December Open Prompt 1

1976. The conflict created when the will of an individual opposes the will of the majority is the recurring theme of many novels, plays, and essays. Select the work of an essayist who is in opposition to his or her society; or from a work of recognized literary merit, select a fictional character who is in opposition to his or her society. In a critical essay, analyze the conflict and discuss the moral and ethical implications for both the individual and the society. Do not summarize the plot or action of the work you choose.

Conflict can arise out of almost any situation. Sometimes an individual opposes its society. In the play The American Dream, Albee wrote Grandma to be in opposition with the rest of society, or Mommy and Daddy, who represent the rest of society. Albee’s use of conflict through differing viewpoints can be shown through his diction and details.

Albee uses his dysfunctional family as a simplified cross section of America. Grandma represents the old American Dream, where rights, freedoms, values and the individual were valued. Albee makes his intent known through his choice in diction. Words like “Pioneer” and “fur-trading” are often attributed to Grandma throughout the text. Albee also uses details such as Grandma’s cook off winnings and her age to point us towards the conclusion that she is the old American Dream. Mommy and Daddy represent the new American Dream, filled with consumerism and a growing movement of uniform among communities and their people. Albee uses syntax in his repetitive phrases involving a lack of satisfaction. His details help explain that this lack of satisfaction is trying to be fulfilled by consumerism of a hat or son.

The main problem of the play arises as Grandma, the old American Dream, opposes the majority of the society of Mommy and Daddy or the new American Dream. Grandma, in her opposition, gets threatened with the van man to come take her away. Grandma wants them to get back to the old ways of values and an emphasis on the individual. America has strayed from that, as Albee’s play points out, and Grandma as a result comes to realize this. As she prepares to leave and step down for the new American Dream, she still holds hope for America to return to its old ways.

Mommy and Daddy as society don’t like to be reminded of the olden days when they didn’t get their kicks from consumerism. They don’t want to have Grandma around to remind them how shallow their lives and those of society have become in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. When Grandma leaves the house, and society, Mommy breaks down. She panics and wants the old American Dream back with its values until, that is, she meets the Young Man. Mommy and Daddy value the shiny new Young Man who is there to replace their dead, mangled son. He is a filler, a sense of false satisfaction generated out of the consumerism in buying your own child. The impact on society is that they become so absorbed into their new American Dream that they will not ever be truly happy for long periods of time.

Albee used Mommy and Daddy to act as a society and the new American Dream while he used Grandma as the individualistic old American Dream. His use of diction and details helped support his underlying meaning.