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Mommy
Where Mommy is authoritative, domineering, and self-aggrandizing, Daddy is sheepish, suggestible, and self-deprecating. Daddy is a wealthy man who tries his best to ignore his frivolous yet cruel wife’s antics, going along with whatever she asks of him out of a desire to keep the peace. At the same time, Daddy is insecure about his masculinity, and often asks Mommy to confirm that he is “decisive and masculine,” even as he whines and begs for her approval and her support in his decisions. Daddy is something of a hollow character—he often seems to exist only in response to Mommy and Grandma, and the few times he does speak his own mind, he complains about being surrounded by women and feeling disenchanted by the lack of “satisfaction” available in society lately. At the same time, Daddy never explains what “satisfaction” would mean to him—he gripes about the compromised state of society without seeming to really participate in that society. Daddy seems to be the most passive character in the entire play until The Young Man comes along and mirrors Daddy’s hollowness and agreeability. By framing the women characters as motivators of action, arbiters of change, and indeed the heads of their households, while framing the men in the play as husks of their former selves, Albee is toying with reversed gender roles and a redistribution of the power typically granted to men. This reversal reflects the changing dynamics in American society—and in American families—at the time of the play’s composition, and is perhaps Albee’s way of lampooning male fears of female empowerment.
Daddy Quotes in The American Dream
The The American Dream quotes below are all either spoken by Daddy or refer to Daddy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The American Dream Quotes
MOMMY: I don’t know what can be keeping them.
DADDY: They’re late, naturally.
MOMMY: Of course, they’re late; it never fails.
DADDY: That’s the way things are today, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
MOMMY: You’re quite right.
DADDY: When we took this apartment, they were quick enough to have me sign the lease; they were quick enough to take my check for two months’ rent in advance… […] But now! But now, try to get the icebox fixed, try to get the doorbell fixed, try to get the leak in the johnny fixed! […]
MOMMY: Of course not; it never fails. People think they can get away with anything these days…
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In the opening lines of the play, Mommy and Daddy sit in the living room of their apartment and complain about how late “they” are—the audience, hearing Daddy’s speech about the untrustworthiness of the building management, assume that Mommy and Daddy are waiting on repairmen to come by. The absurdist drama has a simple-enough beginning—a beginning which covers up the strange, confusing, and bizarre events about to unfold. Mommy and Daddy are dissatisfied with their apartment, with the people who maintain it, and with the way people behave “these days.” Mommy and Daddy judge everyone around them—but as the play Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam
GRANDMA: I didn’t really like wrapping them; it hurt my fingers, and it frightened me. But it had to be done.
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When Grandma comes into the living room with her arms piled high with finely-wrapped gift boxes, the play’s otherworldly strangeness begins to reveal itself. Mommy and Daddy alternate between keen interest and profound ambivalence as to what’s in the boxes—but every time they ask Grandma what they contain, she deflects their questions, insisting it’s none of their business. Within the play, the elderly Grandma is the arbiter of history and the past—she’s the sole character who seems to have a cultural memory and remembrances of her family’s past. At the end of the play, she will reveal that the boxes Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut ali
DADDY: I think we should talk about it some more. Maybe we’ve been hasty… a little hasty, perhaps. (Doorbell rings again) I’d like to talk about it some more.
MOMMY: There’s no need. You made up your mind; you were firm; you were masculine and decisive. […]
DADDY: Was I firm about it?
MOMMY: Oh, so firm; so firm.
DADDY: And I was decisive?
MOMMY: SO decisive! Oh, I shivered.
DADDY: And masculine? Was I really masculine?
MOMMY: Oh, Daddy, you were so masculine; I shivered and fainted. […]
DADDY: (Backing off from the door) Maybe we can send them away.
MOMMY: Oh, look at you! You’re turning into jelly; you’re indecisive; you’re a woman.
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One of the play’s major themes is the breakdown of the idyllic American nuclear family unit. Albee skewers gender roles and relations, and the toxic ways in which men and women insult and destabilize one another—and the entire bedrock of the American family as society knows it. In this exchange, Daddy harbors reservations about opening the apartment door to his and Mommy’s mysterious guests—Mommy first attempts to motivate him by calling him firm, decisive, and masculine. When he falters, even after all her praise, she calls him a “woman” as the most hateful insult she can summon. Mommy and Daddy Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas.
MRS. BARKER: Can we assume that the boxes are for us? I mean, can we assume that you had us come here for the boxes?
MOMMY: Are you in the habit of receiving boxes?
DADDY: A very good question.
MRS. BARKER: Well, that would depend on the reason we’re here. I’ve got my fingers in so many little pies, you know.
