This Is Our Youth

Lonergan’s play takes place in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1982, two years after President Reagan was elected. The atmosphere of the decade was defined by the post-Vietnam war era, which saw a dissolving of many of the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s and 1970s. All of this gave way to an era in which The Pointless Pursuit of Materialism took hold, and Reagan’s economic plan rewarded corporate gain over more socialist purposes. 

The result was that the decade was filled with decadence and lavishness, as well as cocaine and heroin usage. Young people like Lonergan (and the characters he created) found themselves lost in a permanently changed world, in which their childhoods—colored by the freedom and tolerance of the 1970s—had been replaced by the pursuit of luxury and superficial ends.

Both Dennis and Warren resist superficiality in their own ways. Dennis lives in an average and unkempt apartment that contains only the bare minimum of furniture and entertainment. The setting suggests that he is not tied down to anything or anyone, and that he does not plan to be in any one place for too long. Warren holds onto his collection, but not because of a superficial desire to become wealthy. Instead, Warren is still dealing with the challenge of Letting Go of the Past and doesn’t want to lose himself. Both Dennis and Warren live in an affluent neighborhood and come from wealthy families who expect their children to become equally financially successful. Dennis’s apartment intentionally contrasts with the neighborhood itself and the realities of his era that bear down on his existence, whether he resists or not. The entire play takes place in Dennis’s apartment, reflecting the simplistic nature of the world in which Dennis operates.

Dennis is holding on to the status that characterized him in high school. For example, when the buzzer rings, he is “too cool to answer it right away” (5). Lonergan describes Dennis as a “dark cult god of high school only recently encountering, without necessarily recognizing, the first evidence that the dazzling, aggressive hipster techniques with which he has always dominated his peers might not stand him in good stead for much longer” (5). His social currency is running out with each passing year. Dennis is quick-witted and well-meaning, but comes off arrogant, abrasive, and at times bullies people he cares about. Because he is highly competitive, he is always putting Warren down or propping himself up. Dennis also makes assumptions about Warren’s intentions that show how Dennis lacks trust in others, even his closest friend. He assumes that Warren is at his apartment to get drugs, but instead Warren pays Dennis and asks if he can stay with him. At the same time Dennis can be insightful, such as when he correctly assumes that Warren stole the money he has in his possession. While Dennis lectures and berates Warren, he also risks letting him stay. This shows that Dennis does have a caring side somewhere deep within himself.

Warren is similar to Dennis in some ways, but in more ways is his direct opposite, or foil. While Warren and Dennis both fall to the temptation of sex, drugs, and money, Warren is much more reckless and far less calculated than Dennis. He is self-destructive but also “above all things a trier” (6), while Dennis allows himself to succumb to lethargy. Warren and Dennis both feel lost in their lives, but for totally different reasons, and both also feel separate from their family of origin. Warren sometimes feels like his sister is better off being dead, and each day he risks succumbing to the same indifference and powerlessness that Dennis clearly feels. Dennis is domineering and tells Warren what to do, and Warren for the most part allows him to get away with this. 

Warren is also somewhat unrealistic in his beliefs, as he thinks his father won’t realize he was the one who stole the money. Despite the fact that Warren and Dennis are regularly in conflict with each other, they remain close friends and rely on one another emotionally, socially, and financially. This reliance is in some ways unhealthy, because it prevents them both from maturing as people.