Aburdism+3+A+Look+at+The+American+Dream+and+Marisol+as+Absurdist

=__A Look at The American Dream and Marisol as Absurdist Works__=

Here's the thing about Absurdisim that causes alot of problem in textual analysis: it is not a movement and is not a truly definable methodology. The term, coined by Esslin and equated with Artaud, used on a work becomes sort of like a disease: a disease that permiates the literature, consumes it, and fits it into a box where meaning sticks onto it. Part of this line of reasoning is due to the fact that the concept of Absurdism seeks to burn down the power and meaning behind words as they are useless to accuratly define a human emotion or thought. I preface with this so that, as a reader, one might strongly oppose my reading of "The American Dream" and "Marisol" and that is perfectly fine. I still struggle with calling these shows as Absurd. Then why do this at all? Popular culture and reviewists have assigned the stamp of Absurdism onto these works and thusly it serves as a very important keystone to analyize these plays as a relationship to the main stream interpretation of Absurdism. So without further ado let's ride the wave of Absuridism into our first play...


 * __"The American Dream"__**



In 1960, Edward Albee wrote what was to become a cornerstone of Absurdist literature and join the ranks of "Waiting for Godot" to represent the classification. I speak, of course, of "The American Dream."

"The American Dream", at the surface, is the story of "Mommy", "Daddy", "Grandma", and "Mrs. Barker" who lead seemingly normal lives. Mommy and Daddy represent a kind of stuffiness of person and the stifled Western culture of meaningless conversation; a ritual of language executed to maintain a healthy relationship. Through the actions of a somewhat sterotypical day in this household reveal the darker side of the family: the murder of their crying son attributed to the child's loud crying. We find this truth from the child's twin who almost randomly appears looking for work willing to do "almost anything if it pays" (pg 109). Through monolouge, the reader/ audience comes to find that the Young Man (the twin) has been drained of soul and spirit by the capitalistic society he works for. He is nothing more than a vessel from which physical action can be executed.

Once more, Albee did not set out to write an absurdist play. Rather, his own stylistic choices absorbed into the vast fabric and weaving of Absurdism. However, Albee is and was no stranger to a form that became synonymous with the absurdist trends. For example, in "The American Dream", Albee's means to reveal the absurdity of conversation here is best illustrated during Mommy's one sided conversation to Daddy about her beige hat being called tan. In a way, Mommy lectures to Daddy on the topic with Daddy just barely absorbing the necessary information to be able to respond to Mommy's dictated questions. The absurdist notion of the difference of tan and beige serves to show, in some ways, the funny and ridiculous nature of 1960s conversation. The words in the conversation itself are meaningless and trivial to any important plot or story of the show (through plot and story can be argued to be irrelevant in itself to an absudist theory). When we look back at the story, after reading it, the conversation can be deleted and plot would stay intact, except only that the idea of the conversation, the lack of meaning of it, serves as the analogy or catalyist to reveal the lack of power in words (alot like, in a way, to the same theories of Artaud), plus the hat conversation reveals a whole new truth or honesty that Artaud wished might surface.

Albee also attacks the role of the patriarchal society in America. Unlike many characters being written at the time (see Stanley from "Streetcar Named Desire" and Brick from "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"), Daddy is written with almost no masculinity or sexual desire. I derive this statement from the almost placid and flaccid nature of Daddy throughout the play and more importantly the dominate role of Mommy over Daddy in power structure of the household and the conversation. A most interesting passage, show below, details how Albee seems to present Daddy as a submissive character, thus showing the absurdity of patriarchy by showing its extreme opposite:

Pg 79

Mommy ...Are you sure you're comfortable? Wont you take off your dress?

Mrs. Barker I don't mind if I do. //(She removes her dress)//

....

Daddy I'm going to blush and giggle.

Mommy Daddy's going to blush and giggle.

Mrs. Barker //(Pulling the hem of her slip above her knees)// You are lucky to have such a man for a husband.

Mommy Oh, don't I know it.

Daddy I just blushed and giggled and went sticky wet.

​ Absurdism was marked by Esslin as a trend that emerged around the 50s and 60s by various writers all around the globe. Perhaps the notion that the "Golden Age of Absurdism " had taken hold as popular fact. Truthfully, Absurdism never died and never lived. It never sustained a form, as it needs to stay amorphous to maintain optimal meaning. Thusly, it was bound to once more brand itself onto new works and plays. Go figure, reviewers and play reviewers called a play "Absurdist with Jose Rivera re imagined world during a dogmatic apocalypse in his 1993 play "Marisol".
 * __"Marisol" (also as a lesser known figure of Absurdism)__**

"Marisol" is the story of the title character, Marisol Perez, plotting along in a normal 90s life until she is saved by her guardian angel on the subway as she was attacked by a crazy man. The presence of the angel was, however, not coincidental. Rather, the angels of heaven were plunged into the middle of a civil war that threatened complete change of the human race and also its destruction. Rivera throws many, in a word, absurd images at us, like pregnant men, neo nazis attacking homeless, and almost evolved biblical plagues. Marisol's world descents into madness as the lack of God hits people hard. In the end, the war is not decided, but Marisol must live without a God and in a way without a purpose of her owne existence.

For me, reading this play gave me the distinct Absurdist feel. I don't know what that means. But when I finished the story, I thought something along the lines of "how crazy was that? Uzi wielding angels?" However, one can see the similarities between how Rivera and Artaud create and manifest their works. Both Rivera and Artaud use strong images to evoke the intended catharsis, i.e. there is a common thread in feeling from an uzi wielding angel and scorpions exiting a vagina. Even more simply put, the angels walk amongst people as normal man, wearing blue jeans for goodness sake. The show seeks to deflate the power in divinity and religion, which can be related to the different movements of nihilism , existentialism , and surrealism that were surrounding "Marisol". With the "outside" world searching for meaning, "Marisol" tries to establish sense with strong images in the same vein as Absurdism, so perhaps the title makes sense.

Once again, one might be able to see how important imagery serves for the Absurdist movement, since language cannot meet the demands of a full understanding of life. Rather it takes dream states, the subconscious, and imagination to truly discover the world. Perhaps "Marisol" does meet the requirements set down by an Esslin or Artaud