Analysis of Sam Shepard's True West Essay Sample

It has been determined that it might take only a mere tenth of a second to form a first impression. Within this blip of time, one can learn enough about a person - or a character - to make assumptions. They can make assumptions about where they came from, why they think the way they do, or even what their morals are. In the opening scene of Sam Shepard’s play, True West, audiences are introduced to the polar opposite morals of brothers Austin and Lee. While both characters yearn for respect, appreciation, and success in this cutthroat modern world, the two go about trying to obtain it in vastly different ways.

The so-called “American dream” is not something that all people take the same path to arrive to. Austin is a struggling screenplay writer who is trying to find success in a conventional way. He does not seek to cheat the system in any way, rather, he wants to sweat his way to a blissful life. Austin has been asked to watch his mother’s home while she is on a trip to Alaska. While sitting in his childhood kitchen, he writes a script for a film he has an idea for. As he sits, frivolously and earnestly working, his brother, Lee, paces around the kitchen and begins to talk about his plans while visiting his hometown, “Yeah. Houses. Electric devices. Stuff like that. I gotta' make a little tour first” (Shepard 5). Austin does not feel comfortable with the idea of his brother robbing homes in his mother’s neighborhood, so, even though he too is struggling financially, he offers Lee money as an alternative to his initial plan. Lee takes great offense to his brother’s offer,

Audiences quickly learn from Lee’s reaction to his brother’s offer that he values his independence, even if it means having to cut corners and be conventionally “immoral” in order to be unaided. His strong feelings towards his independence most likely sprout from his opinions on his father’s dependence on help from others. He does not want to be anything like his “old man,” and so he reacts intensely to Austin’s generosity. Within just one scene of the play, audiences are able to decipher the intentions of the seemingly irrational Lee. Audiences also have the opportunity to recognize the extraordinarily different morals that Austin has in the opening scene. From his interactions with his brother Lee, one can see that Austin fears his brother’s recklessness in achieving success. He does his best not to step on Lee’s toes as his brother relentlessly aims to provoke him. Rather than pushing back in response to Lee’s loaded questions, he answers them as patiently and considerately as he can because not only is he afraid of his brother, but because he also values him (Shepard 1-6).