The American dream influences the minds of the young Americans during the decades, and this idea can affect people’s dreams, intentions, and life goals along with their vision of the sense of living. In his True West (1980), Sam Shepard presents his vision of the American dream’s role in developing the society with references to the contradiction of opinions on the Old and New West.
This opposition is accentuated with references to the characters of two brothers, Austin and Lee, who have rather different opinions on the sense of life, but their visions are incomplete because they cannot feel satisfaction in relation to their achievements or lifestyle. Furthermore, in his play, Sam Shepard also discusses the role of a family in developing the personality and in influencing the aspects of the person’s life.
Differences in the behaviors and ideals of two brothers are presented in their combination with rather strict similarities because these persons were brought up in one family. The characters of Austin and Lee can be discussed as the opposite sides of one product of the American culture in its combination of old traditions and new tendencies.
Thus, Shepard develops the topic of the American dream and variety of its aspects with the help of discussing Austin and Lee’s different attitudes to success, glory, wealth, and independence which are the reflections of one approach shared not only in their family but also in America.
The characters of Austin and Lee are depicted as antagonists who change their roles and visions during the development of events in the play. Austin can be discussed as the rational and successful American screenwriter who knows what he wants in this life. This brother is the embodiment of the new America with its ideals and revised vision of the American dream.
Wealth, success, and rationalism are the main concepts of this period, and Austin knows the rules of living in this reality. The problem is in the fact that he cannot accept the visions which are typical for his brother Lee who embodies the Old West oriented to the principles of independence and liberty. Lee does not follow any frames according to which Austin’s life is organized.
Thus, Lee chooses the life of a thief, and he focuses on freedom as the main value in his life which is full of chaos. That is why, the brothers experience significant difficulties while trying to communicate after the years of living apart. Austin and Lee follow different truths in their lives, but their interests are traversed when they become to pay more attention to each other’s activities.
Thus, Lee’s intentions to try the career of a screenwriter can be explained not with references to the idea of destroying the brother’s perfect life, but with Lee’s desire to play a new role which is perceived as the successful variant. Moreover, Austin begins to dream about the life in deserts because this lifestyle seems to be more real than his familiar life with planned projects and scheduled meetings.
As a result, the brothers guess that their approaches to life cannot provide them with the real sense of living. In this case, Shepard rethinks the idea of the American dream with the help of presenting two opposite views on the problem demonstrated by Austin and Lee. Focusing on differences in the brothers’ characters and providing the illustrations for Austin and Lee’s exchange of life roles, Shepard states that there is no only variant to follow a successful life.
Both the brothers begin to experience difficulties when they reject their identity and their true nature. However, it is not important to be rational and ambitions or independent and unstable in order to be happy and achieve the American dream. In spite of the fact that Austin and Lee can feel a kind of jealousy in relation to each other’s lives, they are not successful while trying to perform the activities typical for them.
However, their visions of the world change, and it is possible to speak about the impact of the family on their lives although both the brothers can reject this fact. Austin and Lee choose life in deserts and drinking as the most available ways to avoid the impact of the family and break the circle according to which the life can be framed.
Along with discussing the topics of the American dream and the impact of the family on the people’s life, Sam Shepard’s True West demonstrates the author’s attitude to the real and artificial life with references to the example of the world of art business.
Austin and Lee intend to sell their works not because they try to reveal their aesthetic visions and messages to the public, but because this approach is the right way to receive more money and become successful. Representing the brothers’ conflicts, Shepard also discusses the deeper conflict of the real and artificial worlds as they are provided in the visions of the Old and New West.