"The Iceman Cometh" by Eugene O'Neill centers on drunks in a skid row bar in 1912. The bar dwellers spend their time drinking rotgut whiskey and reminiscing about yesterdays and idolizing tomorrows, the fantasies of the future, which are shattered by the reformed salesman, Hickey. In the play, these pipe dreams keep the bar's populace alive.
All of the residents of Harry Hope's bar thrive on pipe dreams, except Larry and Parritt, but the effects still take hold. Larry is considered the philosopher of the bar, which is proved by this statement from Rocky, one of the characters, to Larry;…
