American Dream

Setting – The living room of an apartment

Author – American playwright Edward Albee, who once said, “Writing should be useful. If it can't instruct people a little bit more about the responsibilities of consciousness, there's no point in doing it.”

Characters –

         Mommy…clearly wears the pants in her and Daddy’s relationship, emasculating him at every opportunity. She uses shopping to satisfy the needs not met by her marriage and lacks tact. She married Daddy for his money and thinks she’s entitled to it. Grandma’s presence annoys her, and she seeks to put Grandma in a home.

         Daddy…is obedient to Mommy. To escape her, he says he goes to the men’s club. But around Mommy, Daddy often repeats what she says. He also has to have his masculinity validated by her (“Was I firm?” “Oh, very firm.”) He is more sympathetic towards Grandma, acting more like she’s his mother than Mommy’s. Grandma warned him not to marry Mommy.

         Grandma…is a “meta” character–she seems to know what’s going on and even breaks the fourth wall at the play’s end. She often laments on what happens, or how one is treated, after they’ve grown old. Her behavior and what she says around Mommy and Daddy cannot always be trusted, however. She puts on an act in front of them.

         Mrs. Barker…is often referred to in the plural. She is the “they,” but even calls herself “we.” She literally works for Bye-Bye Adoption Service and also serves as head of the woman’s club. Her husband is in a wheelchair.

         Young Man…takes the form of a handsome Midwestern boy. Grandma right-out dubs him the “American Dream,” but he feels a perpetual sense of incompleteness. His fortune was the result of the murder of a twin (a “bumble” originally adopted by Mommy and Daddy). He recognizes that he has no talents and is in desperate want of money.

Plot Summary –

Mommy and Daddy are sitting on opposite sides of the living room, complaining about the lateness of an unknown “they.” Mommy begins to tell Daddy about going to buy a new hat, repeatedly pausing to make sure Daddy is paying attention by asking him to repeat her last remark. Mommy had bought a hat another “they” had told her was of the color beige. Coming out of whatever shop, Mommy passed by the “dreadful” chairman of her woman’s club, who told Mommy that her hat was not beige; it was wheat. Mommy returned to the shop, threw a tantrum, and the employees took that hat back and presented her with an identical, wheat-colored hat. Mommy and Daddy then complain about the lack of satisfaction “these days,” with a few interjected complaints about “they’re” continuing tardiness.

Grandma enters with nicely wrapped boxes in her arms. She won’t tell Mommy and Daddy for what they are, eventually dumping them around Daddy’s feet. Daddy addresses Grandma’s whimpering in the bathroom, for which Mommy makes him apologize. Grandma talks about how one is treated differently with old age, and exits. Mommy tells Daddy about how when she was young and poor, Grandma would wrap her a nice box for lunch, which Mommy would not eat, so that when she returned home from school, Grandma could. They talk about putting Grandma in a nursing home and about how Mommy is entitled to living off of Daddy because she married him.

Grandma returns with more boxes and again dumps them at Daddy’s feet. Grandma snaps at Daddy for having married Mommy when she had warned him not to. Mommy and Daddy complain more about “they’re” lateness, and Grandma repeatedly asks “who?” without receiving an answer. Grandma wants to stay and watch, but Mommy tells her to go to bed…at noon. She stays.

The doorbell rings, and all of a sudden, Daddy is hesitant to continue. Mommy says what Daddy wants to hear just to get him to open the door. Mrs. Barker, whom M&D continue to refer to in the plural, enters, and M&D are very blunt in telling her that she was late. Grandma cannot see her (at first?) To make her more comfortable, M&D continue to request that she remove clothing until she’s down to her knickers. M&D ask Mrs. Barker why she’s there, and the three of them speculate if it’s because of Grandma’s boxes.

         Grandma makes it clear that Mrs. Barker is not there for the boxes; Daddy consistently has to ask Mrs. Barker to repeat her name. Grandma, Mommy, and Daddy clash throughout. Mommy insists Daddy take away Grandma’s TV. M&D& Mrs. Barker brainstorm as to why Mrs. Barker is there and are unsuccessful.

Daddy exits, and Mrs. Barker feigns severe thirst to get Mommy to exit, too. Alone with Mrs. Barker, Grandma tells her the story of when she last came to see Mommy and Daddy (or, someone very much like Mrs. Barker and people very much like M&D). Mommy hadn’t been able to bear a bumble of joy, so M&D adopted/bought one–one they did not like and ended up killing.

As they talk, Daddy yells from offstage that he cannot find the TV or anything else, and Mommy cannot find the water. Mrs. Barker exits. The doorbell rings, and Grandma greets the Young Man warmly…inappropriately. They discuss his clean-cut Midwestern looks and acting career. He’s looking for work/money. Grandma tells him about how she won a bunch of money in a baking contest with a store-bought, day-old cake, and is therefore able to pay him. The Young Man tells her that he’s incomplete, that his mother died giving birth to him and his twin, and that he lost his twin, too.

Grandma senses M&D&Barker returning, telling the Young Man to go along with her act. She tells Mrs. Barker, the first to come in, that he’s the van man, and she sends the YM to put her boxes in the van. She then tells Mrs. Barker of a plan, tells the returned YM that he will soon understand, and exits the apartment with him. M&D return, and Mrs. Barker presents them with the “van man” in the doorway, their new bumble.

Theme – The American Dream has deteriorated into a superficial framework, devoid of humanity and meaning.
Narrative Voice/Author’s Style – Albee uses the Theater of the Absurd to be very direct, sardonic, and harsh in his criticisms of society. The tone is simultaneously humorous and dark because the subject matter is grim and unhappy. Imagery of the mutilation of Mommy’s and Daddy’s first adopted child is particularly gruesome and unforgiving.

In addition, absurdity allows for the effective use of shock.

He uses the Young Man to show how much the idea of the American Dream has become meaninglessly superficial over time–all glamorous on the outside without any depth on the inside and only able to succeed at the expense of others. Grandma’s boxes also help represent this idea. Mommy and Daddy comment many times on their wrapping but do not investigate their contents. Their contents, however, make up Grandma’s life.

Mrs. Barker’s existence shows how impersonal society and corporate institutions have become. Daddy repeatedly forgets her name, Mommy had forgotten who she was, and she is referred to in the plural.

Albee is very light on stage direction, making the few comments he injects very important.

Quotes –

Mommy: We were very poor! But then I married you, Daddy, and now we’re very rich.

Showing that Mommy was a gold-digger and the priorities of the culture are superficial

Young Man: I’ll do almost anything for money

Another way of pointing out the superficial priorities of the culture, now with an added drug-addict connotation

Young Man: I no longer have the capacity to feel anything. I have no emotions.

Shows how humanity has been lost in the superficiality

Mommy: You can’t get satisfaction.

Shows how pointless the new American Dream is. Once, hard work and perseverance lead to something–happiness. But this new, commercial, corporate, superficial dream gives back as much as is put into it–nothing.

Theme –