American Dream Summary and Analysis (10/24)

Author: Edward Albee wrote "The American Dream" in 1960.  This work is considered to be somewhat absurd but the clear message in this play makes it so it does not completely fulfill the
requirements of the Theater of the Absurd.

Setting:  1960; An apartment with two armchairs and a sofa, a door to the rest of the building, an archway to the other rooms of the apartment.

Narrative Voice/Point of View: The point-of-view is third person, and the narrator has no voice

Characters:

• Mommy: She is masculine and manipulative, and must have control of all people in the room.  She is obsessed with money and living well and is only concerned with materials and getting what she wants.  Her consumerism ways are what make her the "new dream" generation.
• Daddy:  He is emasculated by Mommy and is completely agreeable towards her, and most everyone else.  He is only masculine when Mommy decides to make him feel that way.  Daddy is basically a woman.
• Grandma:  Represents the old American Dream who is on her way out.  She is the only one who is concerned about the individual and humanity.  She is masculine, witty, and the only person who stands up to Mommy and knows what's going on.
• Mrs. Barker:  Has many "faces" but overall represents the ideal air-headed housewife who volunteers, takes care of the children, and has sex with her husband like it's her job.  She is often frank and rude which shows her lack of consideration for other people's feelings. 
• Young Man: Represents the new American Dream.  He is beautiful on the outside (and knows it), but completely empty on the inside.  The Young Man is only concerned about money and appearances, just like Mommy.  He represents the importance of consumerism in the next generation.

Plot:
-Begins with Mommy and Daddy complaining about not being able to get satisfaction ("lovely" hat story/artificial light); whoever is coming to fix the johnny is late (referred to as "they")
-Grandma comes in with beautifully wrapped boxes and Mommy and Daddy assume they are empty; Grandma believes in dignity; want to send her away with Van Man; day-old cake story
-Mrs. Barker enters (referred to as "they"); she is a professional woman; she doesn't know why she's there
-Disregard for Grandma; says she's "rural" and "agriculture"; no one cares what old people think; Mrs. Barker trusts her
-Bumble story; commodification of child; Mommy and Daddy killed innocent, impulsive, sexual being
-Young man enters; beautiful on the outside but empty on the outside; represents the new dream; Uncle Henry day-old cake story; bumble was Young Man's twin
-Mrs. Barker brings Mommy and Daddy satisfaction by letting them buy (commodity) the Young Man from her; Grandma leaves with boxes; Mommy also gets sexual satisfaction from Young Man so Grandma cuts the scene off

Style:

• Tone: Much of the time the tone is contradictory to the words being said.  For instance, when Grandma is describing the mutilation of Mommy's and Daddy's child, she says it as though it was not a big deal.  Contradictions like this show the character's disconnection from humanity.
• Imagery: Most of the imagery is provided by Grandma.  Grandma often times uses a lot of description, especially with the human body.  For instance Grandma says, "My sacks are empty, the fluid in my eyeballs is all caked on the inside edge, my spine is made of sugar candy, I breathe ice," (82).  When she gives us this description we can picture what Grandma thinks she looks like, and we see a person.  Albee also used imagery surrounding the body when Grandma lists and describes all the parts that Mommy and Daddy cut off from their bumble.  When Grandma uses imagery the audience envisions humans because Grandma represents the old American Dream and concern for humanity.  In contrast, the only imagery Mommy provides is the color of a hat.  From this we can see that the old dream was about people and the new dream was concerned with materials.
• Symbolism: In this play there are several symbols that represents complex ideas, including the characters themselves.  The wise and decrepit Grandma is a symbol for the old American dream that cared about people.  Grandma's boxes which are beautifully wrapped and are assumed by the others to be empty (why would you want to ruin something so beautiful by opening it to see what's inside?), are actually filled with all her belongings.  Her boxes are lovely on the outside but also contain sentimental and emotional belongings on the inside.  When Mommy brings up tracts and tubes, she is assigning gender roles to a physical object.  Mommy says that Daddy has tubes instead of tracts, meaning that he is a woman. 

Quotes:

• Young Man - "I'll do almost anything for money" (109); this quote almost spells out the meaning of the Young Man.  Since he has no real human emotion, he blurts out his vapid desire without even thinking twice.  This quote makes it clear what the new dream is all about. Money.
• Grandma - "Well, yes; very much like it. Bundle, bumble; who cares?" (98); The malapropism of replacing "bundle" with "bumble" is an example of the commodification of everything, even "bundles" of joy.
•  Grandma - "You got to have a sense of dignity...if you don't  have that, civilization's doomed" (64); Here Grandma is almost openly insulting Mommy and Daddy about their life.  She is foreshadowing the fate of the followers of the new American Dream who are caught up in consumerism.

Theme: In the new American Dream humanity is replaced with consumerism, and all things, even people, can be made into a commodity.
-Title: The title spells out the main focus of the play, and leads the reader to look out for meaning behind the American Dream
-Imagery: A detailed story from Mommy about a hat only left the reader with the image of a hat that is either beige or wheat.  On the other hand, when Grandma gives descriptions (usually about people) the reader sees very clear pictures, even if it is gruesome.  This shows that Mommy is vapid and can't even give meaning to what means to her most, while Grandma puts a lot of thought into her words to put a meaningful image in someone's mind.
-Plot: Most of the play sets up the transition from the old dream to the new dream.  Grandma represents the old dream who is emotional and concerned with humanity.  Mommy, Daddy, Mrs. Barker, and the Young Man make up the new dream.  These characters are the one's who want "satisfaction" and believe that this satisfaction can only come to them in the form of a physical object.  Because of this they've even turned human beings into objects which is shows by the murder of the "bumble." Furthermore, to finally achieve satisfaction, they buy a person.  A person who cannot love or feel emotions, but will obey if paid and is super hot.

