Summaries of Works

The American Dream

Author: Edward Albee
Setting: The play is one act and is set in Mommy and Daddy's apartment, mainly the living room.
Significant Characters: Mommy and Daddy, a married couple. Mommy is dominant and emasculates Daddy. Grandma is Mommy's mother and provides witty commentary on present society. Mrs. Barker is the epitome of status.
Plot: Mommy and Daddy are visited by Mrs. Barker. Eventually Grandma is left alone with her, and she explains about the adopted child that Mommy and Daddy used to have. Whenever it did anything wrong —usually things that the prusish and jealous Mommy disliked--, they punished it by mutilating it. It eventually died.
A Young Man then comes to the door looking for work; Grandma dubs him immediately as “The American Dream”. He tells her about his life and she realizes that he is the twin of Mommy and Daddy's dead child. He suffered whenever they did something to it and is now an “empty shell.” Grandma gathers her things and leaves; Mommy likes the Young Man and he is accepted by Mommy and Daddy as a replacement for the twin they killed.

Narrative Voice

Point of View:

play-- none.
Tone: Theatre of the Absurd-- common in the '60s. It explores existence having no purpose or meaning; Characters are affected by hidden outer forces. Dialogue is sometimes nonsense and mocks/ dismisses reality/realism.
Imagery: exaggeration, analogy. Character typically use exaggeration when talking about society; Albee uses this to comment on the absurdity of the culture, particularly its consummerism and focus on 'fake' instead of 'real' values.
Symobolism: Grandma symbolizes the old values once held in society. Her breaking of the fourth wall symbolizes her connection with others, in this case the audience. When she does this, she also is out of the action, symbolizing that her values are not in play anymore.
The Young Man symbolizes the current American Dream, filled with empty potential and disconnect from real substance.
Mrs. Barker symbolizes the status quo in society and seems to be involved with everything, though like Mommy this does not make her more intelligent.
The fact that it is set in the enclosed apartment could be a symbol of the confining nature of the American Dream.

Quotes:

Mommy: WHAT a masculine Daddy! Isn't he a masculine Daddy?

This demonstrates Mommy's emasculation of Daddy, as her condescention and sarcasm only make him less masculine and more juvenile.

Young Man: I no longer have the capacity to feel anything. I have no emotions. I have been drained, torn asunder, disemboweled.

This quote is when the Young Man explains his losses to Grandma. He now lacks any inner feeling, compassion, or pity and is only beautiful on the outside. This means he cannot relate to others, but others can relate to him. Albee uses this to comment on the nature of others and their attraction to emptiness. In the end, The Young Man is, unlike his energetic twin, someone Mommy and Daddy can relate to because of his emptiness and lack of meaningful potential.

Theme: Albee uses “The American Dream” to mourn the past's less superficial values and ways of life while commenting on the present empty nature of American societal and family values.

Evidence:

Setting: The small apartment that the play is set in furthers the feeling of being stifled with no room to grow or expand, sybolizing the limited nature of the American Dream (AD).

Title: The title itself is a huge tip to the reader that what Albee is discussing and offering commentary on in his play are American values, or the treasured American Dream.

Narrative voice, Syle, Tone: The fact that it's written in theatre of the absurd signifies a break from reality; in this case, how ridiculous that values held by Mommy, Daddy, and Mrs. Barker are. Throughout the play they speak in a dialogue that illustrates this.

Imagery, Plot, and Symbolism: The Young Man symbolizes the AD, full of outward potential but no capacity for depth or anything beyond the superficial. The fact that Grandma, who herself symbolizes a past time of 'real, deep' values-- evidenced by her calling herself such things as “pioneer stock”--, dubs him this herself is significant. She sees his outward enticing appeal, but soon realizes he offers nothing else. Because of his twin's graphic mutilation, he is empty and devoid of feeling, qualities that Albee is attributing to the consumeristic American society.

The hyperbole in the opening beige/wheat/cream hat discussion further illustrates the ridiculousness of consumerism. It also sets the stage for everything in the play being a business transaction, which is more evidence for the superficial nature of American values. The adoption of a child is pure business, and Mommy's friendship with Mrs. Barker is based on constant competition to be the highest in the status quo pecking order. Mommy and Daddy's sex life is compared to a shopping purchase when Mommy says that Daddy provides her with food and money in exchange for the past “bump[ing] of [his] uglies”. Their marriage further reflects this emotional disconnect and dysfunction by them constantly insulting each other and Mommy's sarcastic emasculation of Daddy.

Even the names of the characters suggest the dysfunctional nature of society, as they are not reality-based and are titles to an imaginery, non-existant child.