The American Dream Analyses and Summary

Setting
The bland apartment has only one room shown in the play, and the entire story takes place there. There are two equally placed, fairly indistinguishable chairs for Mommy and Daddy. The city, apartment number, or any other outside details are never revealed, so it seems as if the outside world is split off completely.

Significant Characters
Mommy: The dictator. Mommy is strong willed and power hungry, using all of her power to rule over and belittle Daddy and Grandma. She represents the new culture and materialism, as she is very shallow and only values things and people on a materialistic level. She comes off as immature and childish in her dealings with other people.
Daddy: The follower. Daddy has no decision making power; no power at all, in most cases. He is completely bereft of the typical masculine traits, and is sexually described in feminine ways. He always does as Mommy asks unless someone else manages to wrest power from her.
Grandma: Reality and the audience. Grandma is a bit loopy in her age, but she's the most clear-thinking of anyone, and is the only character to use language in interesting and powerful ways. Grandma values memories and emotions just as much as material objects. She seems to dwell outside the play, and doesn't belong anymore.
Mrs. Barker: A conglomerate, often referenced to as a "we" or "they". She's extremely stupid and very arrogant about her power. Despite this, she listens to Grandma more than anyone else, even though she doesn't understand her. She uses sex to get power from Mommy. May represent big business and prostitution.
Young Man: Literally, the new American Dream. He is purely made of materialism with no real value, emotionless but beautiful. He replaces Grandma and harsh reality.

Plot: Very simple. Mommy and Daddy are at home talking about some people who are late. Grandma drops some boxes on them, they continue talking. Mrs. Barker comes, nobody remembers why. Grandma tells Mrs. Barker the story of the first child. The young man (American Dream) enters, Grandma gets his help leaving. The family adopts him.

Voice
Point of View: Due to it being a play, the point of view is objective. Characters are described indirectly if at all. This means that the author's opinion is not told outright, but instead through the characters. Therefore it's through the characters that the author's voice comes through, with his choice of characters and how they talk. Comes off less preachy due to the necessity of the reader's understanding it.
Tone: No narration means tone doesn't come easily. Can be seen through Grandma's observations and inferences made by the reader. Very reader-response.
Imagery: Once again, being a play, imagery is subtle. The only scene setting comes from the quick introduction paragraph, which is vague. However, images of the characters are given through their ways of speaking and subjects of conversation.
Symbolism: Very very obvious in some cases, AKA the young man being called "The American Dream". Blatant use of symbols pushes the author's voice.

Interesting Quotes

"I no longer have the capacity to feel anything. I have no emotions. I have been drained, torn asunder disemboweled. I have, now, only my person, my body, my face. I use what I have I let people love me I accept the syntax around me, for while I know I cannot relate; I know I must be related to."Young Man

"WHAT a masculine Daddy! Isn't he a masculine Daddy?" Mommy

Theme: The American people have become materialistic and fake, and only want what they think they want, not what they need.
Support: The symbols are the most obvious. Young child = old dream, which was what they needed. It was not perfect and had flaws, so they destroyed it. The Young Man = new dream, which is what they wanted. Hollow and without true meaning, but also pretty and can be used. All it needs is money. Also shown through characters, as mommy symbolizes materialism. Mommy and Daddy represent traditions being defied, as they break the traditional strong-man weak-woman family stereotype. Grandma represents the old, less materialistic ways and reality in the midst of absurdity- she ends up being deemed useless and leaves (or dies).