The idea that childhood is filled with dreams and fantasies is one of the key themes of this text. How does this theme play an important part in Darrow’s overall goal for the speech? Darrow wants to prevent Leopold and Loeb from being executed. By focusing on their childhood illusions, he can present them as more sympathetic and less monstrous, which could lead to a reduced sentence for them. Darrow wants to prove that Leopold and Loeb were not given proper guidance by the adults in their life. Because of that lack of guidance, their dreams and illusions took on immense importance for the teenagers and led them into bad choices. He demonstrates that their childhood dreams were actually hallucinations because they were mentally ill; this helps him achieve his purpose of proving they are not legally responsible for their actions. He wants to prove that Leopold and Loeb, although young, were totally heartless and cruel in committing their crime; his purpose is to discourage the ju