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When Mommy and Daddy’s guest Mrs. Barker arrives, the play takes a giant leap into the absurd. Mrs. Barker refers to herself not as “I” but as “we;” she is a friend and neighbor and the chairman of the local woman’s club, but at the same time, it becomes evident that she is indeed the person Mommy and Daddy have hired to come to their apartment (though they seem to have amnesia as to when, how, and why they hired her the moment she walks through the door.) Mrs. Barker herself is unaware of why she’s come, and the absurdity Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipi
MOMMY: All his life, Daddy has wanted to be a United States Senator; but now…why now he’s changed his mind, and for the rest of his life he’s going to want to be Governor…it would be nearer the apartment, you know.
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In this brief passage, Mommy describes—for the first time in the play—Daddy’s ambition to be in the United States government. This goal of Daddy’s is never mentioned again after this brief exchange with Mrs. Barker—it would seem that Daddy’s desires to be a senator or a governor are completely arbitrary, interchangeable, and empty. Albee is using this moment to point out that often the people in charge in America are people like Daddy—weak, directionless, amnesiac, and morally bankrupt. They want power for its own sake and set goals accordingly, but the goals themselves are meaningless. Albee is using the play Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur
MOMMY: Oh, I’m so fortunate to have such a husband. Just think; I could have a husband who was poor, or argumentative, or a husband who sat in a wheel chair all day… OOOOHHHH! What have I said? What have I said?
GRANDMA: You said you could have a husband who sat in a wheel…
MOMMY: I’m mortified! I could die! I could cut my tongue out! I could…
MRS. BARKER (forcing a smile): Oh, now… now… don’t think about it…
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Edward Albee uses the brief exchange above—in which Mommy cruelly makes a mean statement about Mrs. Barker’s wheelchair-bound husband—to show the profound differences between the two characters, and the invisible rules of engagement which seem to bind them. Mommy is self-obsessed, unruly, and irreverent; even in the company of a guest, she can’t seem to force herself to shove away her horrible personality and be polite. Mrs. Barker, however, has the opposite problem: when her hostess says something cruel and horrible, she can’t seem to switch off her ingrained politeness and speak up for herself or her husband. Albee is Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Expl
GRANDMA: Weeeeellll . . . in the first place, it turned out the bumble didn’t look like either one of its parents. That was enough of a blow, but things got worse. One night, it cried its heart out, if you can imagine such a thing.
MRS. BARKER: Cried its heart out! Well!
GRANDMA: But that was only the beginning. Then it turned out it only had eyes for its Daddy.
MRS. BARKER: For its Daddy! Why, any self-respecting woman would have gouged those eyes right out of its head.
GRANDMA: Well, she did. That’s exactly what she did. But then, it kept its nose up in the air.
MRS. BARKER: Ufggh! How disgusting!
GRANDMA: That’s what they thought. But then, it began to develop an interest in its you-know-what.
MRS. BARKER: In its you-know-what! Well! I hope they cut its hands off at the wrists!
GRANDMA: Well, yes, they did that eventually. But first, they cut off its you-know-what.
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After Mrs. Barker begs Grandma for a “hint” as to why she’s come to Mommy and Daddy’s apartment, Grandma begins telling her a story about a couple “very much like” Mommy and Daddy who adopted a “bumble of joy” from an adoption agency run by a woman “very much like” Mrs. Barker, many years ago. As Grandma gets into the story, she describes the horrible ways in which Mommy and Daddy punished their bumble for growing up differently than they wanted it to. The macabre mutilations and vindictive attempts to physically control the child by depriving it of its own Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus vol
YOUNG MAN: I have suffered losses . . . that I can’t explain. A fall from grace . . . a departure of innocence . . . […] Once ... it was as if all at once my heart. . . became numb . . . almost as though I . . . almost as though . . . just like that . . . it had been wrenched from my body . . . and from that time I have been unable to love. Once […] I awoke, and my eyes were burning. And since that time I have been unable to see anything, anything, with pity, with affection . . . with anything but . . . cool disinterest.
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As The Young Man tells Grandma the sad story of his life, he describes being “torn” at birth from an identical twin brother. Though the two never met again, The Young Man has always been profoundly aware of this loss—and has suffered further personal “losses” of his own. In light of Grandma’s story about the adopted “bumble” that Mommy and Daddy tortured, mutilated, and eventually killed, the “losses” (both physical and emotional) The Young Man has suffered make a lot more sense—but to him, he is unable to understand what has slowly been chipping away at his body and soul Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui a
YOUNG MAN: 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. I let people love me… I let people touch me… I let them draw pleasure from my groin… from my presence… from the fact of me… but, that is all it comes to.
