The American Dream summary

Edward Albee: An American playwright famous for absurd plays.

Theme: America has forgotten its old values and replaced them with material things that don't have any real meaning, which has caused Americans to become emotionally unattached and unable to find satisfaction in life.

Setting: Small American apartment in the late 1950s. The setting is significant to the play because television is new and creating mass media, which also fosters American consumerism. Albee criticizes these in the play. The apartment is also very plain, which makes the reader focus more on the characters than the room.

Basic Plot: Not too much happens in this play as far as progress and action, but the main events that happen are that Mommy and Daddy get a new child and that Grandma moves out. These things don't happen until the end of the play, since before then everyone is wondering why Mrs. Barker has come and they talk about things that don't progress the plot at all.

Major Character list:
Mommy- The member of the family with the most control over home life. She makes all of the decisions for the family, while her husband, Daddy, merely agrees with everything she says. Mommy goes so far as to become a man and daddy becomes a girl in his passiveness, indecisiveness, and with his operation. Mommy and Daddy can't have a baby because of this gender swap. However, even though mommy made Daddy into a woman and almost like a child, and became masculine, she still has some sexual longings. When Mrs. Barker takes off her dress and Daddy says "I'm going to blush and giggle." Mommy isn't as hospitable as before to her. She also makes a sexual suggestion to the Young Man at the end of the play. These strange lusts she has show how her bubbled up sexual desires are spilling over in strange ways. Society told her not to talk about sexual things, so she must confine them to the home.
Grandma- She represents the idea of the old American values that are starting to fade. We notice that Grandma, unlike any of the other characters, appears to have feelings and important opinions. Whenever she has something valuable to say, Mommy always quiets her. The only time she is allowed to finish a thought is when she talks about how old people are never listened to and always complain. When everyone else is confused about why Mr.s Barker has come, and when mommy and daddy get lost in the house looking for her things, Grandma is the only one who knows anything. Grandma's role becomes clear when she meets with the young man. She is old and withered on the outside, while he is young and attractive. Her ideas are outdated like her body, so she must leave to make room for the Young Man. She exits the play not by dying, but by crossing the 4th wall and talking directly to the audience at the very end. This is significant, since the rest of the characters cannot leave the play, and only the Young Man can see her. Since she represents more than just a person, she can transcend the play, and the Young Man sees her since he also is an ideal as well as a character. The old American Dream also becomes our responsibility instead of                      dying for good. There is still a chance these old values will return.
The Young Man- Even though he isn't present for most of the play, the Young Man represents the main focus. He, as stated very clearly by Grandma, is The American Dream. At a time where TV, mass media, and consumerism dominated America, Albee believed that the American Dream had turned into something that is only valuable on the surface. The Young Man reflects this in his attractive appearance. However, he tells Grandma that ever since his twin was taken from him, he has lost the ability to feel anything. The twin was killed by Mommy and Daddy when they tried to get satisfaction with it, but since they didn't have any emotions left, they didn't see that what they were doing was a terrible thing. So, he will agree to live with Mommy and Daddy under strange conditions just because of the money they will give him. The new values only care for money too.
Mrs. Barker: She also represents more than just one person, since the characters always refer to her as "them" instead of she. Mrs. Barker stands in for the government, who is the overseer of the materialistic society America has embraced. She makes sure that everything is running smoothly and covers up anything that is dirty. She runs the bye-bye (buy-buy) adoption service like a store full of goods. The children are merely items to everyone in the play except for Grandma. She also has little time for personal matters since she is the head of many committees  Mommy must treat her with respect, even though we can tell that she doesn't like her personally. Mommy disagrees with her about the hat, but says that she is fond of Mrs. Barker even though she has a dreadful life. Then, she insults her husband after the daddy incident pretending it was an accident. This is the only way mommy can get back at her without jeopardizing her place in society. Likewise, the people who are against the government do not speak out since it controls society.

Voice and Style:
The American Dream is considered to be in the Theature of the Absurd category, because the characters often have problems communicating, and when they do, it often doesn't have any significance. Many times the characters repeat things over and over and still don't catch the meanings of things. The exchanges between Mommy and Daddy especially are lacking in meaning. Mrs. Barker also has problems understanding things. In fact, in a large portion of the play, the characters are all unsure why they are gathered together. The only character that keeps the play from being completely absurd is Grandma. Her words always make sense and almost always have sarcastic undertones. By saying that she agrees with the other members of the family, she implies the exact opposite. This sarcastic tone shows the readers just how twisted American society has become. He also shows this dark side of society with the way Mommy, Daddy, and Mrs. Barker talk about things very plainly, even things that most people feel very emotionally attached too. The small emotions they have are only about goods, and do not seem to give them deep satisfaction.

Memorable Quotes:
Grandma: "A bumble; a bumble of joy."
Mrs. Barker: "Oh, like a bundle."
Grandma: "Well yes, very much like it. Bundle, bumble, who cares?"
This quote shows grandma's sarcastic tone as well as showing how the baby has become commodified.

Young Man: "It's that I have no talents at all, except what you see... my person; my body, my face. In every other way I am incomplete, and I must therefore... compensate."
The Young Man sums up what the new American Dream is by describing himself here.


"What a masculine Daddy! Isn't he a masculine Daddy?"
Mommy can take away Daddy's manliness, and uses it to control him.