The American Dream Summary

The American Dream

Author: Edward Albee

Setting: An apartment.

Primary Characters: Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Young Man, Mrs. Barker

PLOT

• ·      Mommy and Daddy sit in an apartment, saying that “they” are late. The “they” refers to guests that, we presume, Mommy and Daddy are having over.
• ·      The pair gets into a discussion of Mommy’s experience earlier that day at a store, where she was buying a “beige” hat. She later ran into the chairwoman of her women’s club, who said she liked Mommy’s “wheat” hat. Mommy, after hearing this, promptly exchanged the hat for a beige one at the store, getting satisfaction.
• ·      Daddy cannot get satisfaction, according to Mommy.
• ·      Grandma enters the room and dumps a bunch of boxes on the floor. Mommy comments about Grandma’s nice wrapping jobs. Grandma laments about old age.
• ·      Mommy reveals that she just married Daddy for his money, and she’s allowed to do so because she is an outlet for Daddy to “bump his uglies.”
• ·      Doorbell rings, and Grandma asks if it’s the “van people”. It is actually Mrs. Barker.
• ·      Mommy and Grandma start fighting about the boxes, and Mommy threatens to have Grandma taken away. Grandma says she knows why Mrs. Barker has come to visit.
• ·      Grandma informs Mrs. Barker about Mommy and Daddy’s evil acts against their former adopted child, and reveals why Mrs. Barker is there – she is the adoption lady. Of course, the story is all in hypotheticals, and Mrs. Barker doesn’t understand.
• ·      The doorbell rings. It’s the Young Man. After commenting on his good looks, Grandma reveals that she won $25000 in a baking contest. Her pseudonym was “Uncle Henry” and the cake was “Uncle Henry’s Day-Old Cake”.
• ·      The Young Man says he’ll do anything for money, and Grandma is curious as to why he’d do such a thing. He replies that he is “incomplete” and tells a story of his childhood that is eerily similar to the earlier story of Mommy and Daddy’s treatment of their adopted child.
• ·      Grandma has the Young Man carry her boxes outside after introducing him to the others as the “van man”. She then exits.
• ·      Grandma appears off to the side of the stage (out of the action) as Mommy, Daddy, and Mrs. Barker celebrate with the Young Man in the apartment. She comments on the scene to the audience, saying that things should be left alone while everyone thinks he has satisfaction.

QUOTES

“When you get old, you can't talk to people because people snap at you. That's why you become deaf, so you won't be able to hear people talking to you that way. That's why old people die, eventually. People talk to them that way.” – Grandma

            This quote from Grandma illustrates the damaging power of speech in modern society. Furthermore, it underlines her role in the play as the sage, ironic, and disillusioned old woman.

“WHAT a masculine Daddy! Isn't he a masculine Daddy?” – Mommy

            This quote follows Daddy’s opening of the door for Mrs. Barker, and emphasizes his femininity, helplessness, and overall role as the victim to Mommy’s dominative wrath. Daddy’s infantile behavior is a major part of the play, for it reverses the stereotypical gender roles that would be expected and serves to seriously confuse the audience as to Mommy’s goals.

THEME

            Edward Albee’s The American Dream is an absurdist work that demonstrates a butchering of the stereotypical American Dream by those who stand to benefit most from it, and shows his disapproval of an increased level of materialism in contemporary America.

·      The fact that such an absurd plot is titled as “The American Dream” is an effective means of mockery on Albee’s part.

·      Grandma seems to represent the views of Albee, seeing modern America through the lens of the past and not hesitating to pass judgment on it.