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"True West" Dialogue Analysis
"True West" Dialogue Analysis
For the dialogue analysis assignment I chose scene 9, two pages preceding the
climax. Mother makes her first and only appearance in this segment of the play. From my
first reading of the play I found this excerpt quite intriguing, although the conversation did
not seem to follow any reasonable pattern or have explicable breaks in identifiable patterns.
The actions and dialogue were obscure to me. However, with the dialogue analysis, the
Mother's significance became apparent, and this dynamic conversation more understandable.
When Mother first enters the decimated room she shows no sign of being disturbed
by its condition; she is un-emotional. Austin asks what she is doing back, and she replies,
“I’m back”. This is a simple statement that begins a series of responses irrelevant to the
problem at hand. This is violating three of Grice’s maxims: Manner, Quality, and Quantity. If
a woman has just discovered her house in shambles, such an impersonal, short, unclear
answer does not seem proper. Within the context one would also expect long complex
sentences and utterances in the form of exclamations and commands, but her words are only
statements and simple sentences. Should she not be enraged? The norm in this situation
would be to completely ignore Austin’s attempt at small talk and move immediately to the
bigger issue. The relevant response to the contextual cue would be to address the bigger
issue, but she doesn’t. This is an interesting Violation of Relation. Overt questions are
Mother continues her odd responses to cues as she discusses the dead plants in her
house. Taking care of the plants was Austin’s responsibility, so Lee and Austin offer up a
defence for the failure of their upkeep, and she responds with, “Oh well, one less thing to
take care of, I guess”. She is quite indifferent to her wilted plants which, at the beginning of
the play, Austin and Lee agreed was one of the primary reasons Austin was house-sitting in
the first place. The response is a Violation of Quality, since she is giving a very impersonal
answer to something that should have been important. Perhaps her love for plants is a farce
and she only pretended to have an interest in them because she believed they did something
for her (with further analysis this greater purpose will be revealed).
As the dialogue continues, Mother violates the Maxim of Relation in another way, in
response to her own cue. Her dead plants bring to her memory the fact that Picasso is in
town. The two topics, her dead plants and Picasso, really do not have any relation to each
other. What is even more obscure is the quality of what she says, “Picasso’s in town…right
now”. This cannot be true because Picasso is dead, and she completely disregards Austin’s
cue when he tells her “Picasso is dead”. Furthermore, a few lines down she says, “Picasso!
Picasso! You’ve never heard of Picasso? Austin, you’ve heard of Picasso.”. This statement is
a Violation of Relation because Austin had just previously mentioned his opinion on the
matter. However, in Mother’s statement she doesn’t even consider what Austin just told her
previously. The dialogue here indicates that truth is not what is most important to her.
Mother is thrilled at the idea of Picasso coming to visit, giving the impression that she
is quite knowledgeable about the arts. If she is passionate about the arts, as she seems to let
on, would she not have known that Picasso died? The fact that Picasso is not alive leads the
audience to question if anything Mother says is really honest. This is a large clue into her
character, and we can see that it is only the association with the arts she is interested in, and
in reality she has never invested herself in them. She has a fake quality about her, much like
Austin did. Her vacation, her interest in plants, her suburban home, her aspiration to be
considered an art connoisseur, in fact all that she does, points to one thing: the ideal western
life. She, like Lee, is stuck in the mindset that the current American idealized 'west' will give
her happiness.
followed. Happiness is her greatest goal, which she is trying to achieve through this lifestyle.
Now we can follow her connection: ‘the plants are dead, which is sad and unfitting for my
lifestyle, so I will bring up Picasso, which fits my lifestyle and therefore uplift me’. She will
not sacrifice her attempt at happiness by mourning the plants in any way. She will not face
On the contrary, Austin has an explosion of emotion after his mother goes on about
Picasso. His emotion is evident by the use of exclamations. Before Austin says, “We’re
gonna’ be leavin’ here, Mom!”, Lee and Austin comply with their mother's wishes, only
uttering statements and simple questions, but her statements about Picasso become too much
for Austin to handle, and he breaks from his pattern of statements and questions. Austin,
consciously or subconsciously, could see his mother’s western ideology affecting her words.