Close Reading 2 (10/21)

The Issue That Goes Ignored

      In the article, "The Issue That Goes Ignored," the author uses several techniques to sway the reader's opinion in favor of gun control.  Firstly,  certain diction is used to make us as the reader feel sympathy for those supporting gun control, and the opposite for those opposing it.  For instance, the writer introduces the piece by saying, "it took an ordinary citizen, Nina Gonzalez, to stand up at the presidential debate," and by using the word "ordinary" the reader has immediate sympathy for the woman who could be the next door neighbor, co-worker, or friend.  Also, when the author calls the issue of gun control a "phantom" issue, it gives the connotation that a large issue has disappeared completely without a trace, making us appreciate the fight for an important issue and therefore, the issue itself.
      Imagery is also used to make the same point that gun control is necessary.  From the quote, "Mr. Obama and his administration never made a priority despite the many horrific mass shootings during his term," we unfortunately picture devastating loss while a president sits idly by.  This is a strong image to use and almost suggests that by not doing anything, the president is at fault.  When discussing the stand your ground laws the author tells us that they "permit machismo fantasists to shoot to kill when they feel threatened."  Envisioning a random stranger with a gun having the ability to kill you with the loose excuse of self-defense is frightening for the reader, and could possibly be a turning point in decision making.
      Another technique that leads readers to decide pro-gun control is the use of details.  For example, in the first paragraph the writer tells us, "every year, more than 30,000 people are shot and killed in this country."  Right off the bat we're hit with a huge number and a terrible fate for those that make up the statistic.  A detail like this grabs the reader's sympathy and details later in the piece hold on to it.  These details include, "among 23 populous, high-income nations, 80 percent of firearm deaths occurred in the United States, where citizens suffer homicide rates 6.9 times higher than in the other nations."  With a detail like this, we know that the U.S. is different from other nations which means that it is possible to decrease the rate of homicides.  With this conclusion, readers may begin to agree that the lack of gun control is a cause for increased shootings and homicides in the U.S.  This agreement along with other details, diction, and imagery are strategically used to change the opinion of the reader to become pro-gun control.
  

Open Prompt 2 (10/14)

Prompt: Choose a character from a novel or play of recognized literary merit and write an essay in which you (a) briefly describe the standards of the fictional society in which the character exists and (b) show how the character is affected by and responds to those standards. In your essay do not merely summarize the plot.

            In Shakespeare’s time, women were raised to be wives.  They essentially had no power, were viewed as home makers and child bearers, and were completely controlled by their husbands.  On top of this, these “women” were often times still girls, being married off as early as fourteen.  In this society where women were at the mercy of men, Katherina of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, did not fit in.

            Shakepeare's character, Katherina, is not your average woman in this time period.  She is headstrong and not afraid for a moment to give her opinion to a man.  Katherina's younger sister, Bianca, on the other hand is absolutely perfect.  Bianca is young, beautiful, kind, and has captured the heart of more than one man in  Taming of the Shrew.  Because Katherina knows she is not the woman Bianca is, the type of woman she needs to be to get a husband, she rebels from her society.  

            To deal with societies rejection of the "spinster", Katherina responds by acting like the most unattractive woman.  She gives off the attitude that she does not want or need a husband so to defy society's standard of what a woman ought to be.  Since she is so dreadful, a man must be paid to "tame" her to become the willing wife that was so desirable.  In the end, Katherina is tamed against her strong efforts against it, and becomes a wife.  She fought to maintain her freedom by becoming a so-called "shrew", to say to her own society that she is able to be an independent woman without a husband telling her what to do.

Response to Course Material 2 (10/7)

Thinking back at what we did in class the main thing that sticks out in my mind was the three day long stretch of allusion presentations.  While we were doing it I was mostly confused or wondering when this ridiculous story would actually appear in anything I read.  But then I actually made a few connections.  In the movie "Anonymous" the main character has a relationship with a woman  and learns later that his lover was actually his mother who gave him away as a baby.  Sounds a lot like Oedipus doesn't it?  Also with the story of Pyramus and Thisbe.  Forbidden love between a boy and a girl who meet in secret, have terrible timing, think the other is dead, and think the best solution is to go ahead and kill themselves.  And I thought Romeo and Juliet was the original.

What I found difficult in class was trying to use DIDLS to find meaning in the poem "The Century Quilt."  With all the other close reading practice we had done for a second I thought this would be a breeze but I'm not sure I have the eye for it yet.  What I've realized is that I have trouble looking at the big picture to find a meaning.  I start off with picking out specific details to see if they mean something instead of finding a meaning and then going back and looking for the details that support it.  Perhaps if I approach it this way I will have better luck.

Finally, reading "The American Dream" was my favorite class activity we've done so far.  Because of the title, I knew to look for the message about the American Dream and when reading it I didn't think it showed up until the Young Man entered the scene and Grandma literally shouts that the American Dream is here.  A slave to the obvious, that is the conclusion I came to.  After reading the handout about the allegory in the play I was surprised to find out that Grandma was also the American Dream.  When reading it I did think that Grandma was the least absurd and was the main character but I didn't think anything much past that.  Reading the handout and learning about all the things I missed in the play shows me that when reading I need to keep an open mind and a watchful eye from beginning to end.

These are the only main assignment that I found to be the most important.  Other than these I think we had a few handouts, and the literary movements presentation.