34 pages • 1 hour read
This Is Our Youth
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Character Analysis
Dennis Ziegler
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content and substance use.
Dennis Ziegler is one of two protagonists and the first character introduced when the play opens. He is described as “amazingly good-natured and magnetic, but insanely competitive and almost always successfully so” (5). He was popular and essentially worshipped in high school, but in his early adulthood his charm is no longer leading him to success.
Dennis is characterized largely by the setting in which the play takes place, his apartment. It is fairly empty, with implications that he enjoys music, television, and comic books. The photographs on the wall, which contain the memories of his youth, are the only personal touch. Dennis’s apartment implies that Dennis appears vacuous and that he takes care not to reveal his true self.
Dennis is assertive and dominant and takes no issue with telling Warren or any of his other friends what to do. He insults people every chance he gets, and props himself up above others to dampen his deep feelings of insecurity and fear. Dennis also tends to panic and stresses out whenever Warren admits bad news. Dennis and Warren are best friends, but Dennis treats Warren poorly and frequently reminds him of his flaws. He thinks he is owed the world, both by Warren and everyone else, for all of the favors he does for them.
Although he resists with all his might, disillusionment is rapidly encroaching upon Dennis’s curated world of drugs, sex, and money. He has lived a materialistic life for years, and it is only when Stuey dies that Dennis finally starts to wake up to the reality of his fleeting life. Dennis’s monologue about death and the realization that he is wasting his life is the culmination of the play and the breaking of his bubble. Dennis fears for his father, for Warren, and for himself, and he is lost in trying to decide what his purpose should be. When Warren tells Dennis that he is his hero, it affirms that all of his efforts to be there for others have come through. While Dennis has a rough and abrasive exterior, he is really a sensitive, caring, and deeply troubled person underneath.
Warren Straub
Warren Straub is one of two protagonists in the story. He is 19 and, of the three major characters, the one most tired of The Pointless Pursuit of Materialism. Warren has dreams of living in the country, away from the grind of daily life and the expectation of attaining superficial wealth. Warren is described as having “large tracts of thoughtfulness in his personality that are not doing him much good at the moment, probably because they so infrequently influence his actions” (6). His mind is beginning to mature and to plan a future, but his actions show an impulsive, reckless nature that threatens to ruin his life.
Warren is “above all things a trier” (6). He goes for what he wants, whether that goal may help or harm him. He steals his father’s money with little thought or remorse and ends up spending far too much to earn back. Warren’s father told him to leave the family home because he and Warren were in constant conflict and Warren was always smoking pot in the house. When Warren’s sister was killed by the man she lived with, it created a strain on the family that persisted.
Warren’s best friend is Dennis, and he looks up to him as a hero. Warren very obviously imitates Dennis’s actions, like waiting until Jessica buzzes twice before letting her in to appear indifferent. Warren shares Dennis’s sense of apathy and would rather pursue the temporary pleasures of money, sex, and drugs than to grow up and begin a life. All of this is in spite of the fact that deep down, Warren knows he should be somewhere else.
Warren’s collection of 1950s and 1960s memorabilia is important to him because it reminds him of a simpler time in which he didn’t need to think about what lay head. By selling the collection, Warren is Letting Go of the Past and demonstrating a readiness to move on.
Warren manages to succeed with Jessica for the evening, and the two connect both sexually and intellectually, but she seems to lose interest as quickly as it developed. Warren is left right where he started, sitting in Dennis’s apartment without any sense of how to proceed.
Jessica Goldman
Jessica Goldman is the only secondary character in the story. She is a dynamic figure who initially comes across as a stereotypical teenage daughter from a wealthy family, but who reveals deeper aspects to her thoughts and personality as the evening progresses. Jessica is described as “a fairly cheerful but very nervous girl” (49), one who has built a defensive wall around herself. This defensiveness comes out in the form of argumentativeness, which Warren actually finds appealing because it challenges his intellect.
Jessica arrives at Dennis’s apartment dressed up for the night, and her appearance contrasts with Dennis’s unkempt apartment. She is interested in Warren, and the two of them have a lot in common. They find that they like the same music and that they both share a fascination and nostalgia for the past. Unlike Dennis, Jessica admires Warren’s unique collection and can relate to feeling a sense of longing for the simpler times of early childhood.
Jessica and Warren end up engaging in a philosophical discussion about The Disillusionment of Adulthood and the ways that people change over time. Jessica feels like people change constantly throughout their lives, to the point where past selves become like strangers or a different self: “Like right now you’re all like this rich little pot-smoking burnout rebel, but ten years from now you’re gonna be like a plastic surgeon reminiscing about how wild you used to be” (57). She has had experiences of looking back on things she wrote and did when she was younger and not remembering them at all, which makes her wonder if she will one day forget who she is right now.
Warren disagrees with Jessica’s stance on how people change. He believes that they largely stay the same throughout their lives. He doesn’t feel the same sense of distance or estrangement to his past self that Jessica does. This is likely because Warren has managed to escape the pointless pursuit of materialism while Jessica has found herself fully immersed in it, whether she likes it or not. Jessica and Warren spend the night together, and Jessica regrets it the next day, which puts them right back in the awkward position in which they started. Their relationship is left with an ambiguous ending. Through them, the play shows how even like-minded people struggle to connect.
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