Here’s a succinct description of Ayers’ book “Dreams”, except that it’s probably less than half true:
Half the truth is often a great lie. - Benjamin Franklin
I’m no Benjamin Franklin, but I maintain that the biggest lies need some truth to hang their hat on. The trick to reading ‘Dreams’ is to sift the little truth out of the body of the work.
And one rather obvious truth is that a number of names and characters were used and blended to create the composite character of the mother.