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.
The opening scene in a play is important. They introduce character, setting, plot and even theme. In Albee’s The American Dream the play’s major themes are introduced in the opening scene. Albee introduces the major themes of dissatisfaction and emasculation. He uses these themes to emphasis that the American Dream has fallen from morals to materialism.
Dissatisfaction is clearly found in the opening dialogue between Mommy and Daddy. The pair complains about Mrs. Barker being late, about the apartment managers not fixing their icebox or doorbell in a timely fashion and about Mommy’s new hat. They are clearly dissatisfied with what they think they deserve. This dissatisfaction is tied into the meaning of the play. Mommy and Daddy are concerned with materialistic things and being satisfied by them. Mommy wanted her hat to be beige and when it was called wheat she threw a tantrum until she received a false sense of satisfaction by receiving the same hat as before. This satisfaction was gained through materialistic means. It actually evens spits in the face of manners and morals by having Mommy scream and make a scene over a silly hat.
Emasculation is another theme in this play. Throughout the opening scene, Mommy is constantly emasculating Daddy. She bossily tells him to listen and then questions him repeatedly throughout her story to ensure that he is doing so. Her line “Well, I got satisfaction” is a double entendre. It can mean that she got satisfaction from shopping, or that she got satisfied sexually. Either way, she doesn’t mean that her husband, Daddy, satisfied her at all and emasculates him in this area because of it.
The American Dream is really about how people have lost their sense of humanistic principles for that of materialism. The themes of Dissatisfaction and emasculation clearly emphasized this meaning.
I find it really interesting how Albee introduced pretty much the whole play within the first couple of pages. I would work on making a more clear thesis that will guide the rest of the essay. I couldn't really determine what exactly your thesis was. I would also question that dissatisfaction and immasculation are themes in the play. They are definitely important and contribute to meaning, but usually themes are universal truths or a point the author is trying to make. So what exactly is Albee saying with the constant dissatisfaction and immasculation. The discussion of the shift from good morals to materialism is definitely important to the play. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteIt is good to see that you have spaced out the paragraphs.
ReplyDeleteThe opening sentence is a bland statement of fact and does not have an alluring appeal as a hook would, so you may wish to change that to that effect. You could provided additional background in the intro to prvent later rehashing by adding onto the sentence "Albee introduces the major themes of dissatisfaction and emasculation when... ". Other than that, you could also expand your thesis to include your answer to the goals of the prompt and how the pieces of the piece relates to the overall meaning.
As for the rest of the essay, while you do integrate a good quote at the end, the you could do with more of them and could well tie them into literary techniques, which I cannot find present in the essay, nor their subsequent effects and relationships to meanings; this detracts from the logical flow of the essay. Additionally, you may wish to expand the total paragraphs to integrate more literary elements and subsequent review and conclusion regarding the meaning, for you do not seem to have space enough to answer the goals of the prompt and answer the 'so what' question.