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As The Young Man continues his monologue, he describes the profound alienation he feels as a result of his emotional “disembowel[ment.]” The Young Man—a stand-in for the concept of the American dream, as well as the fiction of the perfect American family—reveals that he is hollow and completely indifferent to the way others use him and perceive him. The “fact of [him]” pleases and attracts people—but he is unable to reciprocate their love, lust, or interest. The American dream as a concept, Albee is saying, is a hollow sham—a glittering ideal which draws people in only to disappoint them and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae
MOMMY: Why… where’s Grandma? Grandma’s not here! Where’s Grandma? And look! The boxes are gone, too. […]
MRS. BARKER: Why, Mommy, the van man was here. […]
MOMMY (Near tears): No, no, that’s impossible. No. There’s no such thing as the van man. […] We… we made him up. Grandma? Grandma?
DADDY (Moving to MOMMY): There, there, now. […]
(While DADDY is comforting MOMMY, GRANDMA comes out, stage right, near the footlights)
GRANDMA (To the audience): Shhhhhh! I want to watch this.
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As Mommy and Daddy return to the living room from other parts of the house after Grandma’s departure, Mommy becomes hysterical and emotional. Mommy has spent the entire of the play antagonizing Grandma—telling her that her opinions are stupid or unwanted, trying to keep her silent, and threatening her with removal to a nursing home by “the van man” whenever she steps out of line. Now, though, that Mommy believes “the van man” has really come to take Grandma away, she becomes irate and upset, exposing the hypocrisy at the core of her family and—Albee suggests—at the core of all Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero
MOMMY (Herself again, circling THE YOUNG MAN, feeling his arm, poking him): Yes, sir! Yes, sirree! Now this is more like it. Now this is a great deal more like it! Daddy! Come see. Come see if this isn’t a great deal more like it.
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As Mrs. Barker presents The Young Man to Mommy and Daddy as a “surprise” replacement “bumble,” Mommy appraises The Young Man like he’s a piece of meat or property. Mommy, who has had apparent amnesia about the entire incident with Mrs. Barker and the last “bumble” that she and Daddy mutilated years ago, now admits that she thinks The Young Man is “a great deal more like” what they wanted in the first place. The Young Man—an attractive but empty husk of a person who admits he feels nothing, loves no one, and has no personality or soul—is exactly what Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiore
GRANDMA (Interrupting… to audience): Well, I guess that just about wraps it up. I mean, for better or worse, this is a comedy, and I don’t think we’d better go any further. No, definitely not. So, let’s leave things as they are right now . . . while everybody’s happy . . . while everybody’s got what he wants. . . or everybody’s got what he thinks he wants. Good night, dears.
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In the play’s final moments—while Mommy, Daddy, Mrs. Barker, and The Young Man descend into chaos and debauchery—Grandma steps onto the stage to call the action to an end. She declares that the play has been a “comedy,” and that in order to keep it that way, things must “wrap” up immediately. The play’s incredibly dark moments and confusing atmosphere are decisively uncomedic, but in naming it a comedy, Grandma is making an ironic statement that infantilizes the audience. She calls things to a finish “while everybody’s got what he wants,” harkening back to Mommy and Daddy’s rampage of a Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicab
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Daddy Character Timeline in The American Dream
The timeline below shows where the character Daddy appears in The American Dream. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The American Dream
In the living room of a quintessential American home, Mommy and Daddy—a married couple in their middle age—sit together in their armchairs. They wonder what can be...
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Mommy begins telling Daddy a story about going out to buy a new hat the previous day, but Daddy...
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...check the new hat in the natural light, determined it was beige, and bought it. Daddy clears his throat and suggests that the salespeople simply sold Mommy the same hat they’d...
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Mommy asks why “they” are so late, and Daddy complains that he’s been trying to get the leak in the toilet fixed for two...
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...replies that “that’s nobody’s damn business.” Mommy suggests Grandma put the boxes down next to Daddy, and Grandma promptly dumps them on and at Daddy’s feet. One they’ve all fallen, she...
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Mommy chides Daddy for saying such a “terrible” thing to Grandma, and Daddy apologizes. Grandma says she’s going...
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Daddy once again says he feels sorry for Grandma, and is sad to have hurt her....
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Daddy points out how nicely Grandma has wrapped the boxes. Mommy says that Grandma has always...
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...Mommy expresses gratitude that though she used to be very poor, ever since she married Daddy she’s been “very rich”—and even Grandma gets to “feel rich.”
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...stand” watching the old woman do all of the cooking and cleaning around the house. Daddy points out that Grandma likes to do these things, since they keep her moving and...
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Mommy keeps talking, describing how she has a “right” to live off of Daddy’s money, considering she often used let him “get on top of [her] and bump [his]...
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...comes back into the living room carrying more boxes. Again, she dumps them all at Daddy’s feet, and then she says that’s all of them. Daddy remarks how nicely they’re wrapped,...
