As the title suggests, dreams are central to the meaning of “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.” The story incorporates multiple kinds of dreams: literal sleep-induced dreams, the dream-world of the silver screen, ambitions and aspirations, and even the American Dream itself. In the process, it dramatizes how all these types of dreams can end in disappointment, or sour into nightmares. At the same time, it suggests that dreams (both literal and figurative) are deeply meaningful, teaching lessons one may otherwise ignore.

The narrator’s literal dream ends on a note of fear and shame, as he yells frantically and gets kicked out of a movie theater before waking up on his 21st birthday. The movie portrays a painful episode in his family history: his parents’ engagement at Coney Island, which deteriorated into a quarrel, much as their marriage later deteriorated into “hatred.” In other words, the movie shows their dream of a happy marriage collapsing almost instantly. Entangled in that dream are their ambitions for success and prosperity—their slice of the American Dream. The narrator doesn’t reveal how his parents fared financially, but socially, their marriage embroiled them in “scandal.” They didn’t achieve their highest hopes, and the weight of this is present in the story.