Ryan OConnor Mr. Bohannon AP English Literature April 21, 2011 Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

3) Appearance versus reality is once again a key figure in literature. In Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Albee revolves the play around the lies of Martha, George, Nick and Honey. As the play progresses the line between truth and illusion becomes increasing hazy, especially with the development of the childs character. In Act III the story culminates in an attempt to completely rid the marriage of lies and unveil the true identity of Martha and George. Both couples marriages are held together by lies. Martha and George create their son as a means to compensate for their visible sterility. Martha goes as far as to describe the childs delivery, upbringing, and first broken bone. Despite Marthas presumed role as Earth Mother, she creates this ego to hide her own inability to create life through reproduction. As the name suggests, New Carthage is the barren land sown with salt to prevent fertility. Like Martha, Honey does not have children, but does so by choice through use of birth control. Her imaginary pregnancy also serves as the cause of a marriage. Nick divulges to George that the only reason he married her was due to the ballooned stomach and wealth.

The characters in this play use the illusions of masks to hide their true characters. Martha assumes a strong willed, authoritative role; however, her emotional weakness is evident in the final act. In a role reversal, she takes the submissive role that George had once possessed. George, contrastingly, shields himself behind the mask of a downtrodden and subservient man. He also removes the mask in the final scene as he accepts the role of dominant figure of the couple. In the other couple, Nicks apparent physical and emotional strength are a faade which hides his inability to cope with inferiority. He grudgingly accepts the role as houseboy and fails to satisfy Martha sexually. The title Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf describes the tearing down of walls of deception and accepting a true identity. When Martha responds to Georges question, Whos afraid of Virginia Woolf? with "I am, George... I am." she accepts her true identity. Martha and George signify the changing society that they live in. They accept their true identity, and Albee hopes the audience will do the same.

2) The conflicting couples in Whos Afraid of Virginia of Virginia Woolf adequately illustrate the negative transformation which is occurring in America during this time period. New England is straying from its Puritan roots and evolving into a society where deception and

science trump ethics and religion. This is perfectly exemplified through George, a symbol of the past, and Nick, a young professor willing to do anything to get ahead. New Carthage in New England is in the process of losing touch with its former ethical beliefs. George informs Nick that, Musical beds is the faculty sport around here. This directly contrasts with the areas reputation as the birthplace of freedom and the stronghold for American values. Nick serves as a representation of the new faculty and new America. Nick is extremely ambitious and is willing to do anything to get ahead. His method of moving up on the colleges hierarchy is not through hard work but rather sleeping with prominent figures. He is young, fit, and intelligent, and interestingly teaches Biology. There he works on the then novel ideas of chromosomes and genetics and by extension the future, while his wife uses science as a means of birth control. George, instead, is a professor of history, literally a study of the past. Georges character is used to condemn science as it moves This play can also be interpreted as an attack on the American dream. The couples thirst to become the quintessential American couple with wealth, power, and children; however, they are left with failed marriages and sterility. George and Nick exemplify how education can be wasted and the result of marriage for profit. All four characters can be used to symbolize the failure of America. Like Carthage, America is becoming a barren wasteland through corruption. Albee paints a bleak picture of the future of America through the perfect broken marriage. 1) Following Reverend Barbees speech, the narrator begins to acknowledge the truth about the world around him. This is a slow and gradual process, and the nameless protagonist

continues to live in a confused and disoriented state. This state is best exemplified in the characters speech in the beginning of chapter 15. Chapter fifteen opens with the oxymoron of being both awake and not awake at the same time. In this circumstance, being awake symbolizes the authors understanding of his place in society. The protagonist has begun to realize his status as an invisible man and his grandfathers message from chapter one; however, he does not fully accept it at his point. Ellison diction suggests chaos and disorientation. Ellison also describes a pain that the author is facing. He states, suddenly the pain seemed to leap from my ears to my side and I saw gray marks appearing where the old skin was flaking away beneath my digging nails. The pain the main character is experiencing is not only a physical pain, but also a metaphor describing the emotional pain that he is experiencing as he journeys to discover his identity. He uses his nails to dig away at his old self, ripping away an old layer of skin to reveal a new person, a disillusioned being. The second paragraph continues with the themes of bewilderment and disorientation. This is seen through the consecutive question the narrator poses. Why dont they stop, I thought? The bourbon? My nerves going bad? We see a character that is discovering himself but is still unable to sharpen his vision enough to completely see the world he lives in. As he continues down the hall his bewilderment turns to anger. This is expressed as he exclaims, Stop it, you ignorant fool! The speaker has become angered that up until this point he has failed to notice the truth, he is invisible. Anger is an expected reaction and the protagonist displays it.

The final paragraph in this short sample begins with the narrator experiencing a splitting head. This splitting is metaphor for the internal battle within that occurred following the sermon by Reverend Barbee. The narrator does not completely know his identity. The final line in the passage, If only I knew! adequately describes the speakers perception of himself. At this point in his life, he doesnt even know his own identity.