Open Prompt #3

1975. Although literary critics have tended to praise the unique in literary characterizations, many authors have employed the stereotyped character successfully. Select one work of acknowledged literary merit and in a well-written essay, show how the conventional or stereotyped character or characters function to achieve the author's purpose.

The American Dream, a play written by Edward Albee, uses stereotypical characters of a traditional family (“Mommy,” “Daddy”, “Grandma”) to represent the structure of traditional American values and the “old American Dream,” only to break it down again. By using these stereotypes, Albee creates expectations in order to destroy them and universalizes the breakdown of the American Dream.

Mommy is a controlling, self-absorbed woman who only cares about herself. She has emasculated Daddy and prides herself in her ability to control him. She is known to be the “typical” bad mother, which is exhibited when Albee talks of her cutting up her “bumble”. She tells Daddy that it is impossible to find satisfaction these days so she must spend useless amounts of time buying objects, such as the beige hat, until her needs are satisfied. In addition she tells Daddy that he must give her all his money when he dies because she allowed him to “bump his uglies” on her. This characteristic shows how the new dream has made the human being into a commodity Through all these characteristic the reader is able to interpret what Albee’s means of the “new american dream.” Mommy is shown to have lost her way in what is important in life, which portrays Albee’s opinion of how the new dream is only concerned with oneself.

Daddy is portrayed to be an extremely childlike character that never knows what to do and is frequently emasculated by Mommy. This is shown when Daddy is hesitant of opening the door for Mrs. Barker. He needs Mommy’s approval and assurance to preform this easy task and once he does he thinks extremely highly of himself when in reality he has just opened the door. Through this stereotypical characterization Albee shows how the American Dream has also been emasculated in the fact that people have lost a sense of themselves.

Grandma does not fit in with the old generation because of her usefulness and willingness to work hard in order to be independent and self-sustaining. She is frequently seen chastising the younger generation, saying “You don’t have any feelings, that’s what’s wrong with you”. Though this line on the surface may seem to contrast Grandma’s personality to Mommy’s or Daddy’s personality with further inspection we can see that all these stereotypes are being used to contrast the old and new american dreams. The old american dream was more sympathetic and easy to talk to whereas the new american dream only cares about them and others will affect their lives. 

Through the use of stereotypes, Albee effectively contrasts the values of the old and new American dreams. The old American dream values hard work and independence whereas the new American dream only cares about materialistic objects and do not work hard at their goals.