Jordan Jeorge

Brian Silverman
English 11
8/21/14

The Characteristics of Selbys Requiem for a Dream

Requiem for a Dream, in and of itself, is a novel consisting nothing less than the true
nature of things: the soul reality of the many who misinterpret their visions, which lie deep
within their very heart and soul, for the illusion of the American Dream. Taking place in Coney
Island of Brooklyn, New York City, two young men--Harry Goldfarb and Tyrone C. Love--live
their somewhat deplorable lives day after day to feed their overwhelming heroin addiction. In
this process of falling as a slave to their addiction, the two young men soon meet a young women
named Marion; who just so also happens to be struggling with the same overwhelming heroin
addiction that the two young men find no discomposure in. After sadly realizing the disturbing
fact that the only way for these three strangers of our society to get out of the ghetto and into the
beautiful luxurious beach houses of malibu is to, as Tyrone C. Love stated within Requiem for a
Dream, Make them [the streets] work for you. (Hubert Selby, Jr. pg.120), the lives of these
three strangers began to deteriorate as they began to pursue the lie of the American Dream; all
the while a dream far more different, began to tear apart and dismantle the life of the much older
fourth character--Sara Goldfarb. Soon the results of the antagonists pursuit ended up
disillusioning the antagonists of the story and instead rather resulted in either the incarceration,
commitment, or the sacrifice of ones own respect for themselves through prostitution; but while
having a very dark taste to the plot of the novel, many still consider such a novel to rather in fact
be quite romantic and satirical. I myself am one of the many readers who consider this novel in
particular to be quite satirical, along with original and beautifully unusual, and because of that
find fascination within three of the many interesting aspects of this novel: that including the

unethical role that medicine has within the novel, the portrayal of the misleading idea of the
American Dream, and most of all Selbys unorthodox technique of writing.
While reading Requiem for a Dream I found many different aspects of the novel to be
quite interesting, but out of all the different aspects that I found fascination within, I found the
role that medicine had within the novel to be itself quite fascinating; this fascination being
sparked mainly because of its illustrated absurdity, but nonetheless its genuine presence within
everyday life: that being that while occurring within a work of fiction, such absolute unethical
events still have their ties to the real world and because of that spark a series of questions that
one would tie deeply with medical ethics. As conversed between the two antagonists, Harry
Goldfarb and his mother Sara Goldfarb, within Requiem for a Dream, [Harry] But ma, those
pills are bad for you. [Sara] Bad? How can they be bad? I got them from a doctor--How come
you know so much? How come you know more about medicine than the doctor? (Hubert Selby,
Jr. pg.141). As vaguely explained within the text, all too often ethical conflicts result from tiny
mistakes that just so happen to occur at the wrong points of time; such as when there may be a
lack of communication between the patient and his or her own medical team, which would come
as a disadvantage because in reality the patients know more about the medicine their taking
rather than their doctors themselves. While in many cases and circumstances, countless
treatments, which have a high chance of harming the patient, outweigh the risks of not treating
the patient, many doctors should still consider the phrase, first, do no harm, which just so
happens to embody the concept of non-maleficence; which is a concept that stands for the main
consideration of all well trained doctors, that is that the importance of not harming your patient
at any acceptable level, outweighs the importance of doing your patient good. In conclusion,
while I may find fascination within many of the different aspects that were portrayed so

