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True West – Scenes Summaries: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 context ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scene One Summary True West begins with the sound of crickets. A candle illuminates Austin sitting in the alcove adjoining his mother's kitchen. He is bent over a table writing in a tablet. Austin has all the accoutrements of a writer: coffee, a cigarette burning in the ashtray, stacks of paper. He is dressed properly, in a cardigan, slacks, and white tennis shoes. Moonlight also reveals Lee in the kitchen. He is drinking beer and looks like he has slept in a ditch, with a filthy T-shirt, two days' growth of beard, and bad teeth. Lee is Austin's older brother. Their mother is in Alaska, and has left Austin in charge of the house. Lee asks question after question about the current situation: whether Austin has any coffee, whether he is taking care of the houseplants, whether he usually writes by candlelight, whether the Forefathers wrote by candlelight. The barrage of questioning obviously disrupts Austin's attempt to write, but Austin does not let on that is so. Lee laughs at Austin's "art," which is just a little research for a screenplay. The first thing Austin asks Lee is about whether Lee has seen their father, "the old man." The brothers squabble about who has visited the old man more. Austin then asks Lee what he is doing here at their mother's house. Lee admits he is there to steal. Their mother lives in a nice community, one perfect for petty theft because of its big houses and decided lack of dogs. Austin had suspected something underhanded from his older brother, but stealing from his mother's neighborhood is crossing the line. Austin tries to convince Lee not to prowl around the neighborhood but Lee has his mind made up. Additionally, Lee wants the use of Austin's car for the day to case the neighborhood. Austin rejects this proposition with a good deal of force, not wanting Lee prowling around the neighborhood and certainly not interested in letting Lee use his car to do so. Finally, Austin offers Lee money, at which point Lee lunges violently at Austin, grabbing his shirt, warning Austin never to say that to him again. He says that money offerings may be enough to appease the old man, but would never be enough for Lee. After a long pause, Lee says the crickets are incredibly monotonous. The moment of crisis is over. The brothers talk about Lee's time in the desert with a woman botanist, and Austin invites Lee to come live with he and his family in northern California. Lee discredits a settled life as a "sham." As the first scene closes, Austin asks Lee if he wants to sleep, but Lee says he does not sleep. Analysis The curse of the family runs deep throughout Shepard's work. Tooth of Crime,Buried Child,Curse of the Starving Class, and A Lie of the Mind are all family dramas. Being born into a family is everyone's curse, and getting out is often an ultimate—albeit impossible—goal. Unlike most of Shepard's other plays, True West at first seems to be a straightforward narrative about brotherly conflict and screenwriting, lacking in absurdist elements. There are no aria-like monologues, no slime oozing down the walls, no magical cornfield in the backyard: just a simple kitchen in a modest home outside of Los Angeles. In his own notes to potential directors, Shepard even specifies that there are not to be any dramaturgical tricks or concepts for the design of the set or the costumes; any such attempts would only confuse the character's evolution. Therefore, we have a Formica and houseplant-adorned kitchen containing two brothers who by the end of play will try to kill each other. Two people could hardly look less like brothers than Austin and Lee. Austin is the prodigal son: the husband, the writer, the success. Lee is the failure: the thief, the drifter, the outcast. Austin is well manicured and proper, whereas Lee is a slovenly mess. Austin seems at first to be the one who got away, the brother who has survived the devastation of his family and somehow moved on to a sense of prosperity and release. Lee is at first the mirror image of his father, a drunk without a home, a man without direction. He is the aimless hero of Western myth: an outlaw who lives by his own code of morality. As Austin writes, Lee subverts Austin's efforts at "art." But Austin cannot admit to Lee or to himself that what he is working on could be considered art, so he describes the work as "just a little research." Lee has nothing but contempt for Austin's life of the mind, and, having tried his own hand at the repugnant pursuit of it, declares that there is no future in art. The brothers' short discourse on art will be expanded throughout the play. Although True West seems at first to be a straightforward narrative, the play becomes a sort of discourse on two different brands of identity. In short, the two brothers can be seen as the contrasting and warring sides of the artist. Austin feels squeamish about calling himself an artist. He would like to think of himself as a simple laborer, merely working on some research. He lacks the gusto and cockiness necessary for the creation of great art. Lee, on the other hand, is all gusto. He has no inhibitions about saying how he feels when he feels it. He is physically aggressive and even abusive. What he lacks, however, is the discipline necessary for sustaining any kind of artistic effort. Though each individual is flawed or incomplete, combined, the sensibilities of the two brothers are enough to form the soul of the artist. In this sense, True West becomes the physical manifestation of the creative act. It is not an easy process, as the brothers fight throughout almost the entire play. As a result of their constant war, however, they manage to produce the beginnings of a screenplay, something that neither one alone is able to manage. Only together are they actually an artist. