His actual dream about an island in the Pacific suggests that he is beginning
to fear that the affair with Brenda cannot last, that the realities of their situation,
the influence of the Patimkin environment, may destroy his goal of love and freedom.
In the dream, he and the black boy, his coconspirator, as it were, are on a
boat in the harbor of one of the islands, but soon they drift away from the nude
Negro women on the shore and have to watch their island paradise disappear. The
natives say "Goodbye, Columbus" (p. 53), the refrain of Ron's, Brenda's brother's,
college record, thus suggesting that the two will not possess their dream, their
America. The historical parallel is fitting, inasmuch as the real Columbus also
became disillusioned in his quest for a better world. Thus Neil is spurred on by his
fear that the affair will be over once Brenda returns to Radcliffe, and he begins to
contemplate a marriage proposal as a way of securing her for himself. He is,
however, afraid to propose since he is not sure of Brenda's reaction and suspects
that there are still unresolved issues between them. Instead, he decides to ask her
to wear a diaphragm both to increase his sexual pleasure and as a symbol of their
defiantly intimate relationship out of wedlock.