The Dreamer Examines His Pillow by John Patrick Shanley - Book Report/Review Example

It eventually comes out that Tommy has been sleeping with Donna's sister, Mona, who is still only a teenager. Donna takes the affair very personally as if she has been betrayed by both her sister and her ex-boyfriend. She demands an explanation from Tommy who hedges and fails to offer a complete explanation. He waffles between admitting that he is still in love with Donna and acting like none of it bothers him. Donna demands that Tommy promise never to sleep with Mona again, but Tommy counters by insisting that Donna wouldn't care so much if she weren't still in love with him.

Donna implies that Tommy is in danger because he has admittedly used both herself and her sister. They obviously share a father and fathers are protective of their daughters. To have offended two of them in one fell swoop is surely cause for Donna's father to assault Tommy. This does not compel Tommy to reverse his stance in their ongoing argument in the scene, however. Tommy claims that he loves her but he has to do what is best for himself, and Donna claims she has to get away from him to save herself.

In the second scene, Donna goes to visit her father, announcing her arrival in the same angry fashion as she did in scene one. He allows her in but says that he will only answer a limited number of her questions and will not stand for abuse by her. She rants and raves to her father about the current state of her relationship with Tommy and looks to her father for agreement and reassurance. Donna's biggest fear, she says, is losing her identity in the process of falling in love. She becomes angry with her father when his response is, at first, less than nurturing.

Donna blames him for her current plight, saying that she doesn't want to end up with a man that is anything like him. He cheated on her mother and Donna blames him for making them both miserable. Her father laughs at her, insisting that her fears are irrational and funny. He claims that it is often men who lose their identity when they marry.This does not stop Donna from ranting, however. Her father continues to drink while he listens to her, at times pausing to try to explain himself. He claims that he cheated on her mother in order to avoid losing his own personal identity.

Claiming that he was utterly and completely in love with her mother, he explains to Donna some of the complexities of love relationships. As they engage in verbal combat, Donna eventually convinces him to help her railroad Tommy into marriage. It is decided that he will use physical force if necessary to compel Tommy to take Donna to the alter. In the third scene, Donna's father goes, dressed in a tuxedo, to Tommy to force him to marry his daughter. Tommy offers him a beer and they discuss art and women, particularly Mona and Donna.

Donna's father compels Tommy to close his eyes and describe what he sees there, in his mind. It is filled mostly with garbage and the women of his life. After he opens his eyes, they discuss his relationship with Donna, and how he has been treating all the women in his life terribly. He claims that he is only hurting himself now, but Donna's father does not believe this story. Donna's father says that Tommy is selfish and hurtful to two very important people, his daughters. He has lied to them, used them, and thrown them aside when he was through.

This is not acceptable behavior to him and you can feel an air of menace between them as they discuss Tommy's treatment of them.Donna arrives, dressed in a bridal gown, and demands to know if her father has convinced Tommy to stop seeing her sister Mona. He has not, which leads her to comment that the two men are alike; they are both cheaters and users. She insists that her father beat Tommy up for behaving like this, which was his initial intention. However, her father is unconcerned by this, claiming that the reason Donna was attracted to Tommy in the first place is that he is like her father.

It provided familiarity and comfort to stay with what she knows. Therefore, she shouldn't now be upset by what she subconsciously sought out to begin with.In a somewhat forced ceremony, Donna's father marries them. Neither seems ready but, again, Donna's father is unmoved. Marriage and love are always a mess as far as he is concerned and people make it too complicated. Essentially, he says they worry and analyze too much, rather than just plowing ahead and doing what they need to do. He pronounces them "Son. Daughter. Self. Stranger." Summing up the discussions about self and marriage that take place throughout the play.