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scene Two Summary Scene two takes place on the following morning. Austin waters the plants while Lee sits drinking beer. Lee marvels at the degree of security measures their mother has taken to protect her materially worthless belongings, which include a plate with Idaho printed on its face. After a pleasant gripe about the subject, Austin asks whether Lee went out of the house the night before. Lee recounts his wanderings from the previous night. He was unable to sleep due to the noisy coyotes killing a neighborhood dog. Austin baits him, saying, "I thought you didn't sleep." Lee just stares at Austin. The threat of physical violence is pervasive throughout the scene, but nothing actually occurs. Lee criticizes Austin's lifestyle as too fancy and stifled. Austin, surprisingly, says nothing to contradict Lee's generalizations, agreeing on some level that his domestic lifestyle is a sort of trap. Rather than argue about his chosen lifestyle, Austin wants to hear about Lee's time spent in the desert. He hangs on every word of Lee's recollections of his time away from civilization. In spite of himself, Austin is curious about what Lee saw and what houses he might rob. On the whole, we get the sense that, as the older brother, Lee is clearly an object of Austin's envy and admiration. Lee indulges his younger brother's fancy, recounting a beautiful house he saw the night before, ripe for the picking. Austin, caught up in the romance of Lee's outlaw lifestyle, continues to ask questions about Lee's life in the desert, especially about whether Lee got lonely or not. Their conversation is quite amiable and seemingly loses all the threat that existed in Scene one. Lee is a born raconteur and Austin is a very willing audience. The romanticized trip down memory lane comes to an end when Austin mentions the fact that his producer, Saul Kimmer, is going to come to the house later that afternoon, and Austin would prefer it if Lee were not around. Lee is outraged, accusing his brother of being ashamed of him. It is unclear whether Lee's reaction is the result of some tendency toward hypersensitivity, or whether he is faking his outrage. Lee jumps on every criticism of their father, and, as he has made himself in the image of the old man, even the slightest criticism creates tension. But the answer seems to come when Lee begins to propose that Austin should lend him his car. Austin knows full well that Lee will use the car to steal. However, Austin cannot have his brother around the house while his producer is there. There is no other choice but to lend Lee his car. Analysis Scene two begins as a pleasant scene of two brothers catching up: all of the tension seems to have dissipated. Austin obviously loves listening to his older brother tell stories of his wanderings, both from the night before and from his time out on the desert. Lee indulges Austin's wishes, answering every question put to him. In contrast to the highly dysfunctional home in which the brothers grew up, Lee describes seeing a suburban Valhalla, that seems to be the "kinda' place you sorta' wish you grew up in." Where and when the brothers grew up is unclear. It is unclear what relationship exists between their father and mother, the only clear thing being that the old man is currently living somewhere in the desert. Lee has stumbled into his father's own image, and when Austin asks Lee to take off for a few hours, Lee takes it extremely personally. The idea of Austin being ashamed of him is too much to bear. It is not only an admonition of Lee's appearance but of his heritage. Austin does not want it known that he is related to a man like Lee, and, in turn, his father. His request for Lee to leave the house for a few hours seems like a practical concern, but runs much deeper. Austin has escaped the influence of his father, going to an Ivy League school and now a successful screenwriter. This afternoon he has a meeting with an important producer. Lee, on the other hand, is representative of everything Austin has escaped from. He is the physical manifestation of his father. For Saul to see Lee is to admit where exactly Austin came from: that he was once a part of the same dysfunction. Although he guises his request in politeness, Austin is unwilling to admit his heritage. There are other rooms in the house. He could ask Lee to stay in the bedroom. But Austin needs Lee to be physically out of the house, to be nowhere near him and the producer. Lee senses this active disapproval and reacts accordingly. For such an aggressive man he is very sensitive to rebuke. Austin apologizes for not being able to spend more time with Lee. He wishes he did not have so much "business" to attend to. Lee thinks Austin is doing Art with a capital A. The two poles of the brothers' approach to life and toward art are apparent in this exchange. There is no real inspiration for Austin: his screenwriting efforts are nothing more than some business. After the negotiation of Lee's departure is settled, Lee suggests that he has his own stories to pitch if Austin's pitch to the producer is not good enough. Lee knows even at this point that Austin does not have the stuff of the real artist. Admittedly, he is probably skilled technically, and has connections within the business. However, if he cannot even regard himself as an artist, then he cannot begin to approach to produce real art. Lee quietly begins the takeover of his brother's business by politely asking him to let the producer know that Lee has his own stories that would make wonderful motion pictures. The scene ends without a reply from Austin. At this point he regards his brother's talk as petty jealousy, not as any real threat to his livelihood. Soon enough he realizes that Lee wants a lot more than his car keys. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scene Three Summary Austin and his producer, Saul Kimmer, are sitting at the table talking about Austin's "project." Saul is extremely positive about the project's marketability if they can get a bankable star. Austin is extremely pleased. Saul talks in typical Hollywood producer doublespeak, mentioning synopses, projects, and "really capturing something." Although Saul does nothing but flatter Austin, his words come across as cheap and hollow. As the two are winding down their short conversation, Lee enters carrying a stolen television set. Austin is incredibly embarrassed and clearly does not want to claim Lee as his brother. After some awkward introductions in which Lee mispronounces Saul's last name, Saul and Lee begin talking about golf. Saul is more than willing to get off the subject of Austin's movie, and speaks about golf with real gusto. Saul asks if Austin plays and golf, and Austin ashamedly answers that he watches it on television. Austin stands dumbfounded as his unseemly brother sweet-talks his producer. Lee proposes that he and Saul play a round of golf the following day. Though Saul politely declines because he will be very busy, Lee will not drop it. He says they can play at the crack of dawn, while the dew is just settling on the grass. Saul is clearly excited at the prospect. The two men insult Austin by suggesting that he could act as their caddy. Saul and Lee go on to muse about how they could give Austin a beginner's lesson in golf, about the different clubs and basic techniques. Everyone is laughing except Austin, who is reticent for the remainder of the conversation as Saul and Lee continue to fraternize. The golf game is finally settled, and Austin tries to usher Saul out the door. It is of no use. Lee quickly asks Saul if he is interested in stories, and if so, what kind. Saul politely explains the basic requirements for the stories his production company develops—a love interest and lots of action. After Saul says that action is an integral part of a story's commercial potential, he chuckles at Austin, whose project is a period-piece romance. Just as Austin makes one final attempt to get Saul away