Kip's Dreams in More Joy in Heaven by Morley Callaghan

Being prioritized for so long and then suddenly neglected can have a negative impact on one's self. Having something valued, like a hope in life, deemed unimportant causes a myriad of sorrowful emotions. This idea of one's hopes being dismissed is illustrated by Morley Callaghan in his novel More Joy in Heaven, when the protagonist experiences his dreams being disregarded from society's priority. The feeling of despair is additionally shown when the protagonist is trying to keep his hope alive in society. In More Joy in Heaven by Morley Callaghan, Kip is ultimately doomed when society builds up his dreams of living a simple life and having the ideal job and then throwing them away. 

Kip Caley possesses the noble desire of living a secluded life away from his past and the media. Kip’s only request of the media is to “give [him] a break” (Callaghan, 19) and not “drag all of [his] old stuff out” (Callaghan, 19) for the town to see; he does not want the people to see his old life and be “scared of [him]” (Callaghan, 23). Kip expressing that he does not want to be in the papers, should give the media the memo that he does not want to make his coming home from jail a big ordeal. In another case, the media does not respect Kip’s wishes by asking to do a paper about his “life story” (Callaghan, 41) and [running it] for about a week” (Callaghan, 41). Even though this request is not his wish, it's a step in the right direction to build up to it; the story being in the paper for a week is better than it being in it for a month. On the contrary of staying private, Kip’s wish gets thrown when the knowledge of him “[shooting] a cop” (Callaghan, 191) gets broadcasted on “the radio [and in] the newspapers” (Callaghan, 191). Being on every radio station and in the news is the complete opposite of what Kip hoped for; his dreams were disregarded and his situation was on display for the whole town to see. Given these points, it can be deduced that Kip’s dreams were not respected and did not follow through till the end; his time in the town was everything but private; the media is not all to blame for this, his job was equally to blame.  

Topic sentence. An important dream of Kip’s is to get a job “where nobody’d notice [him]” (Callaghan, 34) and that will let him “drift along like [his mom] and [his brother] and Tim” (Callaghan, 24) in their town. Kip wanting to fit in like his family is a reasonable dream; wanting a basic job is proving that he wants to leave his crime life behind and start anew. Even though he accepts a job that has him “doing things everyday that [keeps] alive the stuff [he wants] to forget” (Callaghan, 31), it ends up being “terribly important” (Callaghan, 137) to him. The job that Kip takes evolves into a wonderful opportunity for him, however, it’s not always exclusive and not what he originally wished for. In light of his initial dream, Kip is “through at the hotel” (Callaghan, 131) when given an offer to work in a more widespread workplace; declining the ultimatum shows that Kip yearns to work in an individual setting once again. The job being offered to Kip does not correspond to his dream and he realizes how far off he's gone from his original plan on how he wants to work in the town. In essence, Kip being forced into two lively jobs shows how his dreams are once again thrown, thereby showing that people were only using him to get what they want instead of considering what he wants or what's best for him. 

Topic sentence. Kip dreams of the opportunity to become “a mediator” (Callaghan, 43) and be “on the parole board” (Callaghan, 43); he believes that he has “a spark” (Callaghan, 87) that “touches people” (Callaghan, 87) just “like [him]” (Callaghan, 97). He feels like he has the right experience and knowledge to be on the board and decides to work towards his dream. While some of the town thinks he’d “do great work on [the] parole board” (Callaghan, 100) and would “like to see Kip around” (Callaghan, 106) more, others think “it would be political suicide” (Callaghan, 106) and “a mockery of the law and order” (Callaghan, 100). Getting conflicting opinions from the town does not stop Kip from building up to his dream and decides no one can stop him from achieving it.