The American Dream is a play by Edward Albee written in 1961. The main characters are Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Mrs. Barker, and Young Man. The characters don't work very well together. First of all , Mommy completely and absurdly dominates Daddy. She toys with him, provoking his masculinity in the description of opening the door for someone. He fails though, even at mustering up the manliness to open the door. Mommy and Daddy had a child once, but they mutilated it to the point of death, chopping off everything, including emasculation. Mommy and Daddy have a horrible time remembering anything at all. They trip over each other awkwardly at many points. Mommy baits daddy like a little girl, saying stuff like, "Well, I got satisfaction", with Daddy replying, "That's right, Mommy. You did get satisfaction, didn't you?" Mommy has replaced true sexual gratification with shopping as her way of achieving satisfaction. Mommy also seeks gratification in retelling her times to Daddy, like when she bought the hat. Grandma is the only person close to being sane, and she's moving out. She's "pops the balloons" in the banter between Mommy and Daddy, mocking them, "shivered and fainted did she? Humph!". No one remembers Mrs. Barker especially. She has complete control over Mommy and Daddy. And Daddy has a weird thing for control, he has an obvious crush on Mrs. Barker and Mommy can't stand it one bit. With an awkward drop of, "Now, now; you seem to forget who I am", and Mommy drops arguments about hats. Grandma, at the arrival of the Young Man proclaims, "Yup. Boy, you know what you are, don't you? You're the American Dream, that's what you are. All those other people, they don't know what they're talking about. You...you are the American Dream." The young man winds up taking the place of Grandma in the home.
The American Dream is related to many absurdist theatre works, but this one is closer to a satire. The American Dream is a critique of 60's consumerist values, saying that Americans fill voids in their lives with unnecessary and destructive nothings while corrupting what is really important in people's lives.
This is a very brief summary but it is good. You have great ideas and a lot of evidence to support the claims you have made in the first paragraph. You also added the macro idea about the American Dream (which is the point) but it really tied everything together.
ReplyDeleteAdd details about narrative tone, maybe discuss literary techniques that can enhance and support the meaning of the play so that it will benefit you when studying for the exam.
Though this gets the job done, is it organized in a way that will benefit you when studying? I would look into making it more visually accessible.
Where do you label or discuss symbolism within the play?