Open Prompt 6

1978. Choose an implausible or strikingly unrealistic incident or character in a work of fiction or drama of recognized literary merit. Write an essay that explains how the incident or character is related to the more realistic of plausible elements in the rest of the work. Avoid plot summary.

Authors often incorporate absurd events that do in fact fit well into their plot, but realistically do not make any sense. One example of a striking occurrence is the torture of the first adopted baby in Edward Albee’s American Dream. While the mutilation of the baby seems ridiculously improbable, the imagery and language Albee uses to illustrate it emphasize the realistic aspects of the American dream that he is critiquing. 

Albee’s use of vivid imagery of the harsh treatment to the child leaves us cringing and consequently detesting the American dream. We see how Albee critiques the consumeristic society by reducing the baby to a thing that is purchased through an adoption agency rather than loved and nourished by Mommy and Daddy. She gouges out the baby’s eyes when he only looks at daddy, cuts off his penis when he masturbates, and then cuts off his hands when he continues to reach for his crotch. Instead of being a reasonable adult, Mommy places her superficial needs of her own satisfaction above all else even if it is at the cost of the baby’s life. Through the heartless yet unrealistic mutilation of the innocent baby,  Albee effectively reflects upon society’s reality of consumerism and consequently shows it’s flaws. 

In addition to the imagery of the baby’s horrific death, the language in which Albee expresses through the characters’ dialogue also depict a negative image of the American Dream.  As mommy tells of how she gradually destroyed the baby’s body, she does so in a way that implies she did the right thing. Her language is extremely indignant, as she passionately recounts all the offenses the baby committed against her. The language Albee chooses to use for mommy seemingly gives justification for all her actions, making us as rational audience members extremely appalled at the entire situation and thus appalled at the American dream in general.

Albee’s use  of imagery and language incorporated within the dismembering of the baby successfully sway us readers in a direction against the American dream. Through the combined effect of the harrowing imagery and affronted language, we see how Albee emphasizes the reality of consumerism and self satisfaction in the American dream. The dream becomes a hollow lifeless corpse, just as the baby himself does.