The American Dream Summary/Analysis

·         Author-Edward Albee, born 1928, had tumultuous childhood, works reflect Theatre of the Absurd

·         Setting-1960’s apartment in America

·         Plot-Mommy and Daddy are in the apartment talking.  Mommy tells Daddy her story about buying a hat and they have a discussion about never being able to get satisfaction.  Mommy also shows her dominance over Daddy by telling him to repeat things she says.  Grandma enters with a bunch of wrapped boxes.  They talk about old people, the boxes, and randomly wonder about when “they” will arrive.  Finally, “they” arrive, and we see that it is actually just Mrs. Barker.  Neither Mrs. Barker or Mommy and Daddy seem to know why she is here.  We learn that Mrs. Barker is from the Bye-Bye Adoption agency and that Mommy and Daddy had adopted a “bumble” but mutilated and killed it so they wanted to get their money back.  A good-looking Young Man shows up at the apartment looking for work, saying he will do anything for money.  Grandma calls him the American Dream, seemingly perfect, however, he reveals that he is empty inside and has no feelings since he was separated from his twin, who was the “bumble.”  Grandma sorts everything out and has the Young Man be the replacement kid for Mommy and Daddy.  She leaves to direct the play and stops it when they are celebrating.

·         Significant Characters-Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Mrs. Barker, Young Man

·         Albee writes in the style of the Theatre of the Absurd but not exactly.  There is confusion, unexpected events, and a lot of mutilated language.  He also writes as a person who is fed up with the American society, the seemingly perfect dream that everyone tries to achieve and the commercialism of American life.  This play mocks the American ideal.  There isn’t much imagery or symbolism except for the wrapped up boxes that Grandma has.  The boxes are wrapped very nicely but they don’t really contain much except for some old relics of Grandma’s life.  This represents the American dream that everyone wants. 

·         “That’s just the way things are today, you just can’t get satisfaction” –Daddy.  The characters of this play seem obsessed with getting satisfaction, but can’t achieve it.  Mommy and Daddy discuss it, and throughout the play, they want to get satisfaction with a new “bumble.”  “I’ll do almost anything for money”-Young Man.  This quote is when the Young Man shows up at the apartment.  Since the Young Man represents the new American Dream, it shows that the dream that the American people desire revolves around money and that their lives revolve around money.  “So, let’s leave things as they are right now…while everybody’s happy…while everybody’s got what he wants…or everybody’s got what he thinks he wants”-Grandma.  This quote shows the way that American people think.  They are satisfied with whatever looks good and they don’t pursue it further. 

·         Theme: American society is not as perfect as the image of the American Dream makes it seem.

·         The setting of this play is a simple apartment where Mommy and Daddy spend most of their time.  Daddy is not masculine at all and is ruled by Mommy.  They aren’t the loving parents, given their names, and can’t have kids so they have to adopt a child.  However, they mutilate and kill the first baby they get.  The American Dream is for everyone to live in a house with a loving spouse and with kids.  None of these things apply to the family in The American Dream.  Also, the characters in this play try to achieve satisfaction and they try to buy satisfaction, which reflects the commercialism of American society.  Albee mocks the American society by creating characters that contradicts the American ideal of family.  The symbols of the Young Man shows that the new American Dream looks nice, but is empty on the inside.  This is also shown through the nicely wrapped boxes that contain Grandma’s belongings.

Close Reading 10/21

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/opinion/sunday/the-gops-feminine-mystique.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

The G.O.P.’s Feminine Mystique

By SAMANTHA BEE

In this article, Samantha Bee expresses her opinion on a study done by UCLA’s Department of Psychology that analyzed the faces of Women Democratic and Republican politicians.  The study showed that women who are more conservative have more feminine facial features while women who are more liberal have less feminine facial structures.  Samantha Bee uses the techniques of figurative language, syntax, and diction to convey her feelings for this study.

Bee includes interesting figurative language in her article that allows her to speak to the audience on a more direct level.  When talking about the “Michele Bachmann Effect,” Bee shows the ridiculousness of this study by saying that it causes her to “briefly consider living the rest of [her] life in monkish isolation on a mountaintop with only the cold wind for companionship.”  Of course, this is a hyperbole and she doesn’t actually think this, but the strangeness of this image and the association with the study makes the audience understand that this study is absurd.  Another example of figurative language is when she says she finished reading the study, she was pretty sure “1970s Burt Reynolds reached across the passenger seat of his Tans Am to give me a wink and a boob honk.”  Bee tries to show the audience her feelings by alluding to an actor who she assumed most of her readers would know.  Bee also uses some common metaphors such as “judge a book by its cover” and “given us the green light” to allow the audience to better understand her ideas. 

Throughout this article, Bee asks many questions, both directly to the audience: “Did you know that it can also teach you things that you never wanted to know and now not-so-secretly wish you didn’t?” and rhetorically: “Is it the part where the Internet is flooded by a bickering over which political party has the ‘prettier’ members of Congress and/or prettier voters?”  Through this interesting syntax, Bee examines the facts of the study and asks the audience questions, as if she is trying to get the readers’ validation of these claims made by the study.  It sounds almost as if she is questioning the validity of the research.   This shows her reluctance to see the study as serious, scientific research.