from Lee, Lee announces that he has a western that would be perfect for Saul's production company. Saul stays to listen, and Lee says that his stories are "true-life" stories, not the whims of someone who has never experienced anything. Lee then summarizes the plot of the Kirk Douglas movie Lonely Are the Brave, about a man who dies for the love of a horse. Lee recalls the movie in awkward detail, more adept at telling the story of his time in the desert than recounting his memory of an old movie. Saul is visibly uncomfortable by the end of the story, and makes excuses to get out of the house. Before Saul can leave, Lee manages to ask him to take a look at one of his scenarios. Saul says that he is always looking for new material, and, after a final reminder about their golf game the following day, leaves. After Saul leaves, Austin looks at the stolen television set, and then back at his brother, angrily demanding the keys to his car. Lee does not give them back, but just stares at Austin with an ear-to-ear grin. Analysis When Lee barges into the production meeting carrying a stolen television set, Austin does not want to introduce him as his brother, as he does not want Kimmer to think he shares any similarities with this nomadic thief. Lee, however, makes sure that Saul knows exactly who he is. He is not the houseboy. He is not an appliance repairman. He is Austin's brother. Austin has spent most of his life trying to deny his family heritage—both to himself and to everyone else he meets. Lee is a nagging reminder of where Austin came from, and his physical presence is a fact that not even Austin can deny. Indeed, all of Austin's efforts to escape his family are unequivocally denied. No one can escape his or her family. For Austin, this scene marks the beginning of the chickens coming home to roost. Lee knows he is supposed to stay away from the house until after six o'clock that evening, but comes home anyway. He claims to have lost track of the time, and maybe this is true. Nonetheless, we assume that Lee also wants to intentionally interrupt his brother's meeting with Saul, and that he knows how much his presence will embarrass Austin. Scene three is where the real war begins. In the first two scenes there is hint and innuendo, but in this scene Lee actively begins to take over Austin's life. Whereas earlier Lee has represented simply a nuisance, he now begins to subvert and control Austin's screenwriting efforts. He sweet-talks Saul into a game of golf, and in the process effectively emasculates Austin by suggesting that Austin be their caddy. Saul, for his part, is taken with the mysterious stranger Lee. A character like Lee does not exist in his lexicon of Hollywood pleasantries and formalities. Lee is a wonderful salesman, and has none of the shame Austin has. By the end of the scene, Lee has secured the golf game with Saul, along with Saul's interest in an outline Lee plans to write.
Lee knows exactly how to sabotage his brother. Austin's professional success is the greatest sign of his independence from his family; by taking that success away, Lee begins to make Austin lose faith in the idea that he is "above" his family. The scene ends in silence, as Austin is flabbergasted by Lee's actions. Austin demands the return of his car keys, which were part of the original deal specifying that Lee stay away from the house while the producer was there. Unfortunately for Austin, Lee has no intentions of admitting any sort of breach of contract. The war is on. He refuses to return the keys, and instead gives Austin a big grin. Inside the grin is the invitation to war. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene Four Summary Later that night, Austin sits at the typewriter while Lee sits across from him at the table drinking. Austin has begrudgingly agreed to write Lee's scenario in order to get his car keys back. Lee demands to hear what Austin has written up to that point, but Austin protests because it is very late at night and, after all, this is only an outline. The story Lee spins is about an absurd car chase featuring contrived motivations for both men, their location in "Tornado Country," and both of their cars simultaneously running out of gas. Austin criticizes the clichéd and contrived scenario, which could not be further from true life. Lee demands that both men not only run out of gas at the same time, but that both have horses on which to continue the chase. When Austin points out the absurdity of the scenario, Lee gets upset and throws a beer can at the windows of the alcove. He says he is going to write the scenario and then get out of town, unlike Austin, whom he compares to a parasite. Austin demands his keys back but Lee refuses until they are finished with the outline. Unable to argue, Austin relents. However, Lee suddenly gives Austin his car keys and challenges Austin to throw him out of the house. They both acknowledge that Austin is physically incapable of doing so. Lee challenges hsi brother to call the police, but Austin says he would never do that to his own brother. Lee goes off about domestic violence and about how most murders occur between brothers. At this point Austin becomes suddenly very affectionate to his brother, offering to write the outline for him in hopes it could turn his life around, get him out of the desert and into his own place. Lee is enthusiastic about this sudden opportunity for upward mobility, but then suggests that the brothers could instead use the money from the screenplay to get their father out of "hock." Austin explains that the old man will never change, and that he should not be a part of the better life Lee hopes to lead. Lee becomes indignant at the insult of their father and insults Austin's lifestyle as petty dreaming. Austin asks Lee to continue with the outline again, making the same insinuations about future wealth. Lee agrees to continue, his motivation not the promise of wealth, but rather the experience of actually feeling like Austin. Lee admits that he used to daydream about Austin at college with books in his hands and blondes on his sides. Austin admits that he used to daydream about Lee out in the desert having adventures and that he questioned whether or not he had the right idea about living his life. Each brother's jealousy for the other's life seems genuine, and they take up the writing of the outline with a new sense of purpose. Lee makes sure they are on good terms by asking for the keys to the car again, which Austin gives him, and then muses about his future home. Austin reminds Lee not to get ahead of himself, and that they have to write the outline before Lee can afford a house. So they resume the writing: Lee dictates the next part of his horse chase while Austin types. Analysis The hilariously absurd plot Lee conjures is a touchstone for a discussion of the difference between Hollywood myth and reality. Lee claims that his story is "true-to-life," but no scenario could be possibly more contrived or outrageous. Shepard