1972. In retrospect, the reader often discovers that the first chapter of a novel or the opening scene of a drama introduces some of the major themes of the work. Write an essay about the opening scene of a drama or the first chapter of a novel in which you explain how it functions in this way.
Understanding the beginning of the play is one of the most important ways to ensure an adequate understanding of the central theme. In The American Dream, Edward Albee utilizes the first scene in his one-act play to indirectly refer to the major themes that are going to be further explored in the work. In the first scene of The American Dream, Albee portrays the feminist condescending aspect as well as materialism to hint at the larger theme of how the passage of time has altered the image of the old American Dream.
By first staging the scene with only Mommy and Daddy, Albee cleverly utilizes the setting to portray the gender division in society by separating the chairs in which the characters are sitting by a considerable distance and even going as far as to place them almost back to back. This set-up creates a very distanced and isolated atmosphere in the play and a skeptical view in the eyes of the audience about the marriage of Mommy and Daddy. The on-going conversation between Mommy and Daddy further enhances the gender division between the two characters and implies how Mommy is dominating Daddy by constantly berating him and reminding him to pay attention to what she is saying. At a deeper level, Albee is trying to portray how the change in the old American values of oppressed women has metamorphosed to the new, more liberal American values of granting greater freedom to women and allowing them to play a more pronounced role in the world. In a sense, Albee is using Daddy's character to show how he slightly disapproves of this drastic change in the societal perception of females by showing Daddy as apathetic to Mommy's monologues.
The content of the conversation further augments the central theme of the play. Mommy is endlessly elaborating on the subject of how she was deeply engrossed in buying a hat and debating between a more avant-garde beige and a common wheat color. The use of repetition by Mommy, constantly emphasizing her zeal to be involved in consumerism, points to the change in the old American values into a more materialistic inclination towards consumer satisfaction. This conversation in the first scene also refers to the class division that greater consumerism has ensued in America and led to a more unsatisfied populace.
Through the use of various literary techniques, including repetition and setting, Albee attempts to display the metamorphosis of the old American Dream to incline more towards feminism and materialism in order to create a community where each member only strives to be at the top of the societal hierarchy rather than to find a unique level of satisfaction within.
Wow. It's interesting that we both chose to use the same prompt for the American Dream, although we went about it in completely different ways. My main suggestion would probably be to rephrase your thesis so that it is more dynamic with your piece. As the thesis is referred to multiple times during an essay read, you want it to be as comprehensible as possible. Therefore, I would suggest synthesizing the phrase "feminist condescending aspect" to possibly "gender tension" or something more broad. Your details and support were good for the rest of your essay. I especially like your wording when you say "the metamorphosis of the old American Dream". Nice work!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very well written and solid essay. The only thing I would change would be the part of the thesis where you say that the major themes of the play are hinted at in the beginning. I might change "hint at" to "introduce", but that is my opinion.
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