Literary criticism is perhaps not very different from dream interpretation. The people you encounter in a dream have their allotted space within the structure of the whole, much like characters do in a novel. It is a choreography. And as in any performance, the setting also matters. Attention lingers on certain details, estranging common objects while impossible things appear in passing, taken for granted. Time moves, contorts, is also a dancer.
Thoughts fallen by the wayside 