In his two short stories "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" and "America! America!", Delmore Schwartz describes two protagonists born in America to Jewish immigrant parents. These two protagonists and the world seen through their eyes display one of the important characteristics of Schwartz's prose: alienation. His description of the Jewish experience in America, particularly the children of immigrants, is one of alienation, strangeness, and displacement. These grown children find themselves neither in their parents' home nor in American society, because Shenandoah Fish wants to leave for Paris and the nameless protagonist of "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" wants to prevent his parents from getting married and starting a family. This inherent alienation from parents and society also means self-alienation, as Shenandoah questions her own identity and the nameless protagonist can only relate to her family's history through an outdated film in her dream. This is, according to Schwartz, the problem of the identity of the children of immigrants: they are neither Americans nor foreigners, they are caught in a strange place of rejection of old values ​​and acceptance of no new values. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The unnamed protagonist of “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities” is a stranger removed from his intimate family history. He finds himself at the beginning of the story in a cinema, watching a black-and-white silent film "in which the actors are dressed in ridiculously old-fashioned clothes [... and] the shots are full of dots and rays" (1). He discovers that he is watching his father's marriage proposal to his mother, but despite this he remains a stranger to this story like the rest of the people sitting in the theater. This method is, by definition, alienating: these intimate moments, instead of being told to the family in the living room or around a dining table, are advertised on the big screen, many copies can be made and anyone pays "thirty-five cents per come in" (7) can watch them eat candy. Their most important recipient, the nameless protagonist, has the same status and privileges as the other observers: he is not allowed to show any emotion or react to what happens on the screen even if it could determine his life. As he cries he is silenced by an angry face and is later told that "this is all just a movie" (5). Later, while shouting at the screen to stop his mother from marrying his father, he is warned by an old lady that he might be annoyed, and then is thrown out by the usher who explains that he cannot act like this. This treatment further distances the unnamed protagonist from his family history. The film's antiquated technique prevents him from identifying with his parents, and when the screening is interrupted due to a mechanical problem, he "awakens to myself and my unhappiness just as my interest grew. […] It is difficult to understand go back to the film once again and forget myself" (3). This feeling of estrangement is fully emphasized when the protagonist discovers that he was dreaming, that this was the realm of the unconscious, where his most intimate, yet unknown, truths meet. The protagonist of "America! America!", Shenandoah Fish, returns home as a stranger: his friends have all changed and he is unable to renew his friendships with them, he is not troubled by the economic situation, and he does not worry about taking the trouble of finding a job or even helping the mother with housework. He is rather a guest in his own life, which leads him to question his own, ?. 10-33