The Sopranos/The Duck Dream

The Duck Dream
Episode	1x01 - The Sopranos
Dreamer	Tony Soprano
Character(s)	Tony

The Duck Dream is a dream described in The Sopranos episode 1x01 - The Sopranos.

Dream Synopsis

Tony tells Dr. Melfi of this dream in therapy. As he describes it:

My belly button was a Phillips head screw, and I'm workin' unscrewin' it, and when I get it unscrewed, my penis falls off. You know, I-I-I pick it up, and I'm holdin' it, and I'm runnin' around, lookin' for the guy who used to work on my Lincoln when I drove Lincoln so he can put it back on. And, you know, I'm holdin' it up, and this bird swoops down and grabs it in its beak and flies off with it.

Analysis

Although Tony at first suggests the dream relates to his having seen the classic film The Birds on TV, Melfi asks Tony what kind of bird it is that stole his penis, and he says it is a "seagull or somethin'." Melfi says a seagull is a form of waterfowl, which suggests Tony is substituting that for a duck, like the family of ducks who flew off from his pool and caused his first panic attack.

Throughout the series, male characters would tie their masculinity and virility—represented by phallic symbols both literal (in the case of this dream) and metaphorical—with their primacy in their families, both literal and metaphorical. That Tony connects (in his own words, "link, Lincoln") his loss of virility with the disappearance of the family of ducks suggests his own fears about the loss of his family. Presumably this means the loss of his children, but it could also express his fears regarding happenings in his "other" family.