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On the surface, it appears that we have two pairs of characters struggling against each other-Mommy and Daddy in the antagonist group (who are really trying to bury Grandma, as we see by their symbolic action of heartlessly dumping her into the sandbox) and Grandma and the Young Man in the protagonist group. Study of the conflicting forces in The Sandbox shows us how central the character of Grandma is.
#THEME OF THE SANDBOX BY EDWARD ALBEE HOW TO#
In one or two places Grandma also functions as the stage manager or director, for she calls out directions to the stage hand about dimming the lights and she tells the musician how to play his music-"Keep it nice and soft"-in the night scene signifying the approach of death (153).
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Her mimicking of Mommy and her mocking of Daddy, as well as her early cries, some of which are like screams of antagonism or growls of disgust, reinforce the self-revealing speeches of these two unsympathetic characters, just as the chanted explanations of the Greek chorus in ancient tragedies underlined similar aspects of the characterization and the action. Grandma, for example, is not only the leading character, or protagonist, but also the chorus. The five characters in the play have obviously been selected with great care and in accord with the artistic principle of economy of means.