1973. An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.
An ending is just that, an ending. After one reaches this point there is nothing else. Endings can be either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Edward Albee uses his play The American Dream to display an indeterminate ending that is appropriate and satisfactory for his purposes. Having Grandma effectively end the play, Albee contributes to his idea that the lives of Mommy and Daddy’s lives are not to be followed and actually avoided. This creates a message about fleeting nature of the satisfaction achieved through today’s consumerism.
The ending of the play has Mrs. Barker introducing the Young Man to Mommy and Daddy as their new child. Hiding “on stage” but unseen by the characters (except for the Young Man), Grandma observes the action. Just as the characters seem to be happy and satisfied in the outcomes of the current action, Grandma addresses the audience that “[the play had] better go no farther...[leaving] things the way they are right now…while everyone’s happy” (Albee 127). Mommy and Daddy are both satisfied with Young Man that they now have for a child and the Young Man is satisfied at having a job where he gets paid. Throughout the play the characters “can’t get satisfaction” or if they gain satisfaction it is fleeting (Albee 61). When Grandma ends the play when “everybody’s got what [they] wants”, where they are satisfied, inferring that if the play were to progress more that the characters would become unsatisfied again (Albee 127). The ending is set up to teach us what the characters don’t learn. While the characters are focused on having this artificial and fleeting sense of satisfaction, Grandma is letting us see that we can have deeper meaning and a fulfilling satisfaction in our lives. The ending in itself is unsatisfying because we don’t know how the lives of the new family will work out or how they will search to find happiness. Therefore the ending of the play fits the overall theme of being dissatisfied.
This fleeting satisfaction is foreseen in the indeterminate ending of the play and helps promote the message about today’s consumerism. Mommy is briefly with everything she buys. At first, she enjoys her newly purchased hat and at first she enjoys the little bundle she got from Mrs. Baker but, she becomes dissatisfied. She seems to have even married Daddy for his money, a decision designed to get her more consumer goods. In all cases she is unhappy shortly afterwards as she will be with the Young Man soon enough. Ending the play early makes us wonder about what will happen and propels Albee’s message of the frivolousness of consumerism.
Edward Albee purposefully made the ending of The American Dream a bit of a cliff hanger so that you could draw your own conclusions about how the satisfaction of Mommy and Daddy and even the Young Man will wane because of its artificial and fleeting nature.
As your first few sentences are now, they seem to be a compilation of common sense and common sayings. If you synthesize them in a different way, you may be able to make them sound less generic and more novel.
ReplyDelete"lives of Mommy and Daddy’s lives" is a typo.
Again in this posting you seem to lack an opinionated, conclusive and logical topic sentence for the second paragraph but have a great one for the third. You might also consider splitting up the second paragraph; I see that this might be an element of your essay style now, and see the merit in it, but I wonder if the AP exam will be so readily flexible.
Your conclusion on meaning seems almost inconclusive, because you don't identify any pointed messages and themes beyond the dissatisfaction inherent in consumerism. There is the structure and support for it, though, so I congratulate you on a good setup.