The ideal west is exactly what Austin has been trying to escape from for most of the play,
and it is now being forced upon him by his Mother through her ignoring of his statements.
When Mother violates the Maxim of Relation yet again, by not even seeming to listen to
Austin’s statement that they will not have time to see Picasso, he reaches his breaking point.
The opposition to his change has never been more present. Both his mother and Lee are
trying to force him into the mold he is desperately trying to avoid and it enrages him. They
say he is too thin, and not cut out for the desert. To Lee and Mother, they are just stating facts
that seem obvious because of the life Austin has led up to this point in time. To Austin, their
words are insulting, and are actually Violations of Respect. He, therefore, feels he must prove
them wrong. By taking charge through the climactic strangling of his brother, he proves his
own control and freedom from the lifestyle that binds him.
By labelling the utterance types in the dialogue I found similar discoveries. There are
only statements and questions uttered until Mother commands the boys to guess who is in
town. This emphasizes Picasso's supposed arrival and the importance of this idea. Picasso is
a surreal artist who paints dream-like scenes that look like they could be real places, but they
are not. Picasso is not just any artist, but specifically is an allusion to the modern west. The
west is a dream-like ideal that characters can pretend gives them real happiness, but it is only
an illusion. Mother’s Violation of Quality, and Austin’s exclamation’s now make even more
sense. The fact that Austin is the only one who states that Picasso is dead alludes to the idea
With a closer look at the responses to the questions and the responses to the
commands, a power struggle becomes evident. When Mother first arrives, she is given
attention and the impression of respect by Lee and Austin, but there is no real substance to
their words or actions. Mother is, in fact, powerless as she is given no respect. When the
conversation intensifies, her statements and commands are completely overlooked. For
instance, she tells the boys not to yell in the house, but no one gives a response to her cue or
listens to her command. She asks if Lee can take the plastic plates out to the desert instead of
the china, but he only makes an excuse, which violates the respect she deserves. Her power is
an illusion, and it becomes clear that Austin and Lee have never had the respect for her one
No character in this scene is given the desired response to their demands. Each of
Mother's commands is dismissed by the person whom she addresses, and she never complies
with the brothers' commands either. The same is true for Austin and Lee. Both Austin and
Lee give a variety of commands, but neither of them ever receives the obedience or
submission they desire. In their own minds, each character believes they are in control. Each
of the three, Mother and brothers, believe they have the authority to issue commands, but
none are given any respect. Austin believes he has the power to make Lee lead him into the
wilderness. Austin says, “Then we’ll do it on the desert”, but Lee responds with, “Don’t tell
me what to do!”. Lee believes that no one can tell him what to do and that controls his
coming and going, not Austin. Mother believes she is most powerful because they are in her
house, and because she is their mother. She tells them to “Go outside and fight”, but Lee says
he won’t leave, and denies the fact that he is fighting. Each of them feels threatened by the
commands issued to them and they each respond in their own way. Later on, Lee packs to
leave and Austin attacks him. When Mother's house is no longer something that she can
control, she doesn't address the problem but leaves instead. Her son is being murdered and
yet she decides that going to a motel is the suitable response. She runs from every problem,
but while she flees from discomfort she is simultaneously escaping reality. Neither Mother
nor Lee has ever found authentic value in life, but Austin is still searching and fighting. The
The characters do not have any hidden motives that they are aware of, but beneath
their words there is a deeper subtext. Mother is another example of someone who is encased
in the land of "west". She is lost in the surreal American dream, which she believes will bring
her ideal happiness. The audience can see the family dynamic for what it is. They are
struggling for control in their own lives, and by exerting the power they believe they have,
they try to convince themselves of their importance and thereby claim some significance
Austin, Lee, and Mother’s power struggle is only further proof that they are lost in the
world, and this world will only grant them satisfaction if they conform to a certain
stereotype. They might believe they have importance because they are fitting the criteria of a
recognizable class or ideal, but without true satisfaction with one’s self and relations, true