How much does the play " The American dream" by Edward Albee contribute to the 20th century American literature.

For many people, the “American Dream” is an ethos that grants everybody the opportunity to achieve “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of independence). The myths of success and virtue seem to be a goal American have been striving to achieve for a long time. Dreams can be fulfilled by anybody, no matter the social background, through hard work and determination. The American dream was conceived by Edward Albee as a critique of America's culture and social ideals in the aftermath of World War 2. The world of the play is one of bourgeois (affluent middle class) sensibilities and a seemingly pointless veneer of small talk and dull conversation. On the surface, it is a play about a generation dedicated to getting satisfaction (an important word in Albee's play) without doing any of the hard work necessary to build a satisfying life. More deeply, as Albee himself has stated, The American Dream is a play about "the substitution of artificial for real values in this society of ours." For the generation of characters that populate Albee's The American Dream, the decades following World War II were seen initially as a revitalization of the promise of the American dream. In the early decades of the twentieth century, the American dream faced some of its stiffest tests. The Great Depression, the growing pressures of racial discrimination, and the hangover of two World Wars left many Americans feeling disenfranchised, cut off from the promise of the Dream. But with the economic prosperity of the postwar period, and with it the rise of suburban America, the Dream regained its energy. Improvements to home comfort and employment stability, combined with a dramatic rise in personal income levels and an expansion of educational options, became the hallmark of the modern version of the Dream. The American Dream is a play that is written and designed to be staged in one, uninterrupted scene. It opens with the characters of Mommy and Daddy sitting in their armchairs, which are facing each other across the stage and are arranged diagonally to the audience. Their first words are complaints about the lateness of some expected visitors. Who these visitors are and the exact nature of their visit remains unclear.