Open Prompt #4

1993. "The true test of comedy is that it shall awaken thoughtful laughter." Choose a novel, play, or long poem in which a scene or character awakens "thoughtful laughter" in the reader. Write an essay in which you show why this laughter is "thoughtful" and how it contributes to the meaning of the work.

A confused adoption lady, a crazy grandma, a day-old cake, some missing pekingese, and lots and lots of boxes. These details and many others, along with some sarcasm and irony, make Edward Albee's play, The American Dream, quite a funny one. Underneath the laughter, however, an audience is forced to stop and think about what Albee is trying to say. He uses details and language to, as one critic called it, "awaken thoughtful laughter" in his audience, entertaining them while, at the same time, causing them to consider that when people are unsatisfied in their personal lives, they turn to the artificial and fleeting satisfaction of consumerism. 

Albee uses language and includes many details to make his audience laugh. Humorous language techniques are found in many places in the play. For example, h

e uses alliteration in the phrase "a penchant for pornography" to highlight the comedy of an adoption lady who is interested in the "intimate" things her clients say. He also uses a paraprosdokian when grandma calls their era "the age of deformity", rather than the age of conformity, as one might expect. These language choices, and others, infinitely add to the humor of Albee's play. He also 

uses a plethora of details to create funny moments in the dialogue of his characters. For example, Mommy tells Daddy the story of how she went to buy a beige hat that was really wheat and then when she went to return it, they gave her back the same hat, which she then believed was beige. The story is incredibly lengthy, complete with Mommy's complaints and Daddy's inability to pay attention to what she says. The result is a hilarious, albeit somewhat irritating, story about a trip to a hat shop. 

All the laughter found in The American Dream must be accompanied by real thought on the part of the audience. That thought inevitably leads the thinker to Albee's main point: that if someone is unsatisfied and unhappy with their personal life, they will turn to consumerism to find satisfaction, although it is false and fleeting. The paraprosdokian used by grandma, for example, is a funny use of a common phrase, but it also forces the audience to consider how messed up and therefore unsatisfying, their lives really are. The details of Mommy's hat story show that, because of her unsatisfying, "deformed" life, she has turned to consumerism to fill the void. 

Even through the lighthearted laughter that an audience may experience during Albee's play, they must confront the sad, unhealthy aspects of the characters lives. This laughter, while serving its purpose by entertaining, completes another duty by forcing the audience to think about what they are actually laughing at and, in turn, about Albee's meaning: that unsatisfactory personal lives will lead people to the false, fleeting satisfaction of consumerism.