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Dissolution of American Family in August: Osage County

  • Journal of Modern English Drama
  • Abbr : JMBARD
  • 2015, 28(2), pp.35-58
  • Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
  • Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama

Kim, Soon Ja 1

1평택대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Tracy Letts was awarded the Pulitzer, the Tony, and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for August: Osage County in 2008. This play echoed significant American dramas and explored the myth of the American family. Letts describes some of the factors causing family dissolution by representing a traditional American middle class family model. He deals with social issues in the United States such as alcoholism, drug addiction, adultery, sexual misbehavior, separation, and conflict between family members. In August: Osage County, Letts enlarges the scope of his story with a large family consisting of a couple with their three children and the mother’s younger sister’s family. This play is composed of all kinds of characteristics of soap opera such as the secret of one’s birth, love affair, a sudden accident or death, incest, villainess, and obscene scenes. Adultery is one of the most commonly used themes in modern melodrama. Beverly’s love affair with his sister in law is the most direct and fundamental cause of the breakdown of the family. As a result the secret of Little Charles’ birth and incestuous affair are revealed. Further, Violet’s interest in Beverly’s property after his disappearance represents the greed of Violet. Tracy Letts presents the dissolution of traditional American middle-class family without any solution with his own creative method. He provides a valuable opportunity to the audience to think about the true meaning of family values and faith by reflecting the image of the lonely contemporary people that do not communicate with each other.

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