Open prompt 6

1973.

Battles are won and lost on discipline and strategy, not numbers or brute force alone. In Edward Albee’s, The American Dream, he displays how the old american dream is apparently being beaten down and forced out, but turns out to have been aware and in control the whole time. The ending of the American dream is satisfactory because it affirms the position of control that grandma is.

There are two primary reasons why the ending displays grandma’s power, and in that the old american dream’s power. The first of which being her ability to talk to the audience. Breaking the fourth wall is a uncharacteristic aspect plays, but Alby uses it masterfully. Unlike the rest of the characters, Grandma is actually able to talk to the audience, she is able to connect with those watching on a level that those prescribing to the new american dream cannot. Regardless of the apparent support the new american dream has the old american dream cannot be truly stamped out and still resonates with us all.

Secondly the actual words that Grandma says to the audience serve to reinforce her position. The comments on the story getting to the good part and the end comment of ending it off right there show that she had manipulated her part to get them exactly where they were, and she knows exactly how it is going to end. Grandma’s actions show how the old american dream has the answers while the new american dream lacks much of what is required.

The act of Grandma being able to speak to the audience and the actual things she says make the ending to the play very satisfactory because it affirms the idea that the old american dream is superior to the new one.