Previous
Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dreamland, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Pain Management and the Normalization of Narcotics
The Drug Business
Stigma, Shame, and the Opiate Epidemic
Community as a Remedy to Addiction
Summary
Analysis
In 1929, the town of Portsmouth, Ohio, located on the Ohio River, opened a swimming pool called Dreamland. The pool was built in a time of prosperity, and for generations it served as a meeting place for the entire town where the children of Scioto County would play and socialize. Over the years, it only continued to expand along with the town.
The Dreamland swimming pool is symbolic of community and public life, both of which Quinones believes are critical to the country’s ability to recover from the opiate epidemic. He thinks that communities need to rely on one another to work through addiction and the pains and hardships of life.
Themes
Dreamland never fully eliminated racial prejudice in Portsmouth, but it did “wash away class distinctions.” In Dreamland, factory workers and landowners were one and the same. Though none of its residents could be considered rich, they took pride in their strong sense of community. In 1979 and 1980, Portsmouth was considered an “All-American City.” Today, this version of Portsmouth is long gone, however, and Dreamland exists only as a memory.
Dreamland encouraged the people of Portsmouth to come together. When the swimming pool “wash[ed] away class distinctions,” it also washed away residents’ feelings of isolation: they could take solace in and gather strength from their community. Quinones believes towns must rebuild their lost communities to recover from the opiate epidemic. The demolition of Dreamland is symbolic of America’s growing trend toward isolation and alienation. Quinones believes this isolation makes the opiate epidemic possible.
Themes
