The Play True West By Sam Shepard Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Play True West By Sam Shepard - Essay Example True West is a play written by Sam Shepard which revolves around two brothers Austin and Lee who came to their mom's house to spend their days as their mom is going to some other state. However as the play continues the brother develop a grudge against each other and difference develop between them. The major change of personality can be seen in both the brothers as in the starting Austin is the one who is a decent and well behaved person who does not drink, where as Lee is the one who has negative views about his brother and drinks most of the time. Whereas in the end it can be seen that Lee is adopting to Austin's views and Austin has adopted the habits of Lee which are drinking and doing crimes. This basic change happens because of the opportunities presented to Lee and Austin by the producer Saul Kimmer. In the beginning of the play Saul Kimmer the producer comes to bring an opportunity to Austin whereas, the whole plot changes when Saul Kimmer rather accepts the script of his br other. Austin is shown as an educated person who is determined to make a fortune for himself in the world. Therefore after his script gets rejected over his brothers he gets emotionally unstable as he cannot attain his dreams. Furthermore after realizing that he cannot achieve his dreams even though he has struggled for them, he goes into an identity crisis and follows the same path that his brother has. The basic reason for his identity crisis is because of his brother's greedy attitude but he in the play thinks as if his brother is more competitive and intelligent than him. This makes his brother Austin follow the same path as Lee as he thinks that following that path might make him successful in life as Lee is. It can be seen in the play that after Kimmer rejects the idea of Austin over Lee's he decides to drink heavily. On the other hand Lee is greedy to make a respectable place for him in the society amongst all the other individuals. He wants to overthrow his brother and shatt er his dreams so he can achieve his own goal and thus he approaches the producer to consider his script which to the surprise of Austin is accepted by the producer. As his script gets accepted by Kimmer Lee pursues a life of comfort in the society as lived by Austin and tries to change him self. Change plays a deep role in the play as the lives of both Austin and Lee are changed from what they were before. Both the brothers transform into each others lives as in the latter part Austin starts to drink and steal like his brother Lee. While Lee tries to write a script for his movie like Austin did in the past. This shows that life is uncertain and some things are not meant to happen. The unstable nature of Austin can also be viewed as he started doing activities which were not in accordance to his education and level. Greed also plays an important role in the story as the greed for fame and fortune forces Lee to con Kimmer to see his script rather than his brothers. However the work of Lee is not as good as that of Austin but even then his work is preferred by the producer. Change takes place in the play when Austin forces Lee to take him to the desert where their father lives. He wants to follow the same path that his father did which he did not allow previously to over take him. The habit of stealing overtakes Austin in the latter end of the play like his brother and this can be said