When one’s dreams fail to happen, another chance for him/her to dream again is always available if at all he/she wants to realize them. Dreaming again is a step, only taken by the optimists. Optimism is among the rare attributes of people and refers to the expectation of a good outcome. It is a feeling that all will be well despite the pressing circumstances. However, too much of it as the adage goes, ‘…is poisonous’ because scenarios occur interfering with one’s optimistic dream. People have ventured into addressing this subject following its vital role in one’s life. Among the elites who have discovered this truth is Richard Ford, the famous optimist. In his story Optimists, Ford takes the reader through a voyage of his family’s life that began with a good deal of optimism, only for a fortune to strike turning its events. This paper seeks to analyze his work right from the title.
Optimists, the title of the story is strategically fixed. It reveals the content or rather the message that the author has for the reader. It makes the reader speculate the traits of the characters the author has employed. It covers these traits right from those of the author, his parents, among others. Ford referring to his parents confirms this saying, “He was an optimist…both of them were optimists, I think” (Ford Para. 4). Therefore, the reader’s judgment of optimism, as the dominant trait in all the characters used by the author is right. In addition, the author, through the title makes the reader infer that the characters’ lives are enjoyable, which is not the case, revealing the unique objective of the author, that being optimistic does not mean negligence of the other side of life. One can have optimistic dreams but suffer in life because of some inevitable situations the author wishes to present when he says, “The year…when life changed for all of us…and forever ended…our most brilliant dreams in life” (Para. 1). The author qualifies in presenting the evidence behind this claim. Not all optimistic dreams happen as most of the characters of this story portray.
Since optimism dominates the minds of people, not all their optimistic dreams are realized. Through this observation, the author awakens the mind of the reader to expect this as one of the possible outcomes of his/her dreams. Firstly, the author is his first audience since he is presenting what he has experienced. He says, “The night that… happened in November…was not was not then a good time for…” (para.4) depicting a turn of events or a dream unrealized. His dream has been to see his family live together happily though it begins to die soon after the rumors that his father could lose his job. It also dies following the divorce of their parents as well as the disappearance of his father as the story unfolds. In addition, when Roy enters the house scared, he gives the story of a man, found dead after being struck by a car. “Boyd Mitchell’s chest quit breathing…and began to look dead…” (Ford para.46). The quitting symbolizes a dying dream: the dream to live rather than to die. Roy’s mother also dreams of enjoying a happy marriage but this dream or optimism fades away following a divorce. Roy’s optimistic dream of staying with his father dies after the father disappears completely from home. The father’s dream too, of interacting with his family is not realized following his being jailed for a long time. The author, through these illustrations, goes a step further to highlight some major contributors to unrealized dreams.
The reader is equipped with challenges that cause the death of optimists’ dreams, a case that interferes with the future of most people. The author asserts, “The most important things in life can change so suddenly…and you are so taken up by what could and will happen next” (para.76). The reader, therefore, becomes aware that these challenges can change his/her view of life. A major possibility as the reader realizes is the loss of a job that can interfere with his/her optimistic dreams. The author’s father is the epitome of these people. The losing of his job significantly changes the life of his people. Divorce is another possibility that alters the dreams of a happy marriage as Roy’s mother illustrates. She wished to enjoy life with her beloved husband, only for a divorce to strike her optimistic dreams. Death, as Mitchell encounters is a possibility that fades the dreams of optimists. It is one inevitable possibility that deprives people of their most crucial things in life, including their optimistic dreams. It suffices to infer that as people dream, whether optimists or not, they ought to recognize the possibility of their dreams failing to happen. Since it sounds more of being pessimistic in doing so, it is one of the real things, that life can offer, even though it is among the unexpected possibilities. Therefore, building on these expositions, the reader realizes that “…situations have possibilities in them, and we have only to be present to be involved” (Ford para.47) thus making Ford’s chef-d’oeuvre a must-read informative peace of work.
Works Cited
Ford, Richard. Optimists. New Zealand: Word Press, 1986. Print.