True West Literary Elements

True West Literary Elements

Genre

Drama

Language

English

Setting and Context

California foothills, 40 miles east of Los Angeles

Narrator and Point of View

POV is that of Austin and his brother Lee

Tone and Mood

Serious, Dramatic, Violent

Protagonist and Antagonist

Protagonist is Austin, Antagonist is Lee

Major Conflict

Austin's script is dropped after Lee wins a bet with Saul, the producer and Saul wants Austin to write Lee's story.

Climax

Austin agrees to write the script for Lee on the condition that Lee take him into the desert. When Lee admits he isn't taking him into the desert Austin nearly chokes him to death and the brothers face off as the curtain closes.

Foreshadowing

Austin's giving his keys to his car to Lee foreshadows him giving his brother the keys to his career opportunities with Saul.

Understatement

It's understated as to why Lee decided to show up at his mother's home after all of these years.

Allusions

The play is an allusion to the double nature that each person has within in them.

Imagery

Yapping coyotes create the imagery that the wildness of the desert and nature is impeding on the civilized lives of these men.

The mother's house being torn apart represents how when kids are left alone they become destroyers when they aren't raised to be creators.

Paradox

Austin has a family, yet paradoxically he wants to leave them and go live in the desert because of his failure at getting his script made.

Parallelism

Austin's attack on Lee parallels Lee's sense of danger and impending attack at the beginning of the play upon his brother.

Personification

They coyotes and the crickets in heard in the play are the personification of the minds of the two men being driven insane, and the nature of them becoming primal.

Use of Dramatic Devices

The mother comes in as a temporary comic relief before running out on her boys. Shepard also uses Austin's monologue about his father's teeth in order to reveal the relationship dynamic that they have. The final square off of the brothers being the closing image of the play creates a heightened dramatic state on which the play ends on, leaving the audience to their imaginations as to what will occur next.

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