Dreams

While the plot concerns the slow decline in popularity of jazz, the play's main theme is the chasing of dreams, and how this can affect people's lives. When they first meet, Gene and Terry both have dreams. But there is a difference in their aspirations. Gene's dream is to keep living life as he has. He wants nothing more than to just keep earning only as much money as he needs to survive, so that he can continue to play his trumpet. As Clifford notes of musicians like Gene at the end of the play: "They played not for fame, and certainly not for money. They played for each other. To swing. To blow. Night after night, they were just burning brass. Oblivious." But Terry's dream is different. Although she is attracted to Gene's talent when they first meet, to her, his music is nothing more than an...