Recently, I was reading a short story by a writer named Delmore Schwartz, who wrote the above-titled story in 1935.
In the story, a young man is having a dream in which he is watching a film of his parents’ courtship. As he watches, he tries to warn them not to proceed, not to get married, to prevent their future unhappiness and his own.
However, by the end of the story, when his father has gone off and his mother is deciding whether to follow him or not, the narrator seems to have a change of tone, asking, “Why doesn’t my mother go after my father? If she does not do that, what will she do?”
When the narrator awakens, it is a bleak and dreary day, the morning of his 21st birthday. Although he is filled with dread about his future, he faces the reality that he must take responsibility for his life and the choices he makes.
There is much more to the story than this short synopsis. However, regardless of our age, we have to take responsibility over and over again throughout our lives.
When I read this story, I’d been working on a writing project for a long time, and felt lost and confused. After reading the story, I had a dream in which I was telling someone, “Just pick up the pencil and write.”
The next day, I did just that, not knowing if what I wrote would make sense or carry the writing forward. However, once I started to write, the ideas flowed.
You don’t have to be clear to take action. But if you don’t take action, you’ll never be clear.
“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.”
—E. L. Doctorow
I think life is like that too. As the famous psychotherapist C.G. Jung said, “Be simple. Take the next logical step.
