Pressure, Aging, and the Uncontrollable - The Significance of the Title “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities”
by Stephanie Mecir
In his short story, “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities,” Delmore Schwartz unpacks his reality through a dream that tells the story of his parents' wretched courtship. Beginning in uncertainty, Schwartz thinks he is in a movie theater, watching a film he has paid thirty-five cents to see. As the film unfolds, the relationship between his parents unravels. His father’s authoritarian, condescending nature paired with the mother’s prideful complacency sets the tone for Schwartz’s entire life. This would go on to be defined by drug abuse, depression, and untimely death. Choosing to title the work “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities” and frame the entire story within a dream reflects Schwartz’s fixation on the disappointing, unchangeable aspects of life and the overwhelming responsibility of growing up amid these factors. Despite the word “dream" in his story’s title, Schwartz creates an eerily realistic narrative defined by his own passivity and lack of agency in his life.
Schwartz highlights two stark truths associated with dreaming: dreams are entirely uncontrollable, and dreams will never be reality. Dreams often occur without rhyme or reason, and dreamers assume a passive role. As Schwartz sits in a theater watching his parents date and get engaged, he wants to assume an active role. He wants to insert himself there, on the Coney Island boardwalk, and stop the marriage. This would ultimately prevent his birth and remove him from his current painful situation defined by severe paranoia, insomnia, and alcoholism. When taken into context with the short story, the reader can see Schwartz does not want to live at all. As his parent’s story progresses on the boardwalk in a dream, they encounter a fortune teller who tries to tell his mother not to go after his father, but the reader knows she does not listen. Schwartz can be seen as the fortune teller. He cannot do anything but weep in resignation, for he cannot change the past his dream represents. He cannot tell his parents of the abuse and melancholy to come along with their courtship.
The second depressing facet of dreams is reflected in Schwartz’s father’s belief that “Actualities fall short” in real life (Schwartz). With this - the reader can see his parents’ dreams and aspirations never come to fruition–and could subsequently be the root of the depression in his life. His parents chased the American Dream as immigrants. In the dream, his father wants to settle down with a family as his friends did, for it is what he should do. Likewise, while his parents are on a date, his mother acts only in the way she should. His mother does not enjoy her time with his father at Coney Island. She does not indulge in a hot dog, nor does she take part in the carnival game. Instead, she avoids attractions to appear dignified. These dreams of grandeur and fixations on appearances cloud the young couple’s minds. They go on to have a loveless union filled with betrayal and two repulsive kids. In terms of setting, the ocean at Coney Island in his dream was “fatal, merciless, and passionate.” (Schwartz) This demonstrates the turmoil inside of him, one that is unstoppable and carries well beyond the dream in the supernatural world to his reality in the natural world.
Schwartz was only twenty-one when he wrote a memoir, yet he delivers a piece that is reflective beyond his years. The text encapsulates how he is dealing with the overwhelming weight of aging in a world that has shown him no love - the responsibilities of his everyday life. Towards the end of the piece, Schwartz introduces two characters- an old woman watching the film with him and an usher working at the theater. His subconscious creation of these characters seems to reflect the options he has when grappling with his history. The old woman tells him to calm down, for it is just a movie. Here lies a reality check for Schwartz - that all of this is in the past and all he can do is watch. Crying and yelling is no use because his life will forever be defined by the loveless tone his parents set for the family. The usher seems to serve as a more rational inner dialogue- telling Schwartz to get up, walk away, and “do what he should.” (Schwartz) He could leave the theater and make something of his own life by facing his reality instead of being taken over by the dream- a movie offering him a personal history. Despite this, he cannot be an anonymous bystander like the woman, nor can he be an entirely rational man like the usher. The story is deeply personal and the world around him is no longer rational. Violence and pain around him including the rise of antisemitic fascists, a horrible family life, anti-immigrant sentiment, and the Great Depression. He says, “At length, I watch again with thirsty interest, like a child who wants to maintain his sulk although offered the bribe of candy” (Schwartz). He cannot look away from his own story and rewrite it because it has caused immense, intergenerational pain.
The end of the work implies that Schwartz has taken some agency over his own life. As the usher urges him to, Schwartz has the power to wake himself up from the dream. When he wakes up it is his twenty-first birthday- signifying a new beginning. Despite this, he wakes up to a bleak winter day, a day that has already begun moving on, with or without him. When he takes control of his life, the harsh effects of the uncontrollable are still there. While he makes a career of his pain through his writing largely focused on trauma, the human experience, generational differences, and violence - Schwartz ultimately succumbs to this pain and his responsibilities. He died alone in a Times Square hotel after years of drug and alcohol abuse. His body lay unclaimed at a morgue for several days - a somber end that was fated one somber day in Coney Island.
Works Cited
Schwartz, Delmore. In Dreams Begin Responsibilities. New Directions, 1938.