American Dream Summary/Analysis

Setting:

• Mommy and Daddy's apartment. There setting is very plain and bare.

Plot:

• The play starts off with Mommy telling Daddy a story of how she bought her beige hat. Mommy makes sure that Daddy is paying attention, and to show that he is paying attention, Daddy repeats what she says. Grandma enters with neatly wrapped boxes and mommy tells her to put them at Daddy's feet, basically covering him. Later we learn that the boxes contain many things like the water that was in the apartment her sunday teeth etc. Mommy tells Daddy about how Grandma used to wrap her lunchbox everyday and she would never open it and kids would giver he food. When she got home, Grandma would eat what was in the lunchbox. Mrs. Barker enters the apartment, but no one knows why she is there. Grandma is constantly cut off and eventually says that the boxes have nothing to do with Mrs. Barker being there. Grandma says she knows why Mrs. Barker is there, but Mommy calls her a liar and tells Daddy to break her television. Mrs. Barker and Grandma are alone, Grandma strongly hints that Mrs. Barker is here because of an adoption, by telling a story. Mrs. Barker doesn't see how this relates and leaves to get her water. The Young Man rings the doorbell and enters. Grandma thinks he is the van man, but he assures her he is not. He says he'll do anything for money. He looks physically perfect, but lacks any emotion or skills. Grandma hatches a plan for Mommy and Daddy to adopt him. Grandma leaves the stage. When Mommy finds out that Grandma is gone, she is very upset, but it quickly forgotten with the Young Man there.

Characters:

• Grandma: Embodies the old values (old American dream). She is the only person who communicates with other people normally
• Mommy: A control freak, and the "man" of the house. She is part of the new American dream, which can be seen when she accepts the Young man so easily.
• Daddy: He has been emasculated and had a surgery that replaced his man parts with lady parts. He is also very wealthy.
• Mrs. Barker: Head of Mommy's woman group and a volunteer for Bye-Bye adoption center. She has many power struggles with Mommy throughout the play.
• Young Man: Perfect looking, but with no emotion and skills. He is a representation of the new American dream.

Narrative Voice:

• This is a play, so there is no narrator. The setting is very bare indicating that there is little substance in the characters, except of course for Grandma. Imagery is used to show absurdity of consumerism. When Mommy buys the beige hat, Mrs. Barker says that the hat is wheat colored. Mommy then goes back to the shop to buy the exact same hat. The grotesque disfigurement of the bumble is used to show how the new American dream is. The character's dialogue is repeated constantly and they all usually have a lack of understanding except for Grandma, which is part of theater of the absurd. A way that it is not theater of the absurd, is that the play does advance. Albee has Grandma represent his opinions, with her representing the old American dream. The young man is used as an allegory to the new American dream, to show that is devoid of any substance.

Quotes: 

• Mommy - "WHAT a masculine Daddy! Isn't he a masculine Daddy?" This is an example of how Mommy has Daddy's masculinity and teases him with it. This also shows how Mommy is the dominant person of the apartment. 
• Grandma - Then it turned out it only had eyes for Daddy. Mrs. Barker -For its Daddy! WHy, any self-respecting woman would have gouged those eyes right out of its head. Grandma - Well, she did. That's exactly what she did. This quote shows how the bumble was disembodied by Mommy. Its representative of the repression of children by adults and destroying of familial bonds. 

Theme: 

The new American Dream is substance less and American society is plagued by consumerism. 

• The Young Man is a very good example of how the new American Dream is substanceless. He looks very pretty, but lacks any skills and has no emotion. People can take satisfaction from him, but he can't get any himself  The setting is also very bare, like I said earlier shows that the apartment lacks substance. dialogue between the characters also lacks any substance and is repeated often, which makes it lose meaning. The part when Mommy goes to buy the beige hat, but goes back to buy the same hat after Mrs. Barker says it's a wheat color hat, is a good example of consumerism. Mommy makes up the excuse of the lighting that changed the color of it, when really it's just perspective. The tone of play is generally indifferent which adds to meaning of substanceless, except with Grandma. Imagery is used when Grandma tells the story of how Mommy disfigured the bumble, which took away the substance from the American Dream.

