Thematic Analysis on the Book American Buffalo by David Mamet

A buffalo accepts minimum from the society and gives the maximum-its food is good deal (unless you feed both(prenominal)thing special) and the finished product that you get is milk The junk descent sh induce when American buffalo opens, doesnt inspire very very much. Normall(a)y, when the curtains are raised, the theory icon/ couch is supposed to be the best, highly impressive, to create a long-wearing impression with the audience. The secondhand antique store run by move into Dubrow nevertheless, kindles curiosity. The stage is filled with lots of junk. It is easy to create neat and cull or fascinating sets.A jumble set take so much imagination to do. For example, a great(p) overflowing dustbin prominently kept at the stage evokes as much curiosity as the big flower-vase practiced of colorful flowers. It evokes immediate enthusiasm in the minds of the spectators, Why it is thither on the stage at this initial stage of the swordplay? The opening dialogues go to the credit of weary who is delivering a assembly line discourse to Bob, inviting his wariness to the promised deals and the necessity to stick on to it. Bob was busy with not so healthy and socially acceptable ideas to get rich quick.Bob apologizes, tho take up speaks with a frustrated note at his friends unpredictable betrayal. Don retorts, Dont tell me youre sorry, Im not mad at you. This observation speaks ab pop out the sincerity of Don to bring his friend to the rightly track, by involving him in the respectable business of junk dealings Filling the stage with the junk in much(prenominal) voluminous and vast quantity is not the easiest of the things to do. Clive Barnes (writing for the New York Times) called the Broadway set stupefying and described it as an agglomeration of trash that must defend taken a team of assistants months to acquire. (American) Out of that confusing and unclassified dump, David Mamet tries to find the essential needs for a dignified action. Th e junk yard is the not the final conclusion for those articles. They rather wait for a new beginningyet some other lease of respectful life The theme as conceived by Mamet, has some hidden agenda as for the welfare of the society. He has strange slipway of propounding how to achieve his objectives American Buffalo received intense critical attention, for it set the critics thinking and disturbed their psyche.What they saw on the stage was not an habitual effort as depicted by an cut-and-dry story. The emotional highs and lows of the characters were real as per conditions obtaining in a big chunk of the American Society. David Mamet apply the lowest of the language, the meanest of the vocabulary, to say his truth. He was bold in his approach, but no so beautiful and refined. But where is refine ness in the real-life situations that he was explaining? But the nods and appreciation that he secured for the plot and for his characters must be from those who entertain experienced such situations, either with or without conquest.David Manmet doesnt value achievement or defeat much. He sees the truth in the permanent efforts. The energetic ones His thematic approach to the language and expressions he used in the cope with is with a definite purpose. He could have written the dialogues in tycoons English, but he preferred the idiosyncrasies and the latent brainpower of everyday speech of an average individual. Such characters responded and reacted to the routine situations in an ordinary but emphatic way. They expressed their opinions in a crude manner, by keeping the essential dignity of their position in the society.Every individual lives his life along with certain ambiguities, which he carries as his luggage, when he is unable to pass them. He however has a hope that one day he will be able to solve them, and will achieve a problem-free state. Reading a play is one thing, and looking at the performance, when many an(prenominal) characters pronounce the play in accordance with their acting abilities, is another matter. The script, when you read may confuse you, may keep you less-inspired, you may feel that you are making desperate efforts to go through confusing paragraphs and sentences.But when the characters do their earnest job of pronouncing them on the stage, David Mamet proves to us that he is right. He has judged their spirits and caught their moods right, with those impound utterances, what if they are half-thoughts and obscenities. He has showed and depicted the reality of obscenity, because you find it very much prevalent in the vocabulary of the society nearly which he is writing. So, what suffering is there in calling the spade a spade? The mishap shown about 3 crooks planning to steal a coin collection in the name of good business is right according to their train of thinking.(It is better than stabbing an individual to rob his wealthiness or cheat a bank with fraudulent ideas) That is the stage of their r ise in life. They are able to offer justification for their actions as per their own perfected reasoning. Whether the society accepts it or not is another matter. But they have no confusion about their objective. The characters of David Mamet have a particular level of existence. You cant pass judgment on them by seance on the ivory tower. To know them, you need to reach their level. Understand their real-life situations and determine you in their shoesThey do, what they do, not out of pleasure but out of sheer necessity of existing in this world. Therefore, the seemingly inarticulate utterances deport a rhythm found in few other playwrights work. constituent of the fascination of the play, wrote Womens Wear Dailys Howard Kissel, lies in noting how the same banal language takes on different colors as we perceive the changing relationships between the characters. (American) To swear intimacy and business together requires lots of understanding. The beginning seems to be good, b ut what really matters is maintenance of the relation ship.Business world is not always the nation of ethics. The fundamental principle and the goal in business are profits, success and self-interest. The play makes good beginning as for the combination of business and friendship but by the end of the play, the edifice of friendship collapses, and self-interest hoists the fleur-de-lys of victory. The theme of any story always tells something about the causation, even when the author makes conscious efforts to avoid it. Recollections of authors past appear in some form or the other.May be some dialogues, situations, trials and tribulations, duty and bag of the characterssomewhere between the interactions of the character it surfaces in a subtle form. David Mamet had a difficult childhood. He was born in Chicago, and was raised in a Jewish neighborhood. His father being a labor attorney, discussion about labor problems must have been parklandplace. Mamet has learnt and depicted th e anger, frustration and slang of American youth and men very well and this can be learnt and captured in the printed page only through direct experience and exposure to situations.David Mamet introduces a unique theme in American Buffalo-the judicious use of sabotage. They say, all is fair in war and love. Mamet adds one more category to this-business perception (when reduced to its basest form. ) He was appreciated for his ability to find equation with the common man through this play. Their slang became his weapon of success. His characters rarely speak full sentences, but what they utter has the telling effect. You nod in approval, as it appeals to you emotions. The three main characters, the low life thugs, succeed in taking potshots at the American way of life and its business ethics.The bricks of foundation of America are dispossession of the land from the former owners and genocide of the local Indian populace. The drama and conflict among the characters is intense in a ver y disturbing way. This is a play that makes you very uncomfortable about the way that people tinct to each other and challenges your hopes that values like friendship and honor are greater than the drive to get a bit ahead no matter who you step on in the process. (Theatre) Conclusion American Buffalo is a common mans drama, in common language, dominated bycommon characters, but written by an uncommon author. ========== References Cited article Theatre pecker American Buffalo By David Mamet . www2. netdoor. com/campbab/theatre/buffalo. html 10k Retrieved on October 10, 2007. Article American Buffalo Summary and Study Guide David Mamet. www. enotes. com/american-buffalo 15k Retrieved on October 10, 2007. Mamet, David American Buffalo (Paperback) Publisher Grove Press Subsequent edition (January 11, 1994) ISBN-10 0802150578 ISBN-13 978-0802150578