American Dream Summary and Analysis

Author

The American Dream was written by Edward Albee in 1960. Edward Albee is a famous playwright who also wrote Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and several other notable plays. He has received multiple Pulitzer Prizes for his work. In this particular play, Albee delivers a stinging attack on the consumer culture of the 1960s through a comic, absurdist play.

Setting

The play takes place in a family apartment. It is implied that it is in a city, but the city is never named. The time period is also unspecified, it is probably meant to take place at or shortly before the play was written. The unspecified time period helps make the play's message more general.

Plot

The play opens with a conversation between Mommy and Daddy discussing the late arrival of an expected guest. While waiting, Mommy tells a story about how she went shopping for hats earlier. The conversation is dominated by Mommy, and Daddy is often inattentive. Grandma then enters carrying a load of boxes. She joins the conversation, and Mommy briefly describes her childhood with Grandma. Grandma herself is sarcastic, and makes many comments about being old. Then Mrs. Barker enters. None of the characters quite remember why she has come, and they engage in pleasant conversation about family matters and Daddy's ambitions. Daddy and Mommy leave the room, leaving Grandma alone with Mrs. Barker. The two talk, Grandma talks, telling a story implicitly about Mommy and Daddy. After the story, Mrs. Barker and Grandma realize why she had come. Mommy and Daddy return and Mrs. Barker exits the room again with them. A young man comes to the door, and grandma invites him in. The young man says he is looking for work, and Grandma asks him questions about himself, referring to him as "The American Dream." Grandma then prepares to leave the apartment with the boxes she packed, and tells the young man he will be able to find work there. Grandma departs, leaving the young man to stay with the family. 

Characters

Mommy: a commanding character with a cruel, somewhat twisted personality. Throughout the play she dominates and manipulates Daddy and Grandma, but clashes with Mrs. Barker. She has exaggerated characteristics of an upper class woman in a consumerist society. Mommy exhibits a disconnect from other characters and logical thinking.

Daddy: a weak character, who is subservient to Mommy throughout the play. He has many feminine attributes, and is manipulated by Mommy calling him masculine at several points. Daddy also exhibits a disconnect from other characters and logical thinking.

Mrs. Barker: a self-described professional woman who visits the apartment. She has a controlling and disdainful personality, often asserting her authority over other characters. She engages in gossip and generally shares the extreme consumerism demonstrated by Mommy. She too exhibits a disconnect from other characters and logical thinking.

Young Man: a character who appears only at the end of the play. He comes to the apartment looking for work. Though physically attractive, he says he is deprived of feelings because of the loss of the twin, which it is understood was Mommy and Daddy's adopted child. He appears less disconnected than the other characters, and ironically, to have more feelings than them. 

Grandma: Mommy's mother. She constantly makes sarcastic and self-degrading remarks about old people. Originally, she seems senile to the audience, as she does to Mommy and Daddy, but as the play progresses, it becomes apparent that she is aware of her surroundings and only mocking the other characters. Unlike the other characters, Grandma has strong morals and is able to think logically. 

Style

The play is written in an absurdist style. There is constant repetition of thoughts and actions, to the point that it is extremely frustrating to the audience. The play deviates from absurdist style in that it does not end in the same place it begun. Comedy is also present throughout the play. The humor results from both ironic statements and situations, and also from small vulgar jokes.

Voice 

The authors voice is not apparent throughout most of the play, since most dialogue is devoted to the absurdist style, focusing on repetition and disconnected interactions. In these places, it is difficult to see any specific elements of Albee's style. In general, the author speaks through Grandma. Her sarcastic remarks and challenges to the audience at the end clearly represent Albee's opinions. Through Grandma, he speaks directly to the audience. 

Point of view

Mommy, Daddy and Mrs. Barker share a capitalistic, selfish point of view. Each is focused on consumerism and material wealth, to the point where their morals are destroyed. This contrasts strongly with Grandma's more humanist point of view. Grandma values morality over material wealthy, and the two parties conflict throughout the play, though only Grandma is conscious of it. It becomes clear throughout the play that Grandma's point of view reflects Albee's own opinions. 

Tone

Albee's bitter tone in the play is clear from his satirical portrayal of characters and conversations. By exaggerating negative characteristics and events, Albee makes his displeasure at consumerist ideals clear.

Imagery 

The imagery in most parts of the play is intentionally dull. This blandness creates an atmosphere that is generic and unexciting in the apartment, and this helps convey the themes of emptiness and amorality. In some places, however, vivid description is offered. This occurs mostly when the image reflects negatively on the characters. The most prominent example of this is the story about Mommy and Daddy's adopted baby. The ways in which they mutilate the child are described in great detail by Grandma, creating horrific images. In instances such as this, the imagery serves to create disgust in the audience and direct it at consumerist values.

Symbolism

There are several symbols in the play that represent consumerism. The first one that appears is the hat that Mommy describes in the story. Symbolically, the hat represents the consumer nature of buying things for their image or for the status they give rather than their actual purpose. Mommy is angry when the hat is described in a different way, changing its image, while it doesn't change the hat itself. The baby or "bumble" also becomes a negative symbol of consumerism, becomes it comes to represent the destruction of reason and morality with the obsession of for economic satisfaction. Masculinity also becomes a symbol for power. Daddy lacks masculinity, and because of that Mommy controls him almost at will throughout the play. At the same time, Mommy and Mrs. Barker gain masculinity through being a chairman (rather than woman) and through being the dominant household figures. This masculinity is reflected by the authority Mommy and Mrs. Barker assert over other characters.

Themes

One theme of the play is the pursuit of satisfaction above all else. Throughout the play, the characters, especially Mommy, work towards happiness. In their eyes, happiness is primarily achieved through material wealth. The characters continually search for satisfaction in this way, but as Mommy says "You just can't get satisfaction these days." Their search for wealth ultimately makes them sacrifice many other things, which should be far more valuable, like love, family and kindness. 

A second theme is the commodification of things that should not be commodities. The most prevalent example of this is the child. Mommy and Daddy treat the child like a product or toy. First they literally buy it, as Mrs. Barker says, "I can remember Mommy and Daddy coming to see me, oh, about twenty years ago, about buying a bumble…". The bumble of course refers to the baby. Once they buy the baby, they treat it as a product, growing bored with it over time, then trying to "fix" it when it "breaks". Ultimately, they dispose of their old "product" and buy the latest version in the form of the young man.