“August: Osage County”, written by Tracy Letts, is undoubtedly a brilliant play about a dysfunctional family that is obligated to deal with veiled duplicities and cruelty. The storyline follows a dysfunctional family who gather together after the father leaves home, offering no word of his whereabouts. The issues of this play transcend all periods of time and place. The plot of the play is intriguing and the characters are well developed, slowly unveiling their secrets. The family dynamics have been presented in a way that criticizes our contemporary American society. The play's statement is exceptional, and is not a repeated drama. The Weston family has complex and penetrating personalities, inviting the reader into their …show more content…
Rex Reed’s review of the play describes how the Weston family closely resembles the typical American family. The characters display their eccentricities and complexities, which can occur within any family. Not only did they openly display their flaws, addictions, and cruelty towards one another, but they also showed loyalty, love, humor and sympathy for each other. The people in this family are genetically bonded, but still try their best to tear each other down. Their evil engagements are partly due to their own misery, but also out of their distorted version of love. They divulge intimate information about their lives, and the lives of their family members, realizing that they truly never understood each other. In the unbearable August heat in Oklahoma, they’re a group of strangers all jammed together under the same roof. Tracy Letts brilliantly unfolds the story of the Weston’s, carefully revealing the incredible history of this dysfunctional family (Reed). I agree with Reed’s description of this typical American family. I think that every family has a violet, and in my case, Uncle Bob. I’ve heard many stories from others about their disturbing family holiday gatherings. It seems that they all love each other, but feel free to say whatever comes to mind because it is family, and family tend to treat outsiders with more