Close Reading - Will Vote Fraud Win the Election for Obama?

http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/opinion/item/13300-will-vote-fraud-win-the-election-for-obama

Selwyn Duke, a journalist for the website thenewamerican.com, thinks that Obama will win the election because of widespread voter fraud. He uses elements of rhetoric: diction, details, and syntax to prove his point.

Duke's use of diction emphasizes the point he tries to make in his editorial. His use of diction is used to poke fun at the Democrats. When Duke says, "extra-curricular voting" (para. 13 ln. 1) he is saying that the Democrats commit voter fraud. The word extra-curricular implies that the Democrats go the extra mile to win the election, outside of legal ways. Duke also paints the media in a bad light by calling them "socialist-yearning" (para. 7 ln. 4). By calling the media this, it shows that they do not have America's best interest at heart and are controlled by the leftest leaning. Duke uses diction to show that Democrats are law-breakers and the media aspire to be socialists.

Duke provides many details to make his argument seem valid. He gives good background information to show that he knows what he is talking about and to convince the reader that he does. Duke states, "The Democrats have captured an average of almost 70 percent of these states during the last 20 years, with their high being 100 percent and their low 40; in contrast, the GOP's low is 0 percent their high only 60" (para. 6 ln. 2-4). Duke uses this valid information to prove his point that Obama will win most of the swing states, thus winning the election. The use of details shows that Duke knows what he is talking about.

Duke uses Syntax for shock and to keep his point relevant. Duke says, "Barack Obama will likely win re-election" (para. 2 ln. 1). He has this in its own separate paragraph to emphasize it. He says this right after saying that Romney has surged in polls. By saying this it provides shock, which makes his argument seem more serious and important. Amidst all of Duke's joking, he says, "So her is my prediction: Romney will the popular vote but lose the Electoral College, with vote fraud putting Obama over the top" (para. 15 ln. 1-2). This keeps his what he is talking about serious and actually makes it seem like its a problem. Duke's use of syntax is reminds the reader of his point and keeps the reader interested.

The use of the rhetorical elements of Duke makes his editorial a substance of truth. His points make it an interesting read.

Open Prompt 2

1988. Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot.

Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray's appearance stays the same, while his portrait changes with his sins and time. The portrait shows what Dorian should look like. After being strongly influenced by Lord Henry, Dorian believes that beauty is the only worthwhile aspect of life. With this idea in mind, he ignores what his true self  looks like (the portrait) and only concerns himself with what he looks like.

Dorian tells Sybil that he does not love her anymore, because her only beauty was on her acting, Dorian notices that his portrait has changed. Later, Dorian tries to reconcile with Sybil, only to learn that she had committed suicide. He dismisses her suicide realizing that his life will be lust and looks. This is where Dorian renounces all of his innocence and completely changes his personality. To deal with the loss of Sybil, Dorian leads an indulgent lifestyle. After 18 years, Dorian invites Basil over and shows him the painting. When Basil sees the painting, he is horrified. Dorian lashes out and blames Basil for it and ends up killing him with a knife. Dorian tries to escape his guilt by going to an opium den. Dorian again has misgivings about who he is and tries to run away from what he really looks like. By the end of the novel, Dorian ends up stabbing his portrait killing himself. His battle between what he actually looks like and his image drives him crazy.

The constant battle that Dorian has with himself and his portrait makes the novel very interesting. Lord Henry’s influence changes Dorian’s outlook on life and embodies what the portrait becomes, while still maintaining the image of an innocent boy.

Response to course material

Since my last response to course material, we have gone over recognizing the tone of sentences, The American Dream, have done more terms practice, and practiced close readings. Understanding the tones of excerpts was pretty challenging at first. I think now I am much better at finding the tone. I think this will be helpful with the close reading of The American Dream (which I have yet to start), in identifying what something means, or if its intended to mean something else that is not completely obvious. For me, The American Dream was quite enjoyable. Even though at first I didn't realize the depth of the play. The essay we read by Erving Beck was quite illuminating about all of the symbols and how elaborate everything really is. When we practiced close reading with the poem "Century Quilt" I thought it was quite difficult to relate everything back to the whole of the piece. It's quite easy to spot things and say it means something, without relating it back and connecting everything as a whole.