Bee’s diction contains contrasting elevation.  Some of her words, such as “visceral”, “maelstrom” and “construed” are elevated, however she also uses words with very low elevation such as “ha ha” and “man-heads” and colloquialisms such as “ugly stick.”  The low elevation diction allows the reader to connect with the article because he/she is familiar with the terms.  The elevated diction reflects the fact that she is talking about a professional study done by scientists at a respectable university, however her incorporation of the low-elevation diction detract from the validity of the study.         

Bee effectively uses rhetorical techniques to show the audience how she thinks this study done by UCLA is ridiculous.  In addition, these techniques help to create a piece that is entertaining and funny to read.    

Open Prompt 10/14

1981. The meaning of some literary works is often enhanced by sustained allusion to myths, the Bible, or other works of literature. Select a literary work that makes use of such a sustained reference. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain the allusion that predominates in the work and analyze how it enhances the work's meaning.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving tells the story of John Wheelwright and how his life changes as a result of knowing Owen Meany.   At the beginning of John’s life, he is not religious.  He faithfully attends church but does not actually believe in God.   After Owen Meany enters his life, he begins to change his opinion and begins to believe in God.  This novel uses a reference between Owen Meany and Jesus throughout the novel to show how important God can be in someone's life, even if you don't realize it.

                Owen Meany is a strange character.  He has a damaged voice box that causes his voice to maintain its childish tone through his life and he has stunted growth causing him to be short.  At the beginning of the novel, the audience sees that Owen’s parents seem to be afraid of him.  This mystery is continued until close to the end of the novel when we learn that Owen was a result of a virgin birth.  This is the first comparison between Owen and Jesus.  Just like how Mary was a virgin and gave birth to Jesus, Owen’s mother was also a virgin when she gave birth to Owen.   

As Owen grows up, he begins to consider himself a messenger of God.  At a school play, Owen plays the baby Christ-another reference to Owen and Jesus.  Owen passes out from the heat and experiences a vision that he believes is from God.  In this vision, he sees a gravestone with his name and a date-the day that he is to die.  Owen takes this as a sign that he is living as a messenger of God and once he has accomplished his role, he will die.  We do not know what this role is until the end of the novel.  Jesus was also a messenger of God.  He experienced a vision and believed that it was his responsibility to spread God’s message to all the people.  Both Owen and Jesus believe that their purpose in life is to be God’s servant and do as God tells them to do.

At the end of the novel, we discover what Owen’s purpose in life is.  On the day that Owen is supposed to die, he and John accompany some Vietnamese children at an airport.  Dick, a young man who is angry at the Vietnam war and the military sees the children and decides to kill them.  He throws a grenade at John but Owen catches it and shields everyone from the impact, sacrificing himself to save John and the children and fulfilling his life’s purpose.  Just like how Jesus sacrificed his life for the people, Owen sacrifices his life to save the children.  This final comparison between Owen and Jesus emphasizes the impact of Owen’s sacrifice.  By comparing it to Jesus’ sacrifice for mankind, Irving makes the audience feel a greater connection with Owen’s actions.

This allusion to Jesus and the comparison with Owen is the way that the audience understands how John Wheelwright’s life changes.  For the rest of his life, John realizes that maybe God does exist.   He realizes that all of the events in Owen’s life happened for a reason and that they weren’t just coincidences.  A story about a person who sacrifices himself to save a group of kids is powerful, but creating a Jesus-like character who sacrifices himself to save a group of kids makes the story even more powerful.    

 

Response to Course Material 10/7

Wow, we have covered a lot of information in the past month!  So one of the things that we have done is start The American Dream.  At first glance, this play makes absolutely no sense.  I was so confused when we read it through in class, however, as I re-read it and annotated it, things started to make a bit more sense.  I am sure there are many more things that I am not getting so I am excited for discussions in class. 

Another thing that we did was learn about the stories in Hamilton's Mythology and the Bible.  I knew most of the Greek Mythology stories, but I didn't know any of the Bible stories, so this was very helpful for me.  It wasn't until I heard these Bible stories that I realized how many allusions there are to the Bible!  For example, in choirs that I have been in, we have sung songs about Moses.  I used to think that Moses was just some random guy that a lot of people liked to sing about.  I knew he was important because he kept on appearing in the songs we were singing, but I never realized he was a Bible figure.  Knowing the story of Moses gives these songs so much more meaning!

We also talked about DIDLS: Diction, Imagery, Details, Language, Syntax and how authors use them to help convey ideas.   I was familiar with most of these elements, but syntax was probably the most foreign.  I knew that syntax is how the writing is structured, but I never realized how much of an impact syntax can make.  The packet that we got on syntax was especially helpful because the examples really helped to show how the syntax could change the feeling of a sentence.  I never noticed how passive voice gives things an impersonal tone or how changing the parts of a sentence around emphasizes different things.  I think this is so cool! Now when I am reading, I notice so much more about the writing than I would have a month ago.

The first month of AP Lit has been filled with information.  I love how I have already learned so much about analyzing literature.  Not only that, but it has been fun too!  I'm usually not a fan of lit classes, but I have been loving this one!