Summaries and Analysis of Reading: The American Dream 10/22/2102

            The play The American Dream by Edward Albee opens with characters Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma anxiously awaiting the arrival of Mrs. Barker. They seem to be in a dazed, confused state. They keep asking each other when "they" are coming. The refer to Mrs. Barker in a plural tense throughout the play, probably to give a hint to the reader that Mrs. Barker represents many women.
             Unfortunately, the family is dissatisfied with the baby that was previously given to them from Mrs. Barker. It had eyes only for Daddy, and touched itself. This lead to them to mutilate the baby by cutting off its arms, gouging out its eyes, and cutting off its penis. Mrs. Barker arrives. She is initially very kind to those in the family and Mommy reciprocates these feelings. There is a strange tension that arises when Daddy "gets wet and sticky" from Mrs. Barker taking off her dress. This shows the competitive nature of both women. Grandma has boxes the whole play, and it is later revealed that the boxes hold very average items that Grandma has carried throughout her life, like a blind pekinese.
            After this, a man enters the room. He is referred to as "Young Man" throughout the play, but is called "The American Dream" by Grandma. He represents the American dream because he is good looking on the outside, but is reduced to a hurt shell of a man due to the pain he experienced from his twin brother's mutilation. He says that he is willing to do anything for money, which can be a message about the American Dream that Albee has tried to portray. By people like Mommy who pursue consumerism and the superficial values, the become willing to do anything for money. Ironically, the Young Man takes the place of his twin brother, which was mutilated by his new parents.
            Mrs. Barker plays the role of Mommy's idol. In the beginning of the play, Mommy tries to impress Mrs. Barker and imitate her in dress and language. This, along with the way Mommy describes the color of her hat, shows the superficial side of American culture. Mommy's story about how she purchased her hat also shows the sad importance of consumerism in American culture. Mommy states that she gets most of her pleasure from shopping. After she "purchases" the Young Man from Mrs. Barker, Grandma closes the play, saying "Now everyone has what they want, or at least what they think they want...". The idea that people can purchase their happiness is a false idea that Albee tries to highlight throughout the play.
              Throughout the play, Albee uses elements of syntax, details, and diction to show to ridiculous emphasis of consumerism and absurdity throughout the play. The way that Albee plays with repetition creates the sense that the language in the play is somewhat useless. It takes out the direct meaning and tends to beat around the bush when conveying the message of the words. For example, one can easily find an epizeuxis sentence. Like of page 101, Mrs. Barker simply says, "My, my, my", and repeats herself as Grandma interjects. There are many details throughout the play that are highly unnecessary, yet exist to show insight on the characters. An example of this could be Mrs. Barker talking about her brother. The audience does not need to know about the fact that he works for The Village Idiot or that he was interviewed by a psychiatric magazine. Yet, Albee includes this to show the audience that Mrs. Barker is not very intelligent and that her family is also very strange. The diction tends to be quite colloquial. Some language seems to have connotations to what the audience may be thinking. For example, after Mrs. Barker tells Mommy and Daddy about her brother, Grandma tries to say something, when Mommy tells her to be quiet. Grandma replies with "Nuts!", which has a slang definition that the people are nuts, or crazy.
             The play uses these methods of story to show the reader that the American dream is too focused on superficial and commercial ideals. Albee uses details about Mommy buying the hat and mutilation of the baby to show how trivial yet bizarre culture has become these days.