If the relationship with father has been successful in waking life, the dream image will tend to be a positive one. Father represents authority and the conventional forms of law and order. If the relationship with father has been a difficult or negative one, there may be some resistance in waking life to resolving the various conflicts that will have arisen. Often this can be accomplished spontaneously in dreams. In a mans life father becomes a role model, whether appropriate or not. It is often only when the individual realizes that he is not being true to his own nature that dreams can point the way to a more successful life and perhaps an understanding of his father. In a womans life, father is the 'pattern' on whom she bases all later relationships with men. When she appreciates that she longer need use this pattern, she is often able to work out in dreams a more appropriate way to have a mature relationship. This can lead to dreams of her perhaps walking away from her father or leaving him behind.