Summary/Analysis of The American Dream

     The American Dream by Edward Albee

Characters:

• Mommy:  Controlling and masculine figure of the household.  Is part of the "new generation" and is looking to get rid of Grandma.
• Daddy:  Feminine (literally has lady parts) and complacent figure of household.  Also part of the new generation but sides with Grandma during certain times.  Is very wealthy.
• Grandma:  Only character in play that has sense, remembers anything, and communicates like a normal person.  Represents the "old American ideals" of industriousness and resourcefulness.
• Mrs. Barker:  Struggles for control with Mommy, represents corporate America?  Holds positions of power outside the house, is part of the Bye-Bye Adoption Agency.
• Young Man:  Also known as "the American Dream", he physically represents the new American ideals  of consumerism and commodification that were beginning to take hold in the 1960's when the play was written.  He has no skills, cannot feel emotion, and will do anything for money yet is physically perfect. 

Setting:

• Mommy and Daddy's apartment with no extraordinary features.

Plot Summary:

• The play opens with Mommy talking to Daddy (more commanding him to listen) about buying a hat and then eventually repurchasing it.  Grandma comes onto the stage with a lot of wrapped boxes but neither Daddy nor Mommy inquire about what is in them but rather praise their appearance.  Grandma and Mommy argue but the doorbell soon rings and Mrs. Barker is at the door.  Mrs. Barker enters but Daddy and Mommy don't know why she is here and neither does she.  She casually removes her dress when invited to by Mommy.  Grandma is constantly silenced but eventually has her say when she announces the boxes have nothing to do with Mrs. Barker's visit after many questions from the clueless other characters.  Grandma hides all of her things inside the boxes, including intangible things like running water.  While Grandma and Mrs. Barker are alone, she drops a hint to Mrs. Barker that strongly suggests that she is here to talk about the baby that Mommy and Daddy adopted and were unsatisfied with.  Daddy and Mommy murder the baby by dismemberment after dissatisfaction for ridiculous reasons like the baby crying.  A young man shows up at the door who Grandma thinks is the van man to take her away (a made up entity that is meant to "take away" old people often mentioned by Mommy.)  The young man is physically perfect and it is discovered that he is the twin of the baby that Mommy and Daddy murdered.  He cannot feel any emotion and has no skills, and is only looking for ways to make money.  Grandma comes up with the solution of him becoming a new son for Mommy and Daddy while she leaves the stage.  Mommy is initially upset with Grandma's disappearance after being told the van man took her away (because there is no van man) but quickly forgets about that when she meets the young man.  The play ends with everyone satisfied even though Grandma has left.

Narrative Tone/Style (also symbolism, point of view, imagery):

      The piece is a play thus has no narrator.  However, Albee primarily keeps the action moving through Grandma and communicates his voice through her as well.  Albee uses the characters as symbols of American society in the 1960's.  The entire play itself represents the replacement of old American ideals, like industriousness and resourcefulness, for new artificial ones such as consumerism and commodification of everything.  Albee believed this was a problem so he addressed it through the symbolic characters.  Grandma makes biting and witty remarks all throughout the play so one can infer that Albee's voice is intended to be the same.  Overall, however, Albee's tone is intentionally indifferent to make the play seem like it is meaningless and absurd.

       Albee's primarily style of communication in the play is akin to Theatre of the Absurd.  The characters repeat dialog again and again to create a sense of communication disconnect as well as have a lack of understanding of anything to make it seem like there is no meaning.  Of course after analysis one can see that the play is not true Theatre of the Absurd as there is conflict resolution as well as the mentioned symbolism which would go against the absurdist notion of a meaningless world. There are certain parts during the play in which imagery plays a role in heightening the sense of absurdity, for example, when Grandma describes the murder of the baby.  Point of view also plays a role in the play because the play only advances when Grandma is talking.  Her point of view is the most logical and clear one throughout the entire play.  As the old American Dream, this was done intentionally to highlight the fact the old American ideals are more logical.

Quotes:

• "So, let's leave things as they are right now...while everybody's happy...while everybody's got what he wants...or everybody's got what he thinks he wants." - Grandma ~~ This quote explains how the American people are satisfied with their current state of living (with old ideals disappearing) no matter how bad it may seem.
• "WHAT a masculine Daddy! Isn't he a masculine Daddy?" - Mommy ~~ This quote is an example of how Mommy is the masculine figure in the family and teases Daddy with his masculinity.  

Theme:

The United States is being taken over by commodification, consumerism, and superficiality while the old values of the "American Dream" are quickly disappearing to nobody's concern. 

• The title of the play is a direct reference to this theme.  Although there seems to be an absence of a lot of plot development, the absence is what contributes to the work.  Because there doesn't seem to be a meaning, Albee veils his allegory with elements of the Theatre of the Absurd.  Contrary to the appearance, the plot of Mommy and Daddy physically purchasing a baby and validating a murder through commodification further supports the theme.  Albee's voice (concerning the new American Dream) is communicated through the character of Grandma.  Furthermore, all of the characters are symbolic with each representing new/old ideals.  The shallowness of all the characters' dialog except for Grandma parallels the superficiality of a new generation raised on shallow ideals.  The tone of the play seems to be indifferent to make it seem absurd, however it is actually critical because of how it attacks the new American Dream.  Finally, the imagery within the play is primarily found in the stories told by Grandma (specifically the murder of the baby) which is used to highlight the commodification of elements of everyday life.   

