This Is Our Youth

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content and substance use.

“He is a skinny nineteen-year-old—a strange barking-dog of a kid with 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.”

Warren has experienced a change in his thought processes, which is not reflected in his actions. He remains reckless and impulsive, despite his increasing tendency toward long-term goals and planning. Warren is described as a “barking-dog of a kid” because of his risk-taking and his go-getter mentality.

“What’s gonna happen to anybody? Who cares?”

Although Dennis doesn’t often reflect on his own life or its direction, he is always quick to criticize and lecture Warren for possibly making the mistake of ruining his own life. Warren is wiser than he lets on and has long observed Dennis’s indifference toward his future. He has adopted the same sense of indifference even though it isn’t genuinely part of who he is.

“Brunch. (Pause.) That’s a wild concept: It’s not breakfast and it’s not lunch. It’s brunch. (Rolls the words around in his mouth.) ‘Brunch.’ ‘Let’s serve brunch…’ It’s something you serve. (Long pause.) This is strong pot.”

Drugs illustrate the characters’ disillusionment while also inserting comedic relief. As Dennis smokes the joint, he starts to drift off and his thoughts become less and less logical. Lonergan portrays the experience of brain fog and unusually philosophical trains of thought.