Edward Albee - American Dream Summary and Analysis

Summary:

The play opens with Mommy and Daddy in armchairs discussing a third party that seems to be late. Mommy recounts her experience with buying a beige hat, which turned out to be “wheat” instead. She makes a big fuss over this, causing a scene. Mommy expresses that she “got satisfaction” from this encounter. Grandma enters with nicely wrapped boxes and drops them at Daddy’s feet. This prompts a series of complaints about Grandma, who launches into a tirade about how old people are treated, saying that they “die eventually” because “people talk to them that way” (65).  Mommy and Grandma then discuss Mommy’s childhood and how she always wanted to marry into money.

Later, the tardy guest of whom Mommy had complained earlier rings the doorbell. When Daddy goes to get the door, Mommy berates him over his masculinity. Next, Mrs. Barker enters and we find that she is the chairman of the Women’s Club to which Mommy belongs. Mrs. Barker wants to assume she is there for the boxes, but this triggers another argument between Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma, who also believes that to be the reason. We hear about Daddy’s “stiches” for the first time. When Mommy leaves to get Mrs. Barker water, Grandma tells Mrs. Barker about a couple “very much like” Mommy and Daddy, who bought a “bumble” from the bye bye adoption service. She describes the way the parents mutilated the child until it died, at which point they “wanted satisfaction; they wanted their money back.” In the meantime, Mommy and Daddy are struggling to find Grandma’s things, a major aspect of the play’s absurdity. Mrs. Barker does not seem to pick up on what Grandma is implying.

When Mrs. Barker leaves to get a glass of water for herself, the Young Man enters. Grandma is impressed with him immediately, first asking if he is the “van man” and then labeling him “the American dream.” Grandma and the Young man discuss why he is there and what he could do. She reveals an anecdote about how she one a baking contest with a store-bought cake. The Young man then explains why he will do anything for money. He says that he is an empty shell of a person, feeling nothing and only providing service to others with his body. He refers to the early loss of an identical twin, whom Grandma realizes is the bumble, as the reason for his condition. The Young Man helps Grandma with her boxes as she exits. Mommy and Daddy find her gone and after brief disappointment are delighted to find the Young Man as the bumble’s replacement. The play ends with Grandma offstage, breaking the fourth wall to say that they should stop “while everybody’s happy.”

Analysis:

The major symbols in the play are the boxes, the “bumble,” and perhaps the Young Man himself. The boxes represent the components of Grandma’s life, which embody a more genuine “American Dream.” The bumble and the Young Man go together as two parts of the same person. The bumble represents his emotional and internal vitality, which was destroyed by the societal mores Mommy and Daddy imposed. This leaves the Young Man hollow, only carrying a shell of a promise for success, which is perhaps what Mommy and Daddy are receiving as a result of their falsification of the American Dream. The tone is mainly built on the absurd style of the play. This leaves the audience with a sense of disarray and confusion as the dialogue makes sense on a superficial level, but does not have a deeper meaning. It is hard to describe specific imagery in the play, since this is dependent on the performance. The color of the hat or the physical description of the Young Man are good examples of imagery, although lacking in specificity. As a class, we came up with the statement that in American Dream, “Edward Albee shows that as materialism gains prominence in society, traditional values erode leaving the American Dream a façade.” The absurd plot contributes to the presentation of the American Dream as a façade, because the elements that would indicate sincerity now are all part of the tapestry of non-sequiturs and incongruities that encapsulate the discussions of “satisfaction” and “ambition.”

Two important and highly applicable quotes are first, when Grandma says, “That's why old people die, eventually. People talk to them that way.” This is from when Grandma complained about how Mommy and Daddy were speaking about her. It relates to the removal of the old generation in light of a new, more confused one that shuns traditional value and respect.

“I no longer have the capacity to feel anything. I have no emotions. I have been drained, torn asunder disemboweled. I have, now, only my person, my body, my face.” In this quote, the Young Man refers to how he is devoid of personal quality. This is a profound statement in regard to the effect a society based on materialism, which was a major component of the play’s overarching theme.