Representation of "Lawless Wild West" and "Order and Civilized Society"

Visual and Performing Arts
Title Visual and Performing Arts
Lee's Representation of lawless wild west.
 Although Lee and Austin are brothers, they have different traits that have been demonstrated in the play "True West" Lee represents the "lawless wild west." In contrast, Austin represents "order and civilized society." For starters, Lee chooses to live in the desert rather than stay in the suburbs. He does not seem to obey any laws in the civilized world, and he is always in trouble (Shepard, 1980). For example, when he visited his brother, the first thing he did was to borrow his car, which he used to steal a TV from one of the neighbors.
The other way that Lee represents the lawless wild west is his refusal to have a steady job. Lee is a thief, and he does not have any moral campus where he is going to steal. For example, when he comes to his mom's place, he tells Austin that they should steal her antiques (Shepard, 1980). Lee could only do this because his mum had locked up her belongings. It is not expected in a civilized world for a person to steal from their mother when given accommodation.
Finally, Lee does not have a stable family and does not respect the kind of work that his brother is doing. As a person who has been given accommodation, it is expected that there is specific behavior such as respecting the boundaries of the person who is sharing the same space (Shepard, 1980). Lee goes out of his way to make life hard for Austine by drinking in the morning and making noise when his brother is writing his play (Shepard, 1980). Such behavior is not acceptable in a civilized community. It is also expected to have a family after a certain age.
Austin's Representation of "order and civilized society."
Austin is a good character in the play, representing order and civilization. The character has chosen to live in a suburb with his family. According to the author's description of the neighborhood, people have flower beds in their yards, and it is a place where one believes nothing much takes place (Shepard, 1980). In other words, Austin has chosen to live in a safe and quiet neighborhood just as a majority of pe...