What do dreams represent in the collection, The Graybar Hotel?

Dreams signify escape. In the collection, they are associated with fantasy, often a form of escapism: In Swans, the character Crash's dreams to breed swans act as a way to escape the reality of his wife leaving him after his accident; in Depakote Mo, the narrator’s cellmate, Slim, daydreamed of living in different eras to escape the reality of prison; and in County, the narrator dreamed of a chief and galloping horses racing off with the inmates, freed.