Monday, November 7, 2011

What is the TRUE west?

I really loved reading True West. The relationship between Austin and Lee is very entertaining. I found this story to also be very comical and full of excitement. I liked how in the beginning of the story Austin is the very calm and level-headed brother who is in charge of the house and taking care of the plants and in the end Austin totally loses it, lets all the plants die, and also loses the upper hand he originally had with his brother. It was interesting that both brothers envied the others life. Lee lived in the desert because he had to basically (not because it was exciting to do so) and envied (yet criticized) Austin's rich suburban life. In contrast, Austin craved his brother's exciting life-on-the-edge in the desert and looked up to Lee. I found it comical/ironic how Austin was so worried about Lee being around Saul and embarrassing Austin, and Lee totally ended up hitting it off with Saul. It was funny how unexpected it was for Austin and how angry it made him. One thing I found to be very interesting was the elusive definition of what "True West" really meant. Austin's true west was the suburban, modern-day west; Lee's true west was the romanticized, desert setting, west. The funniest part of the whole play in my opinion was the scene involving the stealing of the toasters and the making of toast. I thought it was hilarious how Austin felt like a real criminal by stealing peoples toasters and his spiel about how wonderful and important toast is. I thought it was so interesting how the play had elements of a classic western story. Near the end when they are in dispute with one another, they stare at each-other, challengingly, like two cowboys would. Also in the end when they circle each-other like Cowboys readying for a duel. Overall, I really enjoyed True West; It was extremely exciting and entertaining.

1 comment:

  1. I too thought True West has a cool western feel to it. The funniest parts were totally Austin related, whenever the got made that Lee impressed Saul and when he stole all the toasters. It was absolutely hilarious. I think your right in saying that the true west is unique to each person.

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