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.
Ironically, one-dimensional characters sometimes allow readers to glimpse multiple
dimensions of an author’s meaning. Due to this, plays like Edward Albee’s The American Dream, rely on stock characters in order to better illustrate the playwright’s meaning. In The American Dream, Albee crafts the stock character of Mommy in order to amuse audiences while simultaneously demonstrating the fallacies in the American
society.
One of the most humorous yet horrifying characters, Mommy best exemplifies a typical
stock character. Her childish and controlling personality remains immutable
throughout the play. In the opening scene, Mommy forcefully directs Daddy to
listen to a story of dissatisfaction. She continuously repeats phrases like
“What did I just say?” to keep Daddy’s focus directed on her and giggles when
Daddy responds saying that he’s “all ears”. While Mommy’s phrase repetition
itself might serve to characterize her as child-like, her inability to
comprehend Daddy’s idiom further emphasizes her immaturity. Her name itself even
exaggerates her child-like qualities as her personality stands in sharp contrast
with her ironic name, Mommy. In a darker segment of the play, Mommy’s literal
interpretations have disastrous effects. When Mommy brings home her adopted son,
her discontent with him “having eyes only for his Daddy” and other subsequent
complaints compel her to slowly disfigure her own son. This mutilation can be
attributed to the the fact that Mommy cannot stand Daddy having more power than
her in any sphere of influence- including their child. She therefore sees it fit
to mutilate the child in order to bring the power back to her.
On the surface, Mommy’s actions might lead to comedic effects, however as the play
unfolds and the major themes start to emerge, it’s clear that Mommy’s character
provides other uses as well. Mommy’s characterization allows the audience to
both laugh and shudder at her, yet it becomes apparent that Mommy represents
something much deeper than a character in a play. Mommy signifies the American
people who Albee believes have since become simultaneous childish and
power-hungry. Never satisfied, they mutilate things before they even have a
chance to grow. The stock character of Mommy allows audiences to shift from
being entertained to enlightened about Albee’s thought on the weaknesses of the
American society.
Therefore, Mommy serves as a stock character in order for Albee to draw out the flaws
within the American society. As a stock character Mommy is amusing and
unassuming. However, only as the rest of the play unfolds does the audience
begin to understand that Mommy resembles the antithesis of what America should
be.
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.
Ironically, one-dimensional characters sometimes allow readers to glimpse multiple
dimensions of an author’s meaning. Due to this, plays like Edward Albee’s The American Dream, rely on stock characters in order to better illustrate the playwright’s meaning. In The American Dream, Albee crafts the stock character of Mommy in order to amuse audiences while simultaneously demonstrating the fallacies in the American
society.
One of the most humorous yet horrifying characters, Mommy best exemplifies a typical
stock character. Her childish and controlling personality remains immutable
throughout the play. In the opening scene, Mommy forcefully directs Daddy to
listen to a story of dissatisfaction. She continuously repeats phrases like
“What did I just say?” to keep Daddy’s focus directed on her and giggles when
Daddy responds saying that he’s “all ears”. While Mommy’s phrase repetition
itself might serve to characterize her as child-like, her inability to
comprehend Daddy’s idiom further emphasizes her immaturity. Her name itself even
exaggerates her child-like qualities as her personality stands in sharp contrast
with her ironic name, Mommy. In a darker segment of the play, Mommy’s literal
interpretations have disastrous effects. When Mommy brings home her adopted son,
her discontent with him “having eyes only for his Daddy” and other subsequent
complaints compel her to slowly disfigure her own son. This mutilation can be
attributed to the the fact that Mommy cannot stand Daddy having more power than
her in any sphere of influence- including their child. She therefore sees it fit
to mutilate the child in order to bring the power back to her.
On the surface, Mommy’s actions might lead to comedic effects, however as the play
unfolds and the major themes start to emerge, it’s clear that Mommy’s character
provides other uses as well. Mommy’s characterization allows the audience to
both laugh and shudder at her, yet it becomes apparent that Mommy represents
something much deeper than a character in a play. Mommy signifies the American
people who Albee believes have since become simultaneous childish and
power-hungry. Never satisfied, they mutilate things before they even have a
chance to grow. The stock character of Mommy allows audiences to shift from
being entertained to enlightened about Albee’s thought on the weaknesses of the
American society.
Therefore, Mommy serves as a stock character in order for Albee to draw out the flaws
within the American society. As a stock character Mommy is amusing and
unassuming. However, only as the rest of the play unfolds does the audience
begin to understand that Mommy resembles the antithesis of what America should
be.
I liked how you brought up the literalization of language. Always a great point about this play.
ReplyDeleteI did not really like your plain style. Your could make the vocabulary a little easier, and the same thing goes for sentence structure, but not as much. This is only my opinion though.
Great work once again. The details and examples you used were very strong and successfully supported your thesis. I also think that your plain style was good, and easy to understand. One thing I would suggest is to add a little more examples of DIDLS. Right now all I really see are examples of details, which are great. But I think to make your evidence stringer you could add a little more variety of DIDLS. Good job.
DeletePS i did not mean to respond to Nick's response...
ReplyDelete