In Dreams Begin Responsibilities

The narrator’s father is arguably an antagonist in the story. He is self-absorbed, acquisitive, and insensitive toward his girlfriend, Rose, even when proposing marriage to her. He’s also boastful, as when he exaggerates his income, and comically arrogant, as when he bribes a waiter with a quarter and “feels omnipotent” (Paragraph 16). Though he’s quick to judge others—including the fictional characters in the novel Rose is reading—he seems unable to recognize or fix his own flaws. Finally, he’s gruffly unsentimental and proudly macho: He shows off his “manliness” by snorting “Ugh!” at the “sugary” scenes in Rose’s novel (Paragraph 8).

The father does have a few complexities, however. Some of his pride is justified: He is a talented and ambitious young businessperson with bright career prospects. Rose’s family recognizes that he is “impressive,” albeit “very awkward” (Paragraph 6). Moreover, his ambition and imagination link him to the narrator, who remarks, “my father has always felt that actualities somehow fall short” (Paragraph 10). This suggests that the father lies and exaggerates, but also that he’s a “dreamer,” like his son. Moreover, the father grows “panicky” when contemplating marriage, and his son shares this tendency to panic.

In one sense, the father is a dynamic character: His optimism about his future changes to pessimism and frustration. In another sense, however, he is a static character. He doesn’t learn or grow over the course of the story; instead, his flaws persist and ruin his engagement. The narrator implies that those same flaws later ruined his marriage and children (who inherited some of his “monstrous” personality).

The narrator’s mother is a less developed character than the father because the narrator’s descriptions of the couple tend to follow the father’s point of view. Still, some character traits are clear: Her name is Rose and she’s a young woman living in Brooklyn around 1909, when the narrator’s dream takes place. She enjoys novels and the Coney Island boardwalk. She has strong opinions about nutrition, and her opinions clash with the father’s. She is sensible about money: When the father suggests dining at a fancy restaurant, she “demurs” or disagrees “in accordance with her principles” (Paragraph 15). She eventually relents, though, willing to splurge on special occasions. She has a brother who will die of pneumonia shortly after the events represented in the dream; in other words, she’s still young and innocent, unaware of all the sorrows she’ll soon face.

She is in love with the narrator’s father—more in love with him than he is with her. She’s eager to show him “how intelligent” and “interesting” she is, and she wants to settle down and start a family with him (Paragraph 8). At first, she enjoys their Coney Island date: When she stares at the turbulent ocean, it “seems merry to her” (Paragraph 12). She “notices the children” on the beach, perhaps with some thought of having children of her own (Paragraph 12). She joyfully accepts the father’s marriage proposal, sobbing that “It’s all I’ve wanted” (Paragraph 17), and insists on having their fortunes told, a sign that she’s excited about their future. When the father walks away in a huff, unwilling to face that future, she is heartbroken. This will be the first heartbreak of many, as their eventual marriage brings “remorse, hatred, [and] scandal,” according to the narrator (Paragraph 17).

Like the father, the mother is strong-willed (she holds her own in arguments with him) and knows, or thinks she knows, what she wants out of life. She also shares some traits with her son, especially if the narrator represents a version of Delmore Schwartz himself. For example, both mother and son are emotionally demonstrative and prone to crying (whereas the father is reserved and suspicious of tears). The mother’s interest in novels might foreshadow her son’s love of literature.

The old lady is a character who exists solely in the narrator’s dream. She sits beside the narrator in the movie theater, and she is at first hostile toward his signs of distress. When he breaks down crying, however, she tries to comfort him, reassuring him that “all of this is only a movie, young man” (Paragraph 12). She accurately predicts that if he continues to cause a disturbance, he’ll be kicked out of the theater.

In the world of the dream, the old lady serves as a quasi-maternal figure—perhaps even a parallel for Rose, the narrator’s mother. “Old lady” and “old man” can be slang for “mother” and “father.” In addition, Schwartz would also have been familiar with Sigmund Freud’s theories of the unconscious, which posit that dreams help the psyche work through unresolved conflicts, including buried family conflicts. In parent-like fashion, the old lady comforts the narrator while he’s crying but also chides him to change his behavior. Her frugal attention to money—“Be quiet…you paid thirty-five cents to come in” (Paragraph 17)—mirrors Rose’s frugality when she resists dining at a pricey restaurant. Both women appear only in the narrator’s dream. It’s not clear whether the dream version of Rose is accurate or whether the old lady resembles anyone he’s met in the real world.