In his play, "The Sandbox," Edward Albee expresses his feelings of disappointment regarding the way our society treats the elderly. Albee cleverly conveys his ideas and opinions in the form of an allegory. After reading the play once through, it seems humorous and almost silly if you picture the literal meaning of the grandmother being thrown into the sandbox with a toy shovel, a young man doing calisthenics, and the emotionless bickering between Mommy and Daddy. However, after looking closer at the play, one finds deeper and more depressing meaning in this bizarre drama. Albee portrays Mommy and Daddy as self-involved and selfish people who cannot be bothered with Grandmother. Mommy is the most dominant of the pair and finds it to be second nature to direct Daddy and take charge of their actions. Grandma seems to be at the mercy of Mommy and Daddy and sarcastically relays the story of how poorly she is treated.
             At the beginning of the play, we get a taste of the unusual relationship between Mommy and Daddy. Immediately, one may think that the names "Mommy" and "Daddy" suggest that they have kids of their own. However, after reading the play my feeling was that Mommy and Daddy did not fully understand the parent/child relationship as they lacked the compassion typical of a parent and, therefore, likely did not have kids. There are several possible reasons that they may have these names in the play. One may be to suggest the owner/pet relationship to a dog for that is undeniably how they treat Grandma. Or, perhaps the "Mommy" name is given to her because Daddy continually asks her what to do and Mommy always responds with, "Of course, whatever I say." Although the reason is a bit unclear, Mommy and Daddy's lack of concern toward Grandma is plainly obvious. Through Mommy and Daddy's conversation and Grandma's description of her time spent with them, it is evident that th...