l. "The reform of his character, announced soon after his arrival, comes as a complete shock to them and suggests an imminent confrontation. The hard-drinking narrator of dirty jokes appears to have turned into a moral crusader exhorting them to give up their alcoholic ways and make the effort to return to their former more productive lives" (89). When offered a shot of whiskey, he only drinks the chaser. He also discourages the others to drink. This new attitude stuns the roomers. Hickey walks into the saloon with a mission to challenge every single one of the roomers to face and Lessard 4crush their pipe dreams. This brings about many arguments and fights. This is something the roomers do not expect to have to deal with and do not want to deal with. Hickey begins with Harry Hope. Since the death of his wife, Harry Hope has taken refuge in his bar. He has never left in twenty years. Hope constantly talks about his pipe dream of taking a walk and being able to leave his bar. He believes that if he would walk in public, people everywhere would recognize him because of his previous popularity in the community. The truth, though, is that Hope is terribly frightened about taking a walk and about having to go outside. When trying to offer others an explanation to why he has been unable to succeed, Hope would provide an exaggerated story of almost being run over. Hope's problem with denial lies in the fact that he believes he is somewhat famous. Hope says, "When I'd wave my hand, people everywhere would run to say hello to me" (O'Neill 614). He does not acknowledge the fact that he has rarely left the bar in twenty years. He still expects to be highly recognized by all of the townspeople. Hope's true fear is not of passing cars, it is of having to face the reality that he is not as popular as he thinks, because of the alcoholic he has turned into. "Hope blinds himself from the truth" (Orr 88).The reader is delighted when ...
