Significant Characters: Grandma, Mommy, Young Man, Daddy, Mrs. Barker
Plot: Absurdist play emphasizing the rejection the American Dream as an empty and fake ideal. It starts with Mommy and Daddy waiting for Mrs. Barker while Grandma bring beautifully wrapped boxes inside. Mrs. Barker arrives and no ones knows why except for Grandma. There is sexual tension and disputes between what color Mommy's hat is. This again promotes the absurdist nature of the play while also emphasizing the meaningless of the American Dream. A young man arrives which Grandma calls the American Dream. The young man is empty inside and only has a hot body. He feels the pain of his twin's death(mommy and daddy's bumble of joy).
More Analysis: The Grandma is the old dream and acts outside of the play as the mediator to the audience. She knows all that is going on and acts more so as an outsider. Mommy and Daddy are the american people. I think Edward Albee works to show the controlling force of women in the relationship and often highlights the negative aspect of men letting their women control and immaculate them. Mrs. Barker is the power authority(government figure) who asserts her power but blindly. She has no idea why she is even in the house or her purpose, emphasizing the clueless nature of government.
Theme: "Emptiness" of the American dream. Just as the typical middle class house is empty and the Young man has no inner emotion, so is the American Dream. It lacks love, feelings and meaningful substance.
Author: Edward Albee uses an Absurdist style to help create an interesting criticism. While some authors use parodies or conceit Albee uses Absurdism. He has the most Absurd and meaningless dialogue regarding hat color to show exactly that, the American dream is meaningless. In fact the whole play is so absurd that you can argue that it is meaningless, thus correctly symbolizing the American Dream.
Key Quotes: "I no longer have the capacity to feel anything. I have no emotions." - Young Man
Shows the emptiness of the American dream. There is no emotion and no love. There is only a false exterior.
"WHAT a masculine Daddy! Isn't he a masculine Daddy?"-Mommy
This is used to patronize Daddy and show the power relations. Mommy has all the power especially after the vasectomy. American Dream in many senses is a criticism on powerful females like Mommy and Mrs. Barker who try to control things.
I think you did a really good job of touching on all the most important parts but i think that you could elaborate on a lot of the points. For example what exactly do you mean by "emptiness" of the american dream. I think i understand it but i think you could elaborate a little bit. I know that the theme is a one sentence statement but i think for this purpose you could probably write a little bit more. Also, the plot actually has a lot more juice than what's mentioned here but good job of stating the most important information just elaborate.
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