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Daddy says he’s sorry again, and Grandma accepts his apology—she says she knows Mommy is the...
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...“gotten rid” of her “a long time ago” if that’s how she feels, and had Daddy put her in a home or set her up with a business somewhere far away....
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...to stay in the sitting room and “watch.” Mommy again insists Grandma go to bed. Daddy interjects and urges Mommy to “let” Grandma stay up and “watch,” since it’s barely noon....
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...arrived. Grandma asks if “the van people” are at the door to “take [her] away.” Daddy tells Grandma not to worry about such things, but Grandma replies that Daddy shouldn’t feel...
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Daddy says, once again, that he’d “like to talk […] some more” with Mommy about what’s...
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The doorbell rings once more, and Daddy announces that he is going to answer the door. Mommy remarks “WHAT a masculine Daddy”...
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Daddy urges Mrs. Barker to come in and make herself comfortable—though she’s late, he says, they...
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Daddy asks Mrs. Barker if she could perhaps go away and “come back some other time,”...
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Daddy asks Mrs. Barker to sit down, and she does. Mommy offers her a cigarette and...
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Mommy and Daddy ask Mrs. Barker what she does, and she replies that she is, obviously, the chairman...
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Daddy says that he’s blushing and going “sticky wet.” Mrs. Barker says she wants to light...
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...special circumstances.” She apologizes for not being able to give the family a better answer. Daddy says it’s a very interesting answer, but Mommy laments that it doesn’t help them at...
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Daddy says he’s feeling some “qualms.” Mommy asks where he’s feeling them, and he says he’s...
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Mrs. Barker asks Daddy what was wrong, but Daddy insists he just had a regular operation. Mrs. Barker tells...
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Mrs. Barker says she has a younger brother who’s ambitious, just like Daddy. He runs a newspaper called The Village Idiot and has a wonderful sense of humor....
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...her to be quiet, and tells Mrs. Barker to ignore Grandma because she is “rural.” Daddy suggests Mommy let Grandma speak up, but Mommy says that “old people have nothing to...
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Daddy says he wishes he weren’t surrounded by women. Mrs. Barker seconds his opinion. Grandma speaks...
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Daddy yells for Grandma and Mommy to stop fighting. Mommy suggests Daddy call a van and...
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...knows why Mrs. Barker has come. Mrs. Barker says she wishes Grandma would tell her. Daddy says Mrs. Barker is here because he and Mommy “called them.” Mrs. Barker says she’s...
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Mrs. Barker calls Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma a “jolly” family. She says she’s been “knee-deep” in work lately with all...
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Mommy remarks what a great husband she has—Daddy isn’t poor or argumentative or in a wheelchair. Mommy is instantly mortified by what she’s...
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...says she feels “lost” and has no clue why she’s here now—or why Mommy and Daddy insist that she’s been here before. Grandma says that she was here before—not this apartment...
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...says that about twenty years ago, a man and woman “very much like” Mommy and Daddy lived in an apartment “very much like” this one with an old woman “very much...
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...“cried its heart out” day and night. When the baby “only had eyes for its Daddy,” the baby’s mother gouged its eyes out. When the baby discovered its “you-know-what,” they cut...
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As Grandma concludes her story, Daddy calls from upstairs and says that he can’t find the television. Mommy shouts back that...
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...being stunned by the parallels between the characters in the story and herself, Mommy, and Daddy, and says she’ll have to “mull” things for a while. She goes into the kitchen,...
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...asking who has rung the doorbell. Grandma tells her that “The American Dream” is here. Daddy’s voice can be heard, asking what everyone’s shouting about—Mommy calls to him and tells him...
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...Young Man could do to help out around the house. She says that Mommy and Daddy have been in a “quandary” lately, and The Young Man might be able to help....
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...beckons The Young Man close to her and tells him a secret: though Mommy and Daddy think she hasn’t left the house in eight years, she recently snuck out to enter...
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Mrs. Barker walks into the living room, lamenting that she can’t find Mommy or Daddy anywhere. She asks who The Young Man is, and Grandma introduces him as “the van...
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...tells Mrs. Barker she needs to talk to her about the “dilemma” with Mommy and Daddy—Grandma believes she has found “the way out” for Mrs. Barker. The Young Man reenters to...
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Mrs. Barker, Mommy, and Daddy reenter the living room. Mrs. Barker tells them that “the whole thing’s settled.” Mommy and...
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...the room, and Mrs. Barker welcomes him in, declaring him a “surprise” for Mommy and Daddy. Mommy is confused, but Daddy reminds her that they wanted a “bumble” and some “satisfaction.”...
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...to call him whatever she likes—maybe even “what [she] called the other one.” Mommy asks Daddy to remind her what they did call the other one, but Daddy can’t remember.
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