Response to Course Materials

     Over the past few weeks, our class has had many different accomplishments. We finally finished discussing Edward Albee's play, The American Dream, and I am happy to say that we are starting a new play, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. We also read the book, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing by Michael Harvey, which we were able to put to use when editing our college essays.

Summary and Analysis of The American Dream by Edward Albee

SETTING
The American Dream, by Edward Albee, set in an urban-American apartment,  "A living room. Two armchairs, one toward either side of the stage, facing each other diagonally out toward the audience. Against the rear wall, a sofa.  A door, leading out from the apartment, in the rear wall, far stage-right. An archway, leading to other rooms, in the side wall, stage-left" (Albee 1).

CHARACTERS

• Mommy: dominating and hypocritical in nature, exemplifies the materialistic customs of her society. Degrades everyone else for her benefit, self-centered and greedy.
• Daddy: emasculated and submissive.  conforms to Mommy’s oppressive control consistently; he even undergoes a sex change on her command and depends on her for reassurance and direction.
• Grandma: witty, manipulative, old, and not oblivious. Has an intuition of the changes in society being portrayed in the play, she constantly voices her grievances. The only character that interacts with the audience.
• Mrs. Barker: proud and hypocritical, she belongs to many different organizations but does not to take any substantial action in them (emphasized by her general confusion). The representative through which Mommy and Daddy adopted their first and second "bumbles". 
• Young Man: Handsome, superficial, hollow, damaged, vindictive. The twin brother of Mommy and Daddy's first adopted child; Represents the New American Dream and is the result of Mommy's symbolic actions of mutilation and torture to his brother. 

PLOT

• The play begins with Mommy and Daddy discussing their grievances, and their difficulties in getting satisfaction. 
• Grandma enters with many mysterious boxes and the three of them begin to discuss various topics concerning societal obligation. 
• The doorbell rings and a woman named Mrs. Barker arrives, who is the head the adoption agency that Mommy and Daddy had worked with in the past. Mrs. Barker makes herself comfortable by removing her dress and exchanging subtle sexual commentary with Daddy, to which Mommy reacts defensively. 
• Apparently, the party has no idea why Mrs. Barker was called to the house, except for Grandma. 
• When Mommy and Daddy leave the room, Grandma explains to Mrs. Barker that her purpose is to legitimize a second adoption for the married couple, and also explains how the first adoptive child was mutilated to death for its normal, child-like, behavior. 
• The doorbell rings again, and the Young Man enters. Grandma labels him, The American Dream, after commenting on his “clean-cut, midwest farm boy type”. 
• Grandma then hires him and convinces Mrs. Barker to give the Young Man to Mommy and Daddy as their second adoptive child.
•  After Grandma exits on the pretense of being taken away by “the van man”, the Young Man is presented to Mommy and Daddy. A detail that is not directly explained during the play is that the Young Man is there to murder Mommy and Daddy, and it is assumed that Grandma is an instigator. 

Close Reading Response to: It's Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers.

     Satiric works of the twenty-first century commonly use offensive and provocative content to assist the development of their central ideas and purpose. Although considered unsophisticated and vulgar, the use of this content is extremely effective when pointing out societal flaws to the public eye. Common examples of this can be found in the popular late-night program, Saturday Night Live, where absurd skits are used to portray American tendencies that are commonly criticized. In the article, "It's Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers.", Colin Nissan uses bold diction, details, and language to express his strong negative opinion toward seasonal enthusiasts in an offensive, but effective way.