Scenes from American Life (Masterplots II: Drama, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: A. R. Gurney, Jr.
- First Published: 1970
- Type of Plot: Satire
- Time of Work: From the 1930’s to the near future
- Setting: Buffalo, New York
- Principal Characters: Father, Mother, Snoozer
- Genres: Satire, Drama
- Subjects: Values, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Parents and children, Tradition, Twentieth century, Upper classes, Wealth, WASPs
- Locales: Buffalo, NY
The Play
Scenes from American Life is a collection of nearly forty short scenes connected by scraps of period music, each scene showing a glimpse of life in upper-middle-class Buffalo over the course of about fifty years. A few of the characters appear in more than one scene, but most do not. Most of the characters are not even named; each is instantly recognizable, however, by his or her type.
The play begins in the early 1930’s, with the entrance of a maid carrying a tray of martinis. She is followed by a group of guests, including a Godfather and Godmother,...
[The entire page is 2448 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
