What This Theme Explores
In The Ultimate Gift, The Importance of Dreams asks what gives a life its true direction and worth. A dream, as Howard "Red" Stevens defines it, is a vision of “life as it can be,” a purpose that orients choices and sustains effort. The novel distinguishes between fantasies or finite goals and a living, evolving purpose that continues to grow as the dreamer grows. It argues that without such a guiding vision, even wealth and comfort amount to an empty existence, while the pursuit of a meaningful dream generates lasting fulfillment.
How It Develops
The theme arrives explicitly in Chapter 10 as the eighth gift, and it marks a turning point. Until then, Jason Stevens has been learning through external tasks—work, money, friendship—responding to lessons designed by someone else. With the gift of dreams, Red’s video pushes Jason inward and forward; he must stop drifting and begin to imagine the life he wants to lead.
Red grounds the idea with concrete stories, contrasting expansive, life-giving dreams with small, finite aims that collapse once achieved. This reframes dreaming from wishful thinking into a discipline: visualize, commit, and keep stretching the horizon. The assignment that follows—write down your own dreams—turns theory into an act of authorship. By the end of the month, Jason doesn’t just understand the concept; he presents a purpose to Mr. Theodore J. Hamilton that is no longer about possessions or status but about serving others, signaling his shift from passive inheritor to purposeful architect of his future.
Key Examples
-
Red’s definition reframes dreams as the engine of a meaningful life. By insisting that dreams show “life as it can be,” he elevates dreaming above escapism; it becomes a call to responsibility and creation. The message implies that greatness is not an accident but the fruit of sustained vision.
-
The contrast between Walt Disney and the retired friend clarifies the stakes. Disney’s ever-expanding vision models how a dream can outlive setbacks, even illness, because it keeps renewing purpose and action. The retired friend’s finite goal—“retire at fifty”—leaves him purposeless once reached, warning that a dream must be generative, not a finish line.
-
Jason’s transformation embodies the theme’s power. He begins by admitting he has “never thought about” what he wants, revealing a life adrift without a guiding vision. By month’s end, he articulates a dream aimed at helping deprived young people discover the “power and the passion and the values” that make life worth living, shifting his focus from self-gratification to service and growth.
Character Connections
Jason Stevens is the theme’s proving ground. His evolution from unfocused heir to purpose-driven young man shows that dreams are learned practices: naming what matters, aligning choices with that purpose, and accepting responsibility for others’ well-being. His new dream corrects his earlier aimlessness by anchoring him in a mission expansive enough to keep growing.
Red embodies the mentor who knows a dream’s true value. Having lived his own vision as an “oil and cattle baron,” he designs the gifts so Jason will discover that purpose is richer than any inheritance. By placing the gift of dreams after tangible lessons like work and money, Red suggests that skills and resources gain meaning only when harnessed to a worthy vision.
The story’s anecdotal figures function as moral signposts. Walt Disney represents the sustaining force of a dream that keeps unfolding, proving that vision can organize a life across successes and setbacks. The unnamed retired friend demonstrates the peril of a small, terminal goal: when a dream ends, so can the reason to live.
Symbolic Elements
The dream board symbolizes the act of turning vision into blueprint. Disney’s “huge dream boards” and plans tacked to a hospital ceiling make imagination concrete, insisting that a dream must be visualized, revised, and kept in view—especially when perseverance is hardest.
Jason’s list stands for the first accountable step from wishing to willing. Writing down his aspirations converts vague desires into commitments, transforming an undefined future into a navigable plan and signaling his birth as a dreamer.
Contemporary Relevance
In a culture that prizes quick wins and measurable milestones, the novel’s distinction between finite goals and evolving purpose feels urgent. Many people meet a goal only to confront burnout or emptiness; the story argues for a vision big enough to keep renewing meaning. It invites readers to trade drifting for deliberate design, to align skills and resources with a living dream that serves others as well as the self. The result is a countercultural definition of success: not accumulation, but sustained purpose.
Essential Quote
“Dreams are the essence of life—not as it is, but as it can be. Dreams are born in the hearts and minds of very special people, but the fruit of those dreams becomes reality and is enjoyed by the whole world.”
This statement crystallizes the theme by defining dreams as both personal and communal: they start within an individual but bear fruit that benefits others. It reframes dreaming as ethically generative—an obligation to imagine better and make it real—thereby justifying why Jason’s dream must grow beyond himself and endure beyond any single achievement.