The Subversion Of The American Dream In Edward Albee's Three Works

This thesis tries to demonstrate the subversion of the American Dream in three of Edward Albee's plays: The Zoo Story, The American Dream, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Edward Albee is an outstanding playwright in American drama circle who combines skills of The Theatre of the Absurd with realities of American society. Through studying Albee's aforementioned three plays, the author of the thesis points out the constant theme reflected in them---the American Dream, which used to be the backbone of the American nation, but now turns out to be a disillusioned Dream. This thesis analyzes the subversion of the American Dream from three aspects---the subversion of the myth of the Garden of Eden, the exposure of the advertised American Dream, and the destruction of the American Dream. This thesis is divided into six parts. The first part is the introduction. Chapter one studies the background of The Theatre of the Absurd and its connection with Edward Albee. Chapter two traces and reviews the subversion of the myth of building the Garden of Eden in Albee's earliest play---The Zoo Story. The prospect of building the Garden of Eden which the early settlers regarded as their holy mission is totally subverted in the play. Early settlers regarded America as the holy land bestowed by God, and they wanted to build their new Garden of Eden there. However, Albee smashes this Dream into pieces in the play. The America described by the hero Jerry is no longer the Garden of Eden as presented in the Bible: Violence and filth permeating everywhere, and no communication among people. The world that Americans live in has turned into a hell, and they no longer believe in their Christian God. The harmonious relationship among Americans has all gone, and the whole America looks like a big zoo in which people are isolated by bars around them. The subversion of the myth of building the Garden of Eden in The Zoo story thus can be viewed from Americans' experience from heaven to hell. Chapter three exposes the falsehood of the advertising of the American Dream in the play The American Dream. The exposure of the advertised American Dream is analyzed first from its hypocritical nature and then from its materialistic tendency. Finally, the falsehood of the advertised American Dream is uncovered by analysing its deviation from the original American Dream embodied in The Zoo story. The exposure of the false advertised American Dream further accelerates the subversion of the American Dream. The American Dream is advertised by the government, some self-made elites, and popular novels which describe the possibility and benefits of realising the American Dream. In the play, Albee portrays a young man, the embodiment of the American Dream, who has a noble and dignified appearance but is hollow inside; who has a strong physique but no soul. His success no longer depends on his hard work, but on selling his body for money. By presenting this young man, Albee tries to affirm that the advertised American Dream is no longer the spiritual polar of Americans: materialism pervades the Dream, and spiritual crisis becomes a more serious social problem. Chapter four studies the destruction of the American Dream in Albee's most prestigious play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. The destruction of the American Dream can be observed from the following three aspects. Firstly, the family as the basis of the American Dream falls apart; secondly, people sacrifice their esteem and individuality to realize their American Dream; thirdly, the last illusion that Americans have on the American Dream is finally destroyed. Part six is the conclusion of the paper, which summarizes the key points of the whole paper.