The American Dream Synthesis and Analysis

The American Dream by Edward Albee

• Author: Edward Albee
• Late in the Theater of the Absurd movement of literature.
• Setting:
• Late 1950s or early 1960s.
• A living room in an apartment where Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma live.
• Plot:
• Mommy and Daddy are sitting in the living room, talking about Mommy’s debate over the color of her hat (Beige or Wheat), while alluding to their sexual frustration.
• Grandma packs up her stuff into the boxes.  This includes her T.V., the Pekinese, her Sunday teeth, her room, the water, and everything else that is essential to life.
• Mrs. Barker arrives but no one understands why she is there, then they remember about the bumble.
• Grandma tells Mrs. Barker the story of the bumble’s actions that caused Mommy and Daddy to mutilate it so much.
• The Young Man arrives, Grandma talks about the American Dream with him, he is mutilated like the bumble, but psychologically and emotionally, not physically.
• Grandma leaves and the Young Man replaces her.
• The play ends with the implication of incest as Mommy slides closer to the Young Man.
• Grandma steps out and breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience saying, “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.  Good night, dears” (127).
• Main Characters:
• Mommy 
• Mommy is a manipulating and emasculating woman; she pushes Daddy around and tries to maintain complete control of him.
• Mommy is also very childlike in her manner of arguing continually with Grandma, Daddy, and even Mrs. Barker. 
• Another characteristic of Mommy is that she is very materialistic, wanting a new hat and caring more about getting the satisfaction of having the salespeople bring her the same hat again but call it a different color.
• Daddy
• Daddy is a powerless man; Mommy is always controlling him and emasculating him.  Mommy manipulates him so much to do whatever she wants that Daddy doesn’t have much of a choice for anything, he just agrees with Mommy.
• Grandma
• Grandma is the only wise character in the play, at one point she is supposed to sound like an owl, “Who? Who? ... Who? Who?” (71)  She understands what is going on during the play like no other character does, but she acts dumb around Mommy and Daddy, “I’ve got to go into my act, now” (117).
• Young Man
• The Young Man is another character who knows himself, he is aware of himself as he describes his emotional and psychological mutilations.  He is the twin of the bumble that Mommy and Daddy mutilated, and his emotional and psychological damages clearly show this connection.
• Narrative Voice: None, the play did not have a narrative voice.
• Author’s Style:

o       Point of View:  Albee’s point of view when writing The American Dream was one that is an absurdist’s point of view.  Albee writes his play and it is quite hard to tell if it an absurdist play in which we are supposed to take everything at face value and see things as they are and not more.  Or if it is a play with meaning disguised as an absurdist play.

o       Tone:  The tone Albee uses in this play is very light and humorous for the content being discussed, but it is still uneasy for the reader or audience member.  In this play Albee writes about mutilation and murder of a baby, incest, other sexual actions, and even more, but still his play is filled with jokes and a light not accusatory tone.

o       Imagery:  The imagery Albee uses in The American Dream is somewhat disturbing at times, like when the bumble is described and all the mutilation is recalled. 

o       Symbolism:  In The American Dream there are many examples of symbolism but the most important is the use of Grandma and the Young Man to symbolize the American Dream.  Grandma symbolizes the old American Dream, that of being a pioneer and moving west to settle new lands.  The Young Man on the other hand symbolizes the new American Dream, where materialism is the goal; he is handsome and pleasing on the outside but not filling to the soul.

• Quotes:
• “DADDY: ’What does it have to do with why what’s-her-name is here?’ / MOMMY: ‘They’re here because we asked them’” (87).
• This is a significant quote because it shows the facelessness of authority.  Mommy and Daddy were talking about Mrs. Barker, but Daddy can never remember her name and Mommy refers to her as “them.”  In this quote Albee is showing how the authority in America is so faceless and indefinite.
• “You are the American Dream” (108).
• As Grandma says this when she first meets the Young Man Albee is establishing the connection between the Young Man, Grandma, and the American Dream.
• “Well, I guess that jus about wraps things up.  I mean, for better or worse, this is a comedy, and I don’t think we’d better go any further.  No, definitely not.  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.  Good night, dears” (127).
• This quote is significant because it shows how much of the director Grandma has been throughout the whole play, she has been pulling the strings even while acting.  This helps explain how she is the only wise and truly understanding character in the play.
• Theme:  The American dream is an empty shell compared to the wholesome thing it used to be.
• Albee’s theme in The American Dream is that the American Dream is not what it used to be, it is only an empty shell can be seen first in the title of the work: The American Dream, is not just a title for an absurdist’s play, Albee is telling his audience about the American Dream and what he thinks of it.
• As seen in the Author’s Style section Albee uses his tone to keep the work from becoming depressing as he chastises the society for its change in values to bring the American Dream around to something so unsatisfying.  The imagery to show how mutilated the dream has become, and the symbolism to really strike the point that this new American Dream is replacing an old one that was much better for society.