Close Reading #2

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/opinion/another-defeat-for-the-defense-of-marriage-act.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

This editorial from the New York Times is about the forthcoming defeat of the Defense of Marriage Act.  The author uses diction, detail, and syntax to support her passionate tone of opposing the act.  

The author's writing is rife with diction, perhaps the most used technique in the piece.  In the second paragraph, the author says, "Any sensible reading of the Constitution and basic fairness demand a repudiation of this discriminatory law" (para. 2 ln. 1).  The words sensible and basic give the sentence a tone like it should be obvious to anyone that this law must be removed.  At the end of the sentence, the word discriminatory brings up images of hatred and unfairness that goes against the very ideals that the United States was founded on.  Anyone reading this will feel the same opposition the author does if they have any sense of what is right and wrong.  

Detail is also a key technique present in the piece to deliver hard hitting and fact-supported blows to any differing opinions.  In the third paragraph, there is a story about a real woman getting shorted because of the Defense of Marriage Act.  The full details of the story are given when the author says, "The 2-to-1 ruling on Thursday came in the case of Edith Windsor, who married her partner of more than 40 years...and was required to pay $363,053 in estate taxes" (para. 3 ln. 1).  The author chose to include this because the implications of the law are put into a real life context with a real person with a name.  The reader can relate to the woman who suffered which further would convince them to oppose the law.  

Finally, the author uses syntax to support his/her opinion.  The clause surrounded by hyphens is used to strengthen a sentence as extra support when the author says, "It is the first federal appeals court ruling to recognize that discrimination against gay men and lesbians — like discrimination based on gender or directed against children born out of wedlock — must be subject to “heightened scrutiny”" (para. 5. ln. 1).  The author likens gay discrimination to gender discrimination by the added clause so that readers think discrimination of gays is just as severe.  Another example of use of syntax is the author's strategic quoting of government officials.  He/she says "As Judge Jacobs explained, the law is “not related to an important government interest” and gay people “are not in a position to adequately protect themselves from the discriminatory wishes of the majoritarian public” (para. 6 ln. 1).  Not only does the quote support the author's opinion, the fact a judge said it adds authority and weight behind the opinion.  The reader will validate the opinion because a judge supported it.   

Blog Prompt 2

2008, Form B. In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are portrayed as times graced by innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works, they are depicted as times of tribulation and terror. Focusing on a single novel or play, explain how its representation of childhood or adolescence shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.

       J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye centers around adolescent Holden Caulfield struggling with growing up.  Holden copes with understanding feelings of alienation and his sexuality.  Overall, this contributes to the novel's themes of the pain of growing up and artificiality of the adult world.

      At school, Holden feels as if he has no real friends.  He often uses the term, "phony" to describe his peers as he thinks they are disingenuous.  The only real friend he can communicate with is his little sister, Phoebe.  Sincerity is something he thinks is lacking among almost everyone but remains within younger people.  An example of his alienation is during a school-wide football game, when he chooses not to attend it to read a book instead.  The alienation he feels is something many kids feel as they get older, a lack of understanding.  As Holden is getting older he also feels pressure to lose his virginity.  However, he has never felt comfortable to do so even if conditions were right.  At one point during the novel, he sees a couple performing sexual acts and thinks of them as "perverts" and doesn't understand why they would do such things.  At another point, he hires a prostitute but only wants to talk to her in the end.  Holden struggles to understand sexuality even though those around him have already done so, which additionally adds to his alienation.   

     Holden's experiences through the novel highlight the trials of getting older.  Salinger communicates that the "phoniness" he perceives among his peers and adults is a lack of sincerity among adults.  The insincerity found within the general masses is almost required to fit into society, thus making it difficult for Holden to fit in.  Realization of this can be painful for those who want to remain a kid on the inside as they must adapt to a new and phony world.  As Holden experiences alienation because of his struggle to adapt, the process of growing up for him is a painful one.  

         

Response to Course Materials #2

The past month in lit has been fast and we have already learned a lot.  We started our study on The American Dream which I think has been pretty interesting learning about the different meanings behind it.  This will be helpful for the AP exam because we need to be able to know how to pick apart texts and find deeper meanings behind them.  We definitely need to practice if we want to score well.  We also have been talking about the key to tone -- DIDLS.  This stands for diction, imagery, details, langauge, syntax.  We are doing this because identifying the tone is key to understanding the text better.  There has been a tone exercise pretty much every day where we read a passage and try to identify the tone.  I'm not sure how this will play on the AP exam but I'm certain that understanding of tone is key to knowing the text better.  Finally, we have reviewed movements in literature and their characteristics. We can connect these characteristics from movement to the texts we study and see how they fall within the movement. Not only that, we can use the general traits of pieces within the movement to help us dissect the literature.  For example, we can look for anti-heroes in post-modern literature because we already know that they were popular during that movement.