in dreams begin responsibilities
02.16.07back&
forth
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After reading, �In Dreams Begin Responsibilities,� I am still in the world Delmore Schwartz creates. The world hurts�it�s the cold feeling waking up to an icy morning with air that burns in your chest, an elusive feeling that you�ve missed something untraceable, something you can�t quite grasp � a �bleak winter morning�the morning already begun.� Rereading over the introduction, I agree that there is definitely a �tragic force� at work in this story�there is a discordant chord from a narrator who is seeing the pieces of his parents� lives played out in front of him.I was impressed with the structure of the story, from the very beginning when we are told the narrator feels like he is watching a dim lit silent picture movie, and throughout the story, as Schwartz�s creation of numerically separated sections of the story contributes to a choppy, dream-like sequence, as well as echoing the space and distance the narrator deals with, such as when he loses the vision of his parents and finds himself alone in the movie staring at a terrible sun. The telling of the story is seamless�you are watching the same movie the narrator is. I admire Schwartz� beautiful and bittersweet images of a na�ve afternoon at Coney island � the ocean, the boardwalk, a teary and awkward engagement � moving the reader through a world of memories and at the same time showing how the past can�t be changed. When the narrator cries out against these memories, he is quieted by those around him in the movie theatre. It is a poignant moment, and the spacing of the story allows that section to end quickly as the narrator closes his eyes. The next section begins with �after a while, �[he begins] to take brief glimpses,� as he sees his parents being photographed.
This story reminds me of walking alone through familiar streets or looking at old photos and crying�the idea of realizing truths about the world around you and your past. �In Dreams Begin Responsibilities� is poetry set in motion.
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