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    American Dream Edward Albee

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    camila fonseca

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    American Dream Edward Albee

    Uploaded by

    camila fonseca
    210 views1 page

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    © © All Rights Reserved

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    Copyright:

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    210 views1 page

    American Dream Edward Albee

    Uploaded by

    camila fonseca

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 1

    Play Comedy

    The American Dream

    Author First Performed Original Language


    Edward Albee 1961 English

    THEMES

    American The American Dream takes a dark and satirical look at the middle-class culture of
    the 1950s with its portrayal of bored family drama. Mommy and Daddy’s dialogue
    Dream? Ha! is shallow, repetitive, and dissociated, while Grandma’s words reflect slightly
    better values—and callousness. To them, life is absurd and meaningless; there’s
    not much to dream about.

    Cruelty

    Mommy mistreats Grandma,


    emasculates Daddy, and behaves
    brutally toward their adopted son.

    Emptiness Values

    When Grandma empties the Mommy and Daddy’s blandness and


    apartment of its contents, she is shallowness are representative of
    showing how a materialistic the materialistic American dream.
    American dream can be empty.

    Main Characters

    Daddy
    Mommy’s considerate but
    passive husband
    Mommy
    Grandma Vicious, domineering,
    The author’s somewhat dull woman
    likable mouthpiece

    Mrs. Barker
    Visitor and volunteer with
    the adoption service
    Young Man
    Handsome, emotionless
    twin of Mommy and
    Daddy’s adopted son

    Motifs
    Grandma

    Represents blunt honesty and an ounce


    of humanism in the face of absurdity
    and declining American values

    The American Dream

    Represents a wished-for, but


    empty, life of comfort—an
    The American Dream illusion that’s ultimately absurd
    by the Numbers

    Boxes
    1 Symbolize the elimination of
    everything of worth and the
    Other one-act play hollowness of what is left
    (The Sandbox) often
    produced with The
    American Dream

    Author
    1959
    Year Albee produced
    Like most writers, Albee pulled from
    his first play, The Zoo
    personal experiences in his work.
    Story
    Asked how long it took him to write a
    play, he answered, “all of my life.” In
    The American Dream, Albee built on

    2005 his rocky relationship with his


    adoptive mother and his disaffection
    with American values.
    Year Albee won a
    Tony Award for
    lifetime achievement EDWARD ALBEE
    1928–2016

    2010
    Year of Albee’s final ou got to have a sense of dignity...if you
    Off-Broadway
    premiere: Me,
    don’t have that, civilization’s doomed.
    Myself & I Grandma

    Sources: Cherry Lane Theatre, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Goshen College,


    Introduction in Three Tall Women by Edward Albee, Merriam-Webster’s
    Encyclopedia of Literature, New York Times, NOLA.com

    Copyright © 2016 Course Hero, Inc.

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