beautifully within Requiem for a Dream, the unorthodox and especially unethical role that
medicine played within Requiem for a Dream seemed to catch my interest like no other aspect
that was portrayed within Requiem for a Dream.
After reading Requiem for a Dream and re-reading the authors preface to the new
edition, the presence of our nations national ethos, or betterly known as the American Dream,
began to hit me like a ton of bricks, as my interest upon the subject began to grow and in turn I
began to think more and more about the dreams that the four antagonists of the novel shared and
their belief that the full purpose and aim of life is to in turn get and not give. Being directly
rooted to our nations Declaration of Independence, the American Dream is an array of ideals in
which those who are citizens, or in other words those who are free--all men are created equal-have the opportunity for a life of prosperity and success, and in the change of social status
attained through hard work--endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights that
including Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. As Hubert Selby, Jr. stated within the
preface to the new edition of Requiem for a Dream, Obviously, I believe that to pursue the
American Dream is not only futile but self-destructive because ultimately it destroys everything
and everyone involved with it. By definition it must, because it nurtures everything except those
things that are important: integrity, ethics, truth, our very heart and soul. Why? The reason is
simple: because Life/life is giving, not getting. As time continues to move on and prove Selby
correct, the 38 percent margin of American citizens who still have belief in the American Dream,
will continue to dwindle as attaining the dream, that is only fairly, will become more and more
increasingly difficult for further future generations. For example, while many American citizens
today view a college education as a ticket, that is sadly not free, to the American Dream, many
things such as the climbing student loan debt dilemma and the deficit of decent paying jobs seem

to just threaten this perception of achieving the American Dream by fair means. Altogether, the
more controversial and contentious an idea gets as time passes by and yet again appears to prove
Selby correct, the more my attention and deliberation is brought to the table.
While and even before reading Requiem for a Dream, I found myself to be quite
fascinated with Selbys unorthodox technique of writing and shortly while reading his beautiful
literary works, found both a resemblance to his and my own way of writing, and soon gained the
aspiration to do just what he had decided to do those many years ago when he had contemplated
the idea that, as he put it, I know the alphabet. Maybe I could become a writer. For many other
reasons, I find Selbys literary work to be itself quite rebellious--defying, that is to the orthodox
convention of writing--and because of that groundbreaking. As Selby once said, I write, in part,
by ear. I hear, as well as feel and see, what I am writing. I have always been enamoured with the
music of the speech in New York. Unlike the many famous writers of history, such as Nabokov,
Fitzgerald, and James Joyce, Hubert Selby, Jr. never received any formal training when it came
to writing; that is mostly because at the age of fifteen, Selby dropped-out of high school and soon
joined the merchant marines, where his father had previously been recruited. Meagerly distressed
with his times, and still todays, convention of writing--that is with proper grammar, diction,
and punctuation--Selby wrote from the heart and found comfort with it as he finally found a
placement for himself within our society; that being that not only just a profound writer on the
following generations of his time, but also someone who finally exposes the bleak and violent
world that both Selby grew-up with and the many other people that live their lives day after day
within our so called advanced society. All in all, having had spent my summer reading Selbys
literary works have just been a pleasure and most of all have been one of the most profound

experiences to have ever occurred within the somewhat short collection of events that make-up
my life.
Once more again, among the many bizarre, diverse, and still yet extraordinary aspects
that are portrayed within this beautifully unusual novel, there are three--that including the
unethical role that medicine plays within the novel, the portrayal of the misleading idea of the
American Dream, and last but not least Selbys unorthodox technique of writing--that stand out
like no other and catch my attention as soon as I lay my eyes on their first words, hoping for
more to come shortly after I remove them and begin to ponder their occurrence; but no matter
who you are, rich or poor, young or old, there are no excuses for having had not read such a
beautiful, but still remarkably dark novel: that being because in reality happy ending are nothing
but bittersweet deceased dreams. Un-reliant upon whom the readers may be and how they chose
to live their typical lifestyle day after day, once they make the choice of reading Requiem for a
Dream, theyll never forget reading such a beautifully written, but also horrifyingly dark piece of
literature; this being mainly because Requiem for a Dream is understood universally by all social
classes and by all nationalities. When one reads such a masterfully written work of art, again unreliant upon whom the reader may be, what they may find to be a challenging read, but yet
possibly an understandable read, may or may not be the portrayed drug addiction or prostitution
within the novel. Though overall, after having had read Requiem for a Dream I would definitely
recommend such a read over the summer for those who will follow this years entrance into the
eleventh grade; this being mainly because for those who haven't quite had the chance to read
such a beautiful piece of literature, that also just happens to portray the reality of things
wonderfully, I believe that at that point of time in their life they should finally learn something

about the real world and how its insane to believe that the full purpose and aim to life is to in
turn get and not give.