Question 3a

(Assignment):“Dreams” for most Americans imply a romance narrative of escape or transcendence, but many of our plays—especially those by O’Neill—have invested the concept of the dream with more complex meanings. In the first part of your essay, review the “romantic” concept of dreams in popular culture and in our plays (especially Ah! Wilderness). As a transition toward O’Neill, review some of the more complex uses of the concept we have seen in other plays (e. g., Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, A Raisin in the Sun).  Then focus your essay on O’Neill’s concept of “the dream” as a tragic yet ennobling aspect of humanity, referring to at least two of the following three plays: Desire Under the Elms, Long Day’s Journey into Night, A Moon for the Misbegotten.

(Sample Student Submissions)

(Student authors are identified by initials after selections)

All people have dreams of some sort.  Whether they are dreams of love, prosperity, or of just surviving another day, dreams do exist. Without dreams people would have no hope and nothing to strive to accomplish.

Some of these dreams are a common thread through most people.  The dream to find a partner and live happily ever after is one almost everyone has at one time.  In AW Richard achieve his romantic dream in winning Muriel back and planning a wonderful life together. At this time in their life it does not matter whether that dream will actually come true, the important thing is that only they share the dream; the rest of the world is not invited to join.  In MFTM Jamie’s romantic dream is also achieved.  The dream to spend a restful night sleeping on the breasts of the woman he loves. Jamie realizes that his dream cannot continue on to a lifetime together, but he treasures the time they have.

The dream of owning a house and making it a home runs through many of O’Neill’s plays.  Many people believe that having a home is the next step in the romantic aspect of love and marriage. In DUTE this dreams belongs to all of the characters, the problem they have is everyone wants to own the same house.  Simeon and Peter finally give up on that dream and head out to California and new dreams, which leaves Eben and Abbie struggling to establish their rights to ownership. With ownership of the house they each feel as if they could establish the family home.  Whereas in LDJIN there is no home to fight over, because of this there is no family unit.  Mary’s lifelong dream is to have more than a house, she needs a home and that dream never comes true.  Mary feels with a home she would have the perfect family and who is to say that might have happened if Tyrone would have settled down to a ‘normal’ lifestyle.  Mary dreams of the type of home the Millers have, this would be what she would consider the perfect family.  Perhaps this is what O’Neill secretly wished for while he was growing up. The family loves each other, problems do exist, but they are easily solved.  Nat and Essie work together to raise their children and ensure that the home is happy and secure. While in Raisin the Younger family has a home, but Mama is looking for a house to move her home to. The dream of achieving one step higher on the ladder of success and moving up in the world is the dream that Mama and her husband shared for many years.  Upon the death of her husband Mama receives the means to accomplish this dream, but with some fear as this dream involves moving into a world where they are not wanted.

Mama feels her dream of moving up only involves her family, but in actuality she is taking a stand for the African Americans.  She is trying to cross the lines and enter the world that has been reserved for only the ‘whites’. The Youngers will be treated as outsiders and will never be accepted.  In MFTM the community accepts the characters, but they are still a group of outsiders and misfits, that have found a comfort in each other.  Hogan, Josie, and Jamie’s dreams are intertwined and without each other none of them can achieve the dream they desire.  Hogan needs Jamie to sell him the farm, Jamie need Josie to be the mother figure he requires to move to the next step in his life, and Josie’s needs love from her father and a man.

With most of O’Neill’s plays all the characters have dreams, but most of the dreams are achieved for a split moment, but none are fully grasped. The tragic life that O’Neill lived is portrayed in many of his plays and if he allowed the dreams of his characters to come true, then he would have to change his life and that was something he would be unable to accomplish. [SG 02]

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Dreams are what America is all about. Our country was built on dreams of greatness and grandeur; dreams that still exist and flourish today. Everyone dreams of equality, prosperity, and happiness. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached this dream around the world; he died for this dream. In Long Days Journey into Night Tyrone had dreams of being a great Shakespearean actor while Mary had dreams of becoming a nun or a concert pianist. Ah! Wilderness exemplifies the American dream of the perfect family with a nice house and a white picket fence. Everything works out in the end, and the children always do the right thing. For instance, Richard goes out to a bar with a prostitute and comes home drunk after being thrown out of the bar. This presents a serious problem for this family, especially for the time period. However, staying true to the American dream, everything works out. Richard promises to never touch alcohol or cavort with prostitutes again and ends up getting back together with Muriel and dreaming of getting married and having a family. None of these problems ever really threaten the unity or stability of the family. It’s as if the Millers are O’Neil’s ideal family, everything his family was not.

      In some of our other plays, however, dreams are not as pleasant and straightforward. In Raisin in the Sun the dream is one of equality and a desire for social acceptance for African-Americans. As in Ah mama and Ruth’s dream is for a stable home, which is derived from a desire for a sense of security and pride. Walter’s dream is that of the “get rich quick” mentality. It is very materialistic. It is as if Walter himself is exemplified by his dream and can only exist if he realizes it.

      We see this idea of being exemplified by one’s dreams in O’Neill’s thinking and in his writing. O’Neill feels that men are nothing without dreams, and this is obvious in his tragedies. In Long Day’s Journey into Night all of the characters have specific dreams that define who they are. As I mentioned earlier, Tyrone had dreams of being a great Shakespearean actor, and Mary had dreams of being a nun and a concert pianist. Edmund dreams of being a poet and of getting away from the oppressive life of his family. None of these dreams are achieved, and it is this fact that exemplifies the tragedy itself. However, even though none of these characters achieves his/her dreams, they still cling tightly to them. This gives the reader a heightened sense of respect for these characters and gives the characters a higher or more elevated status. It is only Jamie who doesn’t have a dream, and this, in the end, is his very downfall as he wastes away into a life of drunken oblivion with no purpose and no reconciliation.

      We think for a moment that this fate of Jamie’s might change in Moon for the Misbegotten. Maybe Jamie will begin to dream of being a better person and achieving something in life. However, even though Jamie does gain some resolution of his guilt, he still remains dreamless and thus feels he wants to just die. Though Jamie may be dreamless, Josie is not. Josie dreams of having a man whom she can trust and love and with whom she can build a stable and unified home. She is in love with Jamie, but her dream is thwarted because Jamie feels he can no longer dream, and thus, must leave. Josie does, however, get to partly fulfill her dream in the pieta scene with Jamie. The pieta representation of Jamie and Josie allows Jamie to absolve some of his grief and guilt over his dead mother, while allowing Josie a way to fulfill her dream of loving and nurturing Jamie. However, as is the mainstay of tragedies, no solutions or resolutions are fully reached. It is as if the dream is always just out of reach. It is this very idea that exemplifies and defines O’Neill’s tragedies and, in a way, his feelings about his family in general. In O’Neill’s tragedies dreams are there, but they are elusive and end almost always in tragedy. [AAS 02]

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