The Sandman Omnibus Vol. 1

“For the hundredth time since I regained it, I reach into the pouch and I touch the sand. I sift it through my fingers. Feel each grain of it, inexhaustible. Endless. Like myself, like the few others of my kind. Endless.”

This is the story’s first reference to the collective title of Dream and his siblings: the Endless. Here the narrative uses juxtaposition and double meanings to illustrate Dream’s state of mind. “Inexhaustible” and “Endless” describe his family’s immortality and permanence, but unlike the multitudinous grains there are only seven of them. This highlights his loneliness and sense of isolation.

“I am a passenger. I am moving through your dreams. I am rising in your dreams. I ride on dragonback from Manhattan; the dragon is made from riveted iron and smells of cotton candy.”

Here the story again uses contrasting imagery—dragons and Manhattan, iron and cotton candy—to illustrate both the absurdity and the limitless possibility of the dream world. The choice of directing the words to the reader rather than the characters brings the reader into the story and expands the world beyond the page.

“‘It is a comfort in wretchedness to have companions in woe.’ (Marlowe. Faust.) Of course, he was talking about Hell. But it applied equally to Arkham.”

This allusion to Christopher Marlow foreshadows his brief appearance in Issue 13. As Dream and Hob look on, Shakespeare again references Marlowe’s same work, proclaiming that he would gladly make such a devil’s deal. This leads to his agreement with Dream. This moment of allusion and foreshadowing gives a feeling of overarching connection across the story.