chose the title True West for a reason. He wants to investigate the nature of storytelling, and to point out that while Lee's scenario is absurd and unrealistic, the play's own scenario for the brothers is not. The brothers' struggle for dominance is the actual "true west." This first effort at screenwriting for Lee illuminates the issue for the first time in the play, though the theme is explored more fully later. A very large thematic part of Scene Two has to with the violence inherent in the family. Austin would rather break a stained-glass window than hurt his brother, and is taken aback when Lee casually explains that most violence occurs within the family unit, between brothers. The discussion of brotherly violence lifts the brothers' struggle out of the realm of petty squabbling into the realm of Cain and Abel. Without irony, Lee chillingly talks about the fact that most murders take place in the home, and that there are documents that support his claim. It is unclear whether Lee is simply baiting his brother into violence or whether he is pontificating about the nature of violence itself. Either way, he has clearly thought about the subject, and to some degree expects the violent climax that the story eventually reaches. Despite their seeming resentment, the two brothers are pettily jealous of the other's chosen lifestyle. Indeed, perhaps the tension and resentment result from this mutual jealousy. Lee touchingly recounts his daydreams about Austin's life as a big man on campus during Austin's Ivy League days. Austin, who so far has tried to deny any sense of heredity, sheepishly admits that he too thought about his brother's lifestyle as superior to his own. Though this mutual jealousy exists only as talk at this point in the play, it later matures into actual lifestyle changes as the story continues. These frank admissions of sibling envy are the beginning of the brothers' slow transformations into each other. Austin and Lee also come back to the subject of their father, the old man. Lee is very excited by the prospect of making money from the screenplay and getting their father out of "hock," as he calls it. Austin, however, views the old man as sick and unworthy of any efforts to help him. Just as Lee understands the nature of familial violence, he also understands the debt one owes to one's father. Though their father may be a hopeless drunk lost in the desert, Lee refuses to turn his back on him. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scene Five Summary It is the next morning, just after Lee's game of golf with Saul. Saul likes Lee's story so much that as part of his advance money he has given Lee his own golf clubs and bag, which Lee proudly carries with him. Austin is absolutely flabbergasted, though for the moment happy for his brother's quick success. Austin demands a run down of the exact events that transpired in the deal. After Lee explains that Saul gave him a verbal guarantee, Austin reminds his brother that nothing is certain until it is in writing. Lee, however, does not need a contract because he gambled with Saul on the back nine of the golf course. He won, and Saul agreed to produce the movie. Austin gets champagne from their mother's refrigerator to celebrate when Lee matter-of-factly explains that Austin will get a very good fee for writing the script. Austin explains that he does not have time to write both Lee's script and his own. Lee, however, tells his brother that Saul has decided to drop Austin's project. Austin, in disbelief, demands to know everything that Saul said on the golf course. Saul said that Lee's story was the first authentic western to come along in many years. At the news of Saul's apparent mistake, Austin becomes furious and insults Lee's contrived story idea. So unbelievable is Saul's preference for Lee's story that Austin begins to accuse Lee of physically harming Saul. Lee firmly denies that any physical violence was necessary and takes personal offence to the suggestion. Austin continues his accusations, and Lee lunges at him with a golf club. He stops short, holding the golf club over Austin's head. Lee sits down at the table, and Austin asks a final time if Lee harmed or threatened Saul. Lee indignantly denies the accusation and says that Saul's decision was based purely on his reaction to Lee's story—that and the fact that Lee beat the producer at golf. Austin pleads with Lee to tell him the truth, but Lee sincerely admits to no wrongdoing. Not satisfied with the heartfelt denial, Austin demands to know where Saul is so he can verify Lee's story. When Lee says that Saul is shopping the outline around town, Austin becomes enraged because he wrote the outline, not Lee, and that Saul has no right to peddle the outline without Austin's permission. Desperate to do something, Austin asks for the keys to the car so he can take a drive and cool off. Lee tells Austin he has nowhere to go, but Austin just wants to drive out to the desert to clear his head. Lee refuses to give Austin the keys, instead telling him to sit down and relax, that the house is the perfect place to get necessary thinking done, and that Austin should start getting used to the fact that from now on they are partners. Analysis Lee's great assault on Austin's career continues. Lee is uncannily successful at sabotaging his brother's screenwriting efforts. In one round of golf he manages to not only secure a screenwriting deal but also to make Austin's contract for the same deal null and void. The question becomes why Lee is trying so hard to ruin Austin's life. Lee came to his mother's house under the auspices of petty theft, but now wants to write a screenplay—an endeavor in which he has hitherto shown absolutely no interest. In his actions in this scene, Lee is systematically removing his brother from his previously stable life. Screenwriting is a large part of Austin's identity, as his success in the industry is his only proof of having escaped the influence of his dysfunctional family. Lee serves as the reminder that Austin was not as successful at escaping as Austin might have thought. As Lee takes away all the roles by which Austin defines himself, Austin is forced to reconsider his own identity. Austin, however, cannot accept the fact that his beloved screenwriting deal might be taken away from him. He accuses Lee of lying and then of coercing Saul with violence, but Lee is not willing to be insulted by his brother. He may be a thief and a drunk but, so far, he is no killer. At this point, it is unclear what actually happened on the golf course. Lee's story seems extremely implausible, almost as bad as the outline he wrote, which Saul apparently loved and considered the most authentic thing he had read in years. Saul's judgment serves as an easy criticism of Hollywood: when the representative of Hollywood in the play has terrible taste, then Hollywood itself is a failed organism. In this regard, Shepard points out a dichotomy between what is real and what Hollywood thinks is real. For Saul to think Lee's outline is not only good but also the most authentic outline he has read in years means that the values held in Hollywood are absurd. Furthermore, the violence merely hinted at in the last scene become acutely real here. Lee takes a golf club and raises it above Austin's head, but stops it the top of its arc, just showing Austin what can happen if he further crosses the line. On a symbolic level, Lee's deal-making abilities represent Lee's half of the creative artist. Indeed, Austin would be totally incapable of showing as much chutzpah. Although he has absolutely no real experience in the industry, Lee has the smarts and charisma to immediately sweet-talk Saul into canceling Austin's deal. Though each brother can be seen as representing one half of the creative artist, Lee is actually bringing the deal to the both of them, so that they can both work on the project. When Lee relates the fact that Saul is busy trying to sell Lee's outline around Hollywood, Austin lodges the protest that he himself—not Lee—wrote the outline. This is technically true, as Austin is the one who does the actual typing. However, Lee is the one with the ideas and the means to get the script into the right hands. This small detail reflects their roles in the creative process: Lee is the idea man, while Austin is the executor of the idea. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene Six Summary Saul and Lee are in the kitchen trying to persuade Austin that there was no funny business in relation to the deal that gives Lee a green light on his outline. Austin is despondent when he realizes that the deal is in fact legitimate, but he remains critical of the worth of Lee's story. Lee and Saul try to persuade Austin to take on screenwriting duties for Lee's story, but Austin says that he is too busy and that he has no familiarity with the material. Saul, on the other hand, is very excited about the idea of two brothers working on the same project together—a situation he thinks would lend itself to a harmonious working relationship. Saul appeals to the situation concerning the Lee and Austin's father. It turns out that Lee had told Saul all about the old man and that the two of them had envisioned a trust fund that would allow the old man to reorganize his life. Whereas Austin was earlier merely bemused by the turns of events, the suggestion of a trust for his father makes him truly angry. He states in no uncertain terms that there is no possibility that he would take on screenwriting duties, and that Saul and Lee's techniques of bribery and blackmail would not succeed. The two accept Austin's decision, and Saul apologizes but says he is afraid that he cannot go on with Austin's project. There is no way he can support both projects unless Austin agrees to write the screenplay for Lee's western. Saul maintains that he is only following his instincts, but Austin reminds him that he is only producing Lee's story because he lost a bet on a golf course. Austin challenges Saul to admit the real reason, but Saul says that Lee's screenplay has "the ring of truth." When Austin protests that his own screenplay is also true, Saul reminds him that no one really cares about love anymore. The audience only wants to see action. Austin argues that Lee is the one that is out of touch. Austin, on the other hand, is the one who experiences the reality of the West: the smog, the suburbs, and the Safeway grocery store. These arguments, however, fall upon deaf ears. Austin continues to get riled up. Up until this scene he has been the coolly rational brother, but now he begins to actually insult Kimmer and his lack of judgment. In a final plea, Austin tells Saul that he is a fool to go ahead with Lee's screenplay. Saul politely excuses himself and plans on lunch with Lee for the following day. Lee, for his part, has said almost nothing during the entire exchange between Saul and Austin. After Saul leaves, however, the brothers exchange glares from across the room, almost like cowboys at a showdown. If the situation had not already been in his favor before, Lee now clearly seems to have a firm grasp of the upper hand. Analysis Austin argues so vehemently against Lee and Saul's project because the turn of events that has led up to it attacks the way he has lived his life up to this point. To escape the plague of his family, Austin has worked hard, gotten a good education, and gotten a good job. So far that has been enough, as he has been met with enough professional success to indicate that the manner by which he goes through his days is fundamentally sound. In this scene, however, Austin is under a crisis of radical self-doubt. It seems unfathomable that his no-good brother could so easily walk away with the laurels for which Austin has fought so long and hard. When confronted with the ease at which Lee has been able to slip into his industry and lifestyle, Austin is forced to reconsider the worth of goals he has sought out. The real kicker occurs when Saul reveals that he will no longer be able to produce Austin's screenplay—a project they had been working on for months—unless Austin helps Lee with Lee's screenplay. Austin's final, failing effort to persuade Saul not to produce Lee's screenplay is his contention that he is in touch with the world while Lee is not. However, Shepard raises the question of what it means to be in touch in the first place. Austin's reality of day-to-day living is supposed to be how normal people live their lives. He is grounded in the real world, while Lee is grounded in nothing, a nomadic desperado. In Shepard's world it is of paramount importance to be in touch. Perhaps the most important thing to be in touch with is the land. Indeed, it is a punishable sin to be out of touch with the land in True West. While Austin goes on about how he is the one that is in touch, in reality it is the other way around. Austin has acclimated himself to the new West, the suburban sprawl and the smog. Lee, on the other hand has acclimated himself with the land, the old West. He lives in the desert, and after he is done with his screenwriting he intends to return there. Shepard contends that in building a civilization Americans have lost touch with the elements. In the Shepardian justice system, Austin is the one worthy of punishment. This new placement of Austin in the role of transgressor highlights the fact that the brothers continue to change roles. Lee, in this scene, is rational and calm, while Austin comes across as frantic and angry. Professionally, Austin is now out of work, while Lee is officially on salary at the movie studio. Saul leaves the scene making plans for lunch with Lee, while Austin can do nothing but be angry. Austin has become the outsider, the one who is deemed out of touch with what is good and what is important. We are once again confronted with the notion of truth and storytelling. Saul proclaims that Lee's screenplay has "the ring of truth." Traditionally, a story comes across as true if it has believability. Lee's screenplay, however, is the most unbelievable yarn ever spun. Saul's inability to accurately judge what is true in Lee's story points to the degradation of the American West. Saul does not really know what a true western should look like. He does not have the vocabulary to describe it. Therefore, when Lee's bastardized idea of the West comes across Saul's plate, he grabs it and proclaims that he has found a true story. Austin, on the other hand, goes so far as to say that the West is dead. In this regard, Shepard laments the death of the West and satirizes its demise with Lee's outrageous screenplay. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scene Seven Summary Now, Lee is at the typewriter pecking away with one finger while Austin lies on the floor, dead drunk. Austin is singing a drunken song about the sunset when Lee yells for him to be quiet. Lee needs to concentrate, as he is the screenwriter now. Austin, balking at the idea of Lee writing an entire screenplay by himself, makes the drunken suggestion that Saul Kimmer thinks Lee and Austin are the same person. Lee dismisses this remark as the liquor talking and asks for quiet again, assuring Austin that if it were not for the racket, he could rattle off the whole screenplay in one night. Austin reasons that since Lee is now the screenwriter, he himself should now become the thief. Lee laughs heartily at the idea and makes a bet that Austin could not even steal a toaster. Initially the bet is for shared screen credit, but the stakes end up increasing to include Austin's house. All Austin wants in return, if he wins the bet, is a knick-knack from the days Lee spent in the desert. Lee, annoyed with the jabbering and with his own his inability to concentrate, smashes the typewriter into the table. Austin excuses himself, promising to see Lee in a bit. In the same mocking vocabulary Lee has used in the play's opening scenes, Austin denounces Lee's efforts at screenwriting and pledges to take a look around the neighborhood for good places from which to steal. When Austin tries to leave, however, he only falls to the floor drunk. Lee offers to call Austin's wife, but Austin says that he needs no one's help and that he is going to steal a toaster and commit crimes bigger than anything Lee ever did. Austin manages to stand up and talks about the suburbia he is going to steal from as a sort of latter day nirvana—a speech Lee says resembles the way the old man used to talk. Austin says that all three of them sound the same when drunk. When Lee once again mentions the prospect of bringing the old man out there with money earned from the screenplay, Austin takes a swing but then falls down. Austin says he does not want to have anything to do with the old man. Lee asks for help on the screenplay again: just a little bit, he says, just the characters. Austin insults Lee's story and his abilities as a screenwriter. Lee offers to leave on the condition that Austin help him with the screenplay, which piques Austin's interest. When asked where he would go, Lee says that he would just disappear. Austin denies the possibility of his brother disappearing, as it seems that the old man tried that once a long time ago. Lee joins Austin on the floor for a drink, and Austin tells the vivid story of how the old man went to Mexico to get all of his teeth pulled and ended up losing his false teeth in a doggy bag of Chop Suey. Lee listens intently, unaware that the old man had any need for false teeth or that he had lost them. At the end of the story Austin declares that it is a story that is true to life. Analysis Austin's suggestion that Saul Kimmer thinks that the two brothers are the same person is the most explicit reference to the fact that the two men represent opposite sides of a single creative artist. Individually, each brother is unable to complete anything. Here, we see Lee struggling at the typewriter, begging for even the smallest assistance from Austin. The brothers' animosity is the fundamental relationship that exists in each act of creation. Looking at the play with this relationship in mind removes the story from its seemingly naturalistic limitations and transforms it into an archetypal examination of what it means to be an artist. The struggle for creation is an extremely violent one, as demonstrated by the brothers' bickering and fighting. By this point in the play, the character reversal is complete. Austin is now the drunk and Lee is now the screenwriter. As Lee has invaded Austin's profession so easily, Austin thinks it is about time for him to become a thief. Austin boasts that he will commit crimes bigger than anything Lee has ever imagined, in an attempt to outdo his older brother in some new capacity just as Lee has outdone Austin in screenwriting thus far. Although Austin has been verbally aggressive with Saul in the previous scene, Austin actually takes a swing at Lee in this one. Such ferocity would have been almost unthinkable from the mild-mannered, polite screenwriter we see at the beginning of the play. In another signal of Austin's transformation, Lee remarks that Austin is beginning to talk like their father. Austin has heretofore attempted in every endeavor to be the opposite of his father, but drunk on the floor he regresses and actually uses the same ideas his father espoused. Lee brings up the possibility of disappearing, but Austin argues that such an escape is now impossible. Just like it was for their father, the notion of escaping regular life is almost overwhelming for the brothers. Lee has come to the house from the desert where he has lived like a vagrant, while Austin is increasingly excited by the possibility of escape. Austin, in his life so far, has tried to escape his family through his work. When Lee takes that away, Austin realizes that his efforts have been unsuccessful. He now needs a different kind of escape. The opportunity presented to him is the desert, a different life from the one he had originally planned on making for himself. Lee, on the other hand, is taken with the idea of financial success. While his efforts to sabotage Austin may have begun as simply cruel, now that a large sum of money is waiting for him upon completion of the screenplay, Lee is reconsidering the manner by which he has lived his own life. Earlier in the play each of the brothers has wistfully dreamed about living the other's life. Now this dream is becoming a reality, as each is beginning to actually live the other's life. Lee has met with success, almost for the first time, and he likes the new taste of it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scene Eight Summary A small fire has started burning in the alcove area. We see Lee smashing the typewriter with a golf club. There are a number of stolen toasters on the kitchen counter, and a gleefully drunken Austin polishing them with his breath and a dish towel. Empty beer and whiskey bottles litter the floor and all of the houseplants are now dead. Austin asks Lee how he should feel about the victims of his theft, all of the poor suburban folks with no toast to make their mornings a little more pleasant. Lee is very drunk and responds curtly, more interested in the task of breaking the typewriter than listening to Austin babble on about toasters. Both men are very confused as to what time it is, but Austin decides that what Lee needs is a little toast for breakfast. Austin manically drops bread into each of the toasters, turning them all on. Lee wants to know if there is enough gas in the car to go to Bakersfield because he is in need of the pleasures of a woman. Austin does not know how much gas in the car, but thinks that toast is a much better solution than a woman, as a woman never helped anyone. Lee rifles through his pockets, looking at various women's phone numbers. He burns some of them in the small fire and keeps others. Lee calls the operator looking for a woman name Melanie Ferguson in Bakersfield. There are ten different Melanie Fergusons, however, and as Lee does not remember where his Melanie Ferguson lives, he decides to take down all ten numbers. Unfortunately, he cannot find a pen or a pencil, and he destroys what is left of the kitchen looking for one. By the time he finds a pencil and gets back to the phone, the operator has hung up. In Austin's eyes, it is all for the best. Austin thinks that the best remedy is a good piece of toast, and likens the smell of toast to the feeling of salvation. Austin then asks if he can accompany Lee back to the desert. Lee laughs, thinking that Austin would not last more than five minutes away from the luxuries of suburbia. Furthermore, Lee does not understand why Austin would want to leave such luxuries in the first place. Austin proclaims that nothing is real in his life, and that the only authenticity lies out in the wilderness, in the unknown. Lee is dumbfounded, as he did not go out to the desert for a transcendent, spiritual journey. He went out there only because he failed to make things work in the regular world. Austin begs Lee to take him to the desert. Lee becomes angry and finally knocks the plate of toast Austin carries onto the floor. Austin lowers himself and slowly gathers up all of the toast. Lee, considering for a moment, offers a deal: if Austin will write Lee's screenplay without irony or criticism, Lee will take Austin to the desert. Austin readily agrees, and the scene ends while Lee loudly crunches on a piece of Austin's toast. Analysis Shepard's image of Austin polishing toasters while Lee smashes the typewriter is a comic masterpiece, a completely unexpected vision onstage. Austin is immensely proud of his toasters, and uses them as a new benchmark with which to define himself. He has completely abandoned his old standards and benchmarks, which do not seem good enough anymore. Shepard's use of the happy thief as a mark of success forces us to reevaluate America's models for self-evaluation. The old systems for evaluating success are all used up, and were unsatisfactory to begin with. Austin's complete and total satisfaction with his stolen toasters is the literal negation of the American Dream as defined in modern life. Upward mobility is replaced by petty theft and escape to the desert. Austin has become obsessed with leaving the suburbs and moving out to the wilderness. Lee, however, does not think Austin will be able to function effectively in the absence of the luxuries of the regular world, the devices America has set up with which to evaluate itself. Austin, however, is desperate, so much so that he makes a deal to write Lee's screenplay on the condition that Lee takes Austin out to the desert, to the unknown world. Austin declares everything in his life to be false, and says that the only hope for him rests in the promise of a new set of ideals and values that only the desert can provide. Freud argued that money is not one of the chief needs of the human psyche, failing to rank in importance on par with love, affirmation, and sex. Austin realizes that his relentless pursuit of the nonessential has been all folly. What he has really been searching for is some kind of satisfying role. Father, brother, and screenwriter are not nearly enough, as he has found the first satisfying role in his life when he becomes a thief. For the first time Austin has a sense of self outside of what others have taught him to believe he needs. For the first time he has independence from the system that has long sustained him. Lee, on the other hand, does not understand what all Austin's fuss is about. He thinks of the desert as a last resort, not a utopia, and stealing as a necessity, not a freeing of the soul. However, Lee recognizes the depth of Austin's need to escape and uses it as the final bargaining chip to get Austin to write his screenplay. Lee has had enough of the desert and the unknown and now chooses to define himself in more conventional roles. In this regard, each of the brothers has almost completely lost the sense of self they had coming into the play. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scene Nine Summary It is later the same day. A midday sun beats down on all of the debris in the alcove, making the total obliteration look worse than it did in the previous scene. Austin is at the table desperately writing on a pad, while Lee prowls around the table without a shirt, demanding that to hear what Austin has just written. Though Austin reads back exactly what Lee has dictated, Lee Lee is unsatisfied, saying that the dialogue sounds clichéd. The brothers squabble over a line, but finally decide on: "I'm on intimate terms with this prairie." The decision made, Lee begins to pour beer on his chest and arms. As Lee douses himself, Mom appears at the door with her suitcases. The brothers eventually spot her, and in act of chivalry, Lee offers to take he heavy suitcases. Unfortunately, there is nowhere clean enough to set them down, so Lee just holds them awkwardly. Austin clumsily asks about the trip to Alaska, explains that Lee sold a screenplay, and says that the mess is due to an extended celebration over the screenplay. Austin then announces that when the screenplay is completed the two of them are going to go live in the desert. When Mom asks if the brothers plan on living with their father, but Austin assures her that they will be going to a "different desert." Austin asks Mom why she came back so soon. She says she missed all of her plants, all of which have unfortunately died. Though Mom is temporarily saddened, her spirits are raised when she remembers that someone very important is in town for the weekend. The boys wonder who it could be, and she tells them it is Picasso. Austin tells Mom that unfortunately Picasso has been dead for some time, but she refuses to believe it. Lee suddenly decides that he has had enough of the screenwriting trade, and makes plans for his immediate departure to the desert. Austin cannot believe what he is hearing, and loudly protests the decision. Lee pushes Austin away violently, and collects some antiques and silverware for his trip. Austin picks up the ripped out phone cord and throws it around Lee's neck. There is a terrible struggle and Austin chokes Lee, unwilling to let Lee leave without him. Austin demands his car keys, which Lee quickly produces, all the while thrashing and gasping. Mom becomes angry and says that she is going to a motel if the boys are going to fight. Austin begs her to stay, but she picks up her luggage and goes, remarking that she does not even recognize her own house anymore. With the cord still tight around Lee's neck, Austin tries to make a deal with Lee: all he wants is a little head start. He is willing to release the cord if Lee will let him get a little bit of a head start in his escape. By the time he does release the cord, however, Lee has stopped moving. He seems to be dead. After a moment's consideration, Austin makes a move toward the door. Just as he does Lee is on his feet, blocking Austin's exit. They begin to circle each other slowly as a single coyote cries in the distance. Analysis The artistic combination of the two brothers finally arrives in this scene. Lee stalks around the kitchen with his shirt off while Lee sits scribbling furiously. The two halves of the creative artist are, at long last, collaborating in something close to harmony, able to produce something. While as individuals their artistic efforts have been unfruitful, together they seem unstoppable. It is a working relationship—Lee the idea man, Austin the scribe—with each man utilized in his correct role. The struggle for creation that has been waged throughout the entire play seems to find an inevitable end. Until of course, Mom comes home. Mom's arrival on the scene reminds the audience and reader just how out of control things have gotten. The brothers have completely destroyed her kitchen, not merely in a literal sense, but also in that they have brought about a chaos that is unfamiliar and unwanted in the orderly life of the suburbs. Mom does not know how to respond to the upheaval that has arrived in her kitchen. Her reaction, however, is not nearly as severe as it should be. Rather than becoming outraged at the state of her home, she speaks about the fact that Picasso is coming to town. At first, this odd detail may seem incongruous in play about brothers fighting and reevaluating the American Dream. Picasso is the twentieth century's most endurable vision of the artist, the ideal of art that Austin and Lee are trying their best to emulate. Mom is not able to deal with this new vision of chaos that has descended upon her kitchen. She leaves the house in disgust, heading for the relative normalcy of a motel. Lee decides he is going to leave for the desert as well, but this decision does not go over well with Austin, who views it as a very large breach of contract according to the deal he and Lee have established. When Austin takes up the phone cord, the two brothers' struggle for dominance comes to a final, shattering conclusion. Austin is not willing to be left behind in this suburban nightmare, as he needs the new promise of reevaluating his own self worth in the vacuum of the desert. He does not want to kill Lee, but merely wants to get his just desserts in the desert. Austin cannot allow his brother to leave him, as Lee is the key to Austin's attainment of new sense of himself. As the play ends, we are left with a haunting image of the two brothers facing off in what must surely become a fight to the death. It is impossible to say who will win. What is certain, however, is that the struggle will determine who can lay claim on a new identity, an identity appropriated from the other. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sam Shepard was born November 5, 1943, in Fort Sheridan, Illinois. He went to school in California, and at the age of twenty found himself in New York City, having jumped ship from the Bishop's Company Repertory Players. To support himself, Shepard worked at the Village Gate, a downtown mecca of good food and good jazz. The head waiter at the Village Gate was a man named Ralph Cook, who announced to his staff that he was looking for new plays. Shepard had a one-act called Cowboys, and the two men produced it sometime the following week. The play gained rave reviews from Michael Smith of the Village Voice, and the rest is theatrical history. Shepard has proved himself to be one of the most prolific, original, and important playwrights of his generation, having written over forty plays and having won nearly every major award given out in the American theater. Shepard also became a screen actor in Terrence Malick's film Days of Heaven (1978), and received and Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Chuck Yeager in Phillip Kaufman's The Right Stuff. Shepard is currently married to actress Jessica Lange and lives on a farm in Virginia with their two children. Aside from True West (1980), Shepard's other notable plays include The Tooth of Crime (1972), Curse of the Starving Class (1978), Buried Child (1979, Pulitzer Prize), Fool For Love (1983), and A Lie of the Mind (1986, New York Drama Critics Circle Award). True West was first performed at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco on July 10, 1980. The play is, at first glance, a far more traditional narrative than those usually spun by Sam Shepard, a darling of the off-off-Broadway movement. Indeed, Shepard built his reputation for being almost stubbornly experimental. His plays defied the kitchen sink realism so persistent in the American theater. With True West, however, he abandoned his typical incredibly long monologues and lack of cohesive narrative in favor of clever banter and tight plotting. True West takes its place in Shepard's continuing investigation of the volatile relationship between father and son. From his earliest one acts to the recent The Late Henry Moss (2000), Shepard has obsessively mapped the painful necessity to at least attempt to break away from a father's influence. Although in True West the brothers' father never appears onstage, "the old man" nonetheless hangs over the entire play like the pendulum over the pit. After its debut at the Magic Theatre, True West moved to the Public Theater in New York. It did not take on the status of American masterpiece, however, until the Steppenwolf Theater Company's famous revival of the play starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich in 1984. In the most recent notable production, Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly went toe-to-toe in the story of brotherly conflict. To emphasize the brothers being one half of a whole person, the two actors switched roles for different performances, even asking the Tony awards committee to consider them as one actor—a request the committee denied by giving both men nominations for Best Actor.
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