Summary and Analysis of The American Dream (pretend that's italicized)

The Basics:

Author: Edward Albee, written around 1959-1960.

Setting: The play takes place in the living room of a very simple apartment with minimal furniture. It is sometime in the early 1960s.

Characters:

Mommy- middle aged, upper class woman who is materialistic and always needs to be in control.

Daddy- Mommy’s emasculated husband who lets her walk all over him to appease her, also middle aged and upper class

Grandma- The only mentally all-there character, represents the old American Dream, lives with Mommy and Daddy and puts on an act for them to appear insane.

Mrs. Barker- a “professional woman” who runs lots of charities and is just as twisted and materialistic as Mommy and Daddy.

Young man- pretty on the outside, hollow on the inside, represents the new American Dream, twin of the baby Mommy and Daddy adopted.

Plot:

Considering this play has many elements of the theater of the absurd, there isn’t much of a plot. There is a lot of going around in circles and nonsense but basically, here’s what happens: Mommy and Daddy discuss how they can never get satisfaction. Grandma comes down carrying lots of boxes, and babbles on about the mistreatment of old people, throwing in a lot of nonsense that makes her appear to be insane. Mrs. Barker than enters and despite much anticipation for her arrival, no one remembers why she came. When Mommy and Daddy leave the room, Grandma tells Mrs. Barker about a baby Mommy and Daddy adopted and proceeded to mutilate when it didn’t satisfy them. The doorbell rings, and the young man enters. He tells Grandma about how he feels empty on the inside, and how he had a twin (the baby Mommy and Daddy adopted), and he can feel its pain. Grandma then tells the young man to load up her boxes, and tells Mrs. Barker to have Mommy and Daddy adopt the young man, which makes them very happy. Grandma leaves the house, but remains on the stage. Only the young man can see her as she says the closing lines of the play.

Narrative Voice

The American Dream is written by Edward Albee, who is quite fed up with the materialism of the consumer era and the “mutilation” of the American dream. He is homosexual, and he lived with a group of like minded males. His lack of interaction with women and possible rejection he felt from some of them causes him to portray them usually as harsh and controlling (like Mommy). The rejection he felt for being homosexual in the 1960’s may have facilitated the bitterness that can be seen in the play and the attack on newer generations. The tone of the play is dry yet humorous, as it is criticizing and making fun of the newer generations at the same time. Albee uses some very dark imagery to amplify the bitterness he feels towards society. He uses images of a baby being mutilated by having its hands, tongue, genitals, etc. removed one by one to describe what he thinks is happening to the American dream. There is a ton of symbolism in this play. To name a few: Grandma=old American Dream, Young man= New American dream, mutilation of baby= destruction of the values of the American Dream, Mrs. Barker= the business world, Mommy and Daddy= materialistic newer generations. All of this symbolism helps Albee attack society as a whole while only using a few characters, and contributes to his voice as an angry, bitter man who has been rejected from society.

Quotes:

The Young Man says, “I have no emotions, I have been drained; torn asunder…disemboweled”(Albee 36). I think that this quote does a great job of describing what Albee thinks has happened to the American dream. The language used is powerful and really shows readers how torn up the American Dream has become.

When Mommy and Daddy are returning, Grandma says “I’ve got to go into my act now”(37). I love this line because it goes right out and says what readers have gradually been realizing: that Grandma is actually quite wise and competent, and merely puts on an act for Mommy and Daddy. This line opens up so many more ideas on how the old American dream had sound morals and wisdom, and it brings out the ridiculousness of Mommy and Daddy.

The Young Man says, “I think I can explain it to you, partially because you’re very old, and very old people have perceptions they keep to themselves, because if they expose them to other people…well, you know what ridicule and neglect are.”(35). I like this quote because it shows a sort of connection that Grandma and the Young Man have. They both have been ridiculed and neglected, but in different ways. The bond that they share as seen in this line is kind of touching.

Theme Claim: Albee’s American Dream warns that the current generation of upper class Americans has gutted the heart and soul of what it means to be American and replaced our collective dream with a shallow, immature, materialistic longing for power and wealth, but there is still hope for change.

Explanation: Symbolism plays a major part in this claim. Mommy and Daddy are symbols of the “current generation of upper class Americans.” Their act of mutilating the bumble by removing its body parts symbolizes the “gutt[ing of] the heart and soul of what it means to be American. The fact that Mrs. Barker, who symbolizes the business world condones and even supports the mutilation of the bumble shows that the twisted nature of newer generations expands into further aspects of society like business.

The shallowness of the American dream’s replacement can be seen by the emptiness of the Young man. He can feel nothing inside, because he is connected to his twin (the bumble that was mutilated). We can also see the shallowness and materialism through the characters representing the current generation. For example, Mommy throws a huge fit because the hat she got was supposedly a slightly different shade from what the salesman told her it was. This makes the shallowness of the current generation seem humorous. Another example of shallowness and materialism can be seen when Mommy finds out that Grandma has left and is only sad for about ten seconds until she sees the new young man who is coming to live with her. She immediately forgets about Grandma and her strong morals for the young man who has a pretty face. The immaturity of the new American dream can be seen in a reversion to a childlike state by several of the characters. Mommy’s temper tantrum about the hats is again an example of this, as is Daddy’s “blushing and giggling” when Mrs. Barker takes off her dress.

The longing for wealth can be seen when Mommy talks about how she married Daddy and let him “bump [her] uglies”(12) so that she could be rich and live in a nice apartment.  She doesn’t actually care about Daddy at all. The longing for power is where gender roles come in. Throughout the play, there is a constant power struggle between Mommy, Mrs. Barker, and Grandma. Daddy has pretty much lost the power struggle and has resigned as Mommy’s emasculated slave. He is basically a woman. Mommy has taken on a male gender role and usually dominates. She always needs to be in control and have all of the power.

 Imagery and Narrative voice also contribute to this statement. The imagery of a child being hurt strengthens the injustice Albee feels about the gutting of the American Dream by associating it with violence. Albee’s voice as a rejected member of society explains the bitterness and the warning about the evils of the current generation of upper class Americans.

The single hint that Albee gives of there still being hope is in the fact that Grandma does not leave the stage at the end of the play. This shows that she still has the potential to return to the house if she is needed again, which seems likely considering the last lines of the play. This shows some hope that newer generations will come to their senses and realize that the old American dream has much more value.