through the night in "The Silver Coin in a Dream", and how she linked the novel with mythology or fables, placing specific historical backgrounds in the long river of human history to showcase the universal human condition. Yousnar borrowed Italian improvisational comedy terminology and referred to the novel as "improvisational tragedy", emphasizing the "divine" nature of the characters. In Rome, the 'Eternal City', the shadows of mythological or historical figures can be seen on the characters, such as the goddess of revenge Marcella and the god of death Massimo. The narrator uses more general terms to refer to the ruler Mussolini, highlighting its symbolic meaning and linking contemporary political events with historical tyranny and resistance, implying the cyclical unfolding of history. Yousnar believed that history is a reference to reality, and reality often repeats the mistakes of history. By introducing historical and mythological dimensions, the novel imbues reality with an eternal meaning, with characters becoming samples of human experience and actions becoming a continuation of the past and a reference for the future, condensing the examination of universal human nature and reflection on history. People are not discrete individuals, but rather share emotions and destiny on a broader scale of time and space, which is exactly what Yousnar attempted to depict as' lonely yet